St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-22
Affects Insurance.
ST. PAUL INSPECTION BUREAU,
14l EAST FOURTH STREET.
ST. PArI ,Juna 81

Hon. F. P. Wright. Mayor-Dear Sir: The
Qnestion having been asked as TO the proba-
bic ac ion of the insurance companies i'll the
event OF closing certain fire department sta
tons in this city, wish to say 10 you that
the present rates of insurance in st. Paul are
based OIL the present efficiency OF the tire
department. and to Withdraw from service
any part of the equipment will necessarily
increase these rates. II. W. CLARKE.
Any such action as intlnated in the
letter, the mayor said, must be prevent
ed. Mr.. Freeman said the two cheml-
Gals to be taken out of the service. as
contemplated, would be no detriment
to the efficiency of the department. One
of the chemicals was stationed at Maple
and Conway streets, and the other at
Payne and York streets. The reduction
made by discontinulng- these and six
men who were required to man them,
together with the cost of maintaining
the houses, would in the next
six months amount TO So, ,73S, and
would enable the department to
keep within the S195, 900 available. This
caused the mayor again to use his lead
pencil. ana the result of the figuring
brought out the query: You say, Mr..
Freeman, that your department has only
5000 left out of The S195,000 available,
which must last you for the next six
months. Now the reduction made by
closing up the two chemicals. you say,
will save So. 73S in the next six months.
Take this amount from the total of your
pay rolls alone. and it Will reduce it to
about SS5,0 900, aud, if my figures are cor
rect, how are you going to get this
amount out of the $79, 900 left?'
Required Figuring.
Mr.. Freeman studied his figures over,
and finally said: Suppose the pay
rolls are only $4,000 for each month for
the remainder OF the year," This the
mayor thought would make it all right,
but how the rolls were to be reduced to
$4,000 each month by the saving of
So. 73S for SIX months was more than he
could understand. The other members
seemed to be Of the SauIe opinion as the
mayor, and as Mr.. Freeman thought
if given time he could figure the prob
lem out he was excused until he could
prepare the figures. After Mr.. Freeman
left general discussion followed, in
which Mr.. Wheelock and the mayor
took part. Mr.. Wheelock thought the
insurance rates might not be affected by
the doing away with two chemical ell
gines. particularly as Mr.. Freeman had
said the territory was covered by hose
companies and the efficiency of the de-
partment would not be impai red. The
mayor TOOK the ground that the chem-
zeal eugineS were necessity, especially
in putting out incipient tires,a finally
both The mayor and Mr.. Wheelock
agreed that chemical engines were of
great service in the department.
The pay rolls OF the fire department
for June show that No. chemical, at
the corner of Maple and Conway streets
is manned by one lieutenant at SIT per
month, and two men, one at S72 and the
other at $50 per month. Oh emical No.
Z, at Payne avenue and York street, has
one lieutenant at SIT per month, and
two men. one at S72 and the other at S67
per month. 1t was suggested after the
meeting had adjourned, that as there
was question raised as to the increase
of insurance rates should the depart-
ment be reduced in the number of ap--
paratus, that no change be made in this
particular. but that the salaries of the
men be cut to reduce the expenditures.
This was thought to be the only way of
solving the problem, for as President
Free man had said only $3,700 could be
saved by shutting up two chemical
houses, it would be necessary to shut up
three more at the same rate, in order to
reduce the expenditures within the