Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-09-06
PROrECTION AGAINST FIRE.
Som metl,ing for Our City Fathers to Thi
About Tomorrow Night.

ABOUT IO-mOffOW NlSnt-
For the IsTEILIGENCER.
The city of Lancaster has been at the
mercy Of the " fire bugs for the last four
or five years. Fires have occurred for
which no reasonable cause could be as
signed, yet those in authority have made
no successful attempt to find out the in
ccndiaries. That something should be
done no one doubts but suspending two
or three Of the present companies, and
slightly increasing the appropriation of
the others, is not the way to do it. Vol
unteer firemen, as here constituted, are a
failure, and the sooner they are abolished
the better it will be for all parties con-
cerned.
Protection against fire concerns the
humblest laboring man as much as it does
the most opulent merchant or manufac-
turer. 1t is of tho utmost Importance to
commerce and trade, to the safety and Sc
curity of the general public, that every
safeguard should be employed against fire.
Councils have been advised to get the
best appliances and most intelligent men,
but just how they are to be had no one has
yet suggested. Surely councils are not
competent 70 name what apparatus is re-
quircd for an efficient department. To
have them equip the department would be
like having civilian in time of war to
fortify place for soldiers to defend. To be
an efficient fire engineer, the man must
have knowledge OF tho subject that is
elastic enough to adapt itself to all the
places in Which fire can exist, differing
in almost every instance. The man
must bc we'll vcrscd in all things pertain
ing to the equipment and management of
tho fire service, and he should be the
person to recommend what apparatus is
required for the department, and the only
way to get such a man is to make all ap-
pl;cants undergo 4 competitive examina-
tion, the one showing the best record to
got the appointment, and not to be re-
moved except for cause. Each applicant
shonld give plan Of organizing, manag
ing and all appliances necessary Tor a
SOOd Hrc department..
If councils do not move in this matter
the people will be left between two evils,
OF which it is lri to tell the worst-fre
Insurance companies or volunteer firomen.
Yet the people will have to pay for it
dearly all the same. The Insurance com
panies appear to be indignant because
some one has suggested that they should
employ detectives, yet they are not back
ward in urging the city to employ = large
police force and better fire department
so that they can carry $50, 900 per annum
out Of the city The insurance companies
threaten to stop business here. The
sooner they do the better it will be
for the community. IL will not cost
one fourth as much to maintain
a first class fire department as it
does to sustain the insurance companies.
The experience Of the New Eng
land mutual insurance companies durin s
the past few years clearly demonstrates
that stock company insurance is an extor-
ton and all evil A summary Of the busi-
ness Of the seventeen mutual insurance
shows tho following result for 1879 {:
Risks written in the year, s2O4, ,694 4SG ;
premiums received, 81, ,S3j, 45j losses in
Cured during the year, S120,5e5 divi-
dends on policies, 81, 7O9, $50.
II such a system We're adopted in Ian
caster We could get along very we'll with
ont th,. stock Insurance cOmn9ninS and
save $35. 900 to sl0,O each year. S,me
one will say mutual inSurlnc, will fail.
Anything will fail if you do not mana &c
it rightly. Ii i: is run like the "Boston
Manufacturers Mutual" it will never
fail.
If We cannot have such an insurl nc c
system, let us at any rate have a first class
fire department. x**