Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-07-11
THE FIRENl EN-.
They solve Notice. to the City Au,hori
ties.

Of the Washington company OH Saturday
evening. with President Howell in the
chair.
The minutes Of last meeting We're read
and approved.
p. s. Goodman briefly set forth the rca
SONS for calling the meeting, claimin. that
tho tiremcn should take some action in re
gard to the serious charges that have beer
made against tho department during thu
past few weeks.
lie WAS followed by President Howell
James Fcllenbaum, James Cunningham
Thos. &. Wiley, A. Ii. Hammond, II. n
Milcy and others.
Mr.. Thos. G. Wiley then offered a rcsO
luton to the effect that the iiremen give
the city councils six months from the LIST
of August in which to organize 4 paid tic
partment.
This was seconded by Mr.. II. A. Milcy
of the Washington, and adopted 10y the
following vote:
Aycs-Gcorgc Anne, James Fcllenbaum
A. Ii. Hammond, ii. a. Miley, J. Il;
Price, jos. Cunningham, Fred Yca.er
Joseph Arnold, Samuel Powell, William
Simon, John Flick, John Rhocrick, T.. 5
Goodman, Chas. NJ. Howell, Thos. G.
"NSys ouIiu' lACNy, j., AANly ~. AAoWSI
III.
Nays-Wm. IIaldy, Daniel Tnwitz
james ID. Fla.g. Peter lsitchic, w. T..
Anderson, VIM. Spons-G.
Councilman Smcych refused to vote.
The officers were then appointed i com.
mittce to formulate the views of the mem.
bcrs as expressed by tho union and to-
gctl!cr with the resolution, have them in.
serted in the proceedings of the meeting.
They are as follows:.
Tho Deiivcrance.
WHEREAS, The several companies in
the lire department Of Lancaster city were
organized by public-spirited citizens, &c
tuatcd by motives OF i laltlatOry nature,
and having in view the protection Of prop
erty and life from the ravases Of fire. At
the outset the companies were obliged tu
purchase their own equipments, relying oil
Il generous public to assist them. Since
the Introduction of the steam engine and
the increasing growth of the city, ths III
nual appropriation has bccn inadequate to
meet the wants Of the companies. And
they, to meet their expenses, have been
obliged to resort to means, some of which
were highly Objectionable, both to citizens
and iircmcn, and which haye had Il ten
dcncy to bring the dcpa' tmcnt into disre-
pute.
6" The b'ame cannot bc attached to the
companies in many Of these instances, for
tho necessary amount had to be secured,
or the hose house closed.
"In other cities where the volunteer sys-
tcm is found, tho annual appropriation is
far in excess Of our appropriation, ranging
from eight to twelve hundred dollars, and
the house and apparatus is purchased by
the city, whilst Lancaster apprOpriatcs
four hundred dollars i year to each conf
pany, and the companies purchase and
own their own property and apparatus.
''Thc average annual necessary expense
Of each company exceeds the annual up
preparation by two hundred dollars. Aud
as fircmen VIC claim that the citizens
through the city government arc the proper
ones to make up this deficiency, as they
receive the sole benefit Of our labOrs. No
individual member Of the department re-
ceivcs any benefit thcrcfrO,n. We arc
combined together for the public good.
And in our cntle;svOrs to render aid to the
city AMI it's citizens, in time Of need, We
incur danger and run the risk Of losing our
lives, destroying our health and running
pclSation All VIC ask is to be sustained
by the city.
"TU make our department moro cilic-
lent We require horses to draw our :lppIr-
atus to the fires. Men arc tired Of max ing
beasts Of burden Of themselves, and dc
mand that our otherwise progressive city
assist the department in this respect.
"After duly dclibcrating upon our
L.. 1,,& J,n
Union respectfully represented to city
councils the need Of additional apprOpria-
tion. and asked for the modest sum Of
eight hundred dollars per annum. M
merols citizens united in this request.
But the city councils treated this request
in u cOntemptuOus manHcr and unbccOm-
in. men who lcgislatc for the city's good.
- During the past few weeks several
large fires occurred under very peculiar
The public press and
others intimate that the crimes were Com
mttcd by the members of the fire depart
mcnt.
Representatives Of u number of in
companies met in our city and
reiterated the charges against the fire men
and nlcmorializcd city councils to organ
ize :. paid Department., charging the pre-
sent system with being inefficient, dan
ccru,,s, and that it fosters an iDcen,liary
CLASS. To these charges VIC would briefly
reply.
First, our incfiicicncy. We deny this
charge tn toto. We ask any citizen to
point ont Il city in the United States that
han been more free from destructive fires
than Lancaster. 1t is nOt OWN. to any
fort.litous chance that VIC have escaped
su:i, ScourycS, but to tho promptncSs and
energy of the iircmcn. Our fires were
nearly always confined to the buildings
in which they originated. Can this
be said Of other departments , 1n-
stance after instance will occur to the
minds of our citizens where fires in
the business portion of the city have
to destroy the adjoining
properties, but i'm an almost miraculous
they have been restricted to but
Dle building. and that never wholly con-
sulncd even when the whole structure was
wrapped in tlamcs In what respect we
have been inefficient VIC would like to li, Q
pointed out.
"Scconl, 'Wc are dangerous l'eioIe
maxim. such crave charge the Insurance
should have enquired who
composed tho membership of our depart
ment, and they might have found in it
hundreds Of men who arc morally aud
socially their peers, if not their supe-
riOrs. They would have found
among its membership many leading
and influential citizens. Wo do not pro-
pose to deny the existence Of III objection
able element in our companies. We have
tried frequently to eliminate such, but rs
long as VIC had to draw our apparatus by