St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-08-16
Able Papers Read Yesterday
at the Convention Of the
Fire Engineers.
Various Subjects Discussed
by Men Who Know What
They Talk About.
The Convention Favors Short
err Hours--An Interesting
Talk on Oil Tanks.
The Evening Session an Ami
mated One--Ppogramme
for To-Day.

At 10 o'clock yesterday morning,
when the second days session of the
fremen's convention opened, there vas
large attendance, and in order that no
one might escape the president APP
pointed Chief Shepard, of Knoxville,
Tenn, sergeant at arms. The reading
of papers was next taken up. The first
one read was on The propriety of
recommending shorter hours for days
work for paid firemen." by j. w. Dick
enson, of Cleveland, o.
Firemen knew no holidays. the speak
er said, and did not even have time to
attend religious services. Of the 10000
firemen in the United States. about
1000 are married, he continued, and it
is indeed seldom that any one Of them
sees his children. Some departments
allow the firemen half an hour for
meals. This is far too short, and does
not give fireman time to attend to
small duties around his house, OF even
to eat his dinner IN peace. There
is no reason why firemen should
be compelled to remain on duty twenty
four hours any more than policemen.
When we consider that some firemen
are not allowed to 60 out of the engine
house while On duty, it is no wonder
that so many of the men have their
hours of depression. The life of fire
man is at the best not an easy one. All
seasons are the same to him, and when
he does get day off he generally works
hard all day at home. The men are as
a rule generous. and never turn poor
person away from them empty handed.
ing the power of steam and sim
liar things, and for this reason some
people seem to think that they
should know the whereabouts of every
lost child in the city. Every indication
would point to the fact that shorter
hours for firemen are necessary. Ii the
hours were shorter the men would have
more time to spend at home and to keep
his premises III better repair. Then
again it would induce firemen to get a
home of his own, where he could bring
up his children out of the reach of the
crowded tenement houses. This con-
vention should act in this matter, and it
seems to me that all firemen should be
given at least eight hours Off every day.
At the conclusion Of the paper Chief
Dickinson moved that the convention
recommend shorter hours. This motion
was unanimously carried.
The second paper was on
THE GREAT FIRES
of Ancient and Modern Times" by
Capt. John S. Damrell, Boston, Mass;
Thomas O'Neill, Kalamazoo, Mich.
John Baulch, Fortress Monroe, Va.
lit, of Patterson, n. j., and decidedly
interesting one. 1t touched upon the
earliest fires of which there is any
record and told of the first fire engines.
The years were gone over and the diff
ferent stages taken up and discussed,
down to the present time. The recent
fires in the various large cities were re-
called and the incidents of each given
at some length. The paper held the at /
tention of the audience for nearly one
hour and half and was received with
applause.
THE AFTERNOON SESSION
was held at the West hotel in the apart
ments formerly occupied by the Real
Estate exchange. The opening paper
was on "Spontaneous Combustion" by
Tenn. Many of the unexplained fires
were caused by spontaneous combus.
ton, the speaker said. Oily rags and
waste were fruitful source of fires,
and sometimes the sun shining through
a window onto matches would ignite
them and cause a blaze. Instances
of peculiar fires were given and
discussed at some length. The
paper was an able one and
was received with applause. The
paper contained large number of sug-
geStions, such AS providing for the APP
pointment OF examiners of goods stored
away and the like, which were ordered
printed and given to the various chiefs
present.
A. G. Hendrick, New Haven, Conn:
ID. j. SWeine, Chicago, ILL.,; Charles O,
Shay, New York; l.. P. Weber, Bos-
ton, Mass, and Jonn Lindsay, st. Louis,
Mo-, presented an able paper on
Manual and Drill" 1t was highly
important. the paper held, that the
men at saeh engine house should be
thoroughly drilled in all the branches,
so that when they were called
could do it neatly and quickly.
In concluding, the committee recon-
mended the adoption of resolution
providing for the getting up of man
ual of drill by the committees. This
resolution was adopted. An animated
discussion enSued as to whether or not
it would not be best to nave all the del
egateS who wanted to prepare manual
and present it to the committee. the
best one to be adopted. The committee
was finally given full power to do as it
thought best.
The paper on the proper method of
storing and using crude petroleum, read
at the Tuesday afternoon session was
again read, and a long discussion fol-
lowed, in which it was held
that the stuff was worse than
gunpowder and persons handling
it could not be too careful.
Chief j. w. Dickinson, of Cleveland,
o., gave an interesting account of how
crude petroleum is handled in his city.
where there are such large quantities
should ever get on fire, he said, there
would not be much use in trying to
stop it, as the oil would run right down
into the city, instead of running away
from it. Once the Oil in one of the big
pipes which conveys the Oil through
the city of Cleveland was on fire., and
inside of one minute there was a line
of fire nearly a mile long. Chief Stet-
son thought there should be local legis-
lation in each city to provide against
accident.
The session closed with a paper on
"What Are the Advantages the Use
of Hose Wagons Over Hose Reels?" by
L. r. Webber. Boston, Mass; A. G.
Hendrick, New Haven, Conn; }. j.
Galligan, Omaha, Neb.; d. c. Larkin.
Dayton, o.; NJ. l.. Jones, Macon, Ga.
Prof. j. T. Barrett, of Chicago, opened
the evening session at an extremely IN
teresting paper on 1.-The Danger of
Electric Wires Introduced in Buildings
For Lighting and Power" There are
two dangers, said the speaker, that of
fire and the loss of life. All electric
wires should be placed under ground,
as matter of economy as
well as of safety. Half of
the wires now running all over our
cities are as dangerous as nitro-glyc-
crime, as they are not properly in
sulated in many cases. Then they are