The morning call., 1894-03-20
IN FANCY SHIRTS.
Firemen Decked Out i'm
Pearl Buttons.
They Object to the Cost, but Buy
the Garments - Something
About the Order.

The regular employees OF the San Francisco
Fire Department are now wearing four.dolar.
anG.a-haif shirts and 50-cent necktes.
uneasy are The bac S that wear these shirts
not because The gaTm Dts are not well made of
good material, closely fitting and adorned with
many buttons, but because the fremep, whose
yearly salaries are not as large as the per-
quisiIes OF some OF their rulers In a month.
obj ct TO buying fancy Il nnel and fancy but
tons at tie expense of less bread and butter for
the many mouths at home. The fire laddies
feel that they could extingulsh blaze quite a.
quickly aud successfully iD twO-and-a-half
Hdnnel shirt as IN the fOur-dolar garment they
have all been compelled TO purchase.
Aud despite the fact that the fremen have a
board OF commissioners, Chief and Assistant
Chief and numerous district engineers, TO say
nOihing Of captains of companies, who are paid
10 do their thinking for them, when 1t comes 10
buying shirts the men insist upon doing little
thinking Tor themselves, all OF which Is un.
wise. perhaps, but very human.
SO the men have been thinking FOR them
selves, aud some OF them got 10 thinking so
hard about four dollar shirts With teu-cent but
tons on them 10 wear at fires that they We
thought out loud, and have said ana are saying
things about Jobs and "a diVVy" and ''who
gels he percentage" etc, which il the great
men who are pdid 10 do the blinking for the
Fire Department heard would undoubtedly
cause them much mental distress and Would
certainly cause the ineautious thinkers their
Jobs in the department II their identity was
known.
What the fremen are thinking and talking
about Is this: Some weeks ago the Fire Com
missloners passed an order hat all the regul
men In the department should wear a certain
kind OF blue flannel shirt with certain kind
aud a certain lumber of buttons, and a cerI ain
k1Dd OF neekte. The men made no objection,
ior nineteen out OF every twenty of them wore
Diue ndnuel shirts. aud they were ready to
change the buttons as to conform TO The rules
and buy a new neckte.
But judge of their surprise when they learned
that The shirts must be bought of one particu-
lar firm al cost of So So aud that each shirt
must have nine big pearl bu tons IN front and
three on each sleeve, at a cost of 10 cents each,
while the black sllh Deckite wOulQ cost 90 cents
Some OF The mrn :. Id "No," ano looked
around 10 see II they couldn't better themselves
aud found hey could; but such of the Fl, emen
as looked around for low prices were given a
gentle hint hat they had better buy their shirts
where The rest OF the boys bought theirs, and
they ala so. over TWO BundI ed shirts have
already been furnished, ana as each man must
have al least Two OF the garments the number
Will probably be doubled very shortly.
while The shirts are OF good material and
the buttons of lear. there Is no question but
that the price charged is more than enough"
saId fireman last night, 'and the 50-cent
necStle can be Duplicated for half the money
will have TO be rip,ed of the shirts every time
they are washed. aud In case one OF Them is
broken it will cost 10 cents 10 replace 1t. We
all want To look neat and have a pride In so
doing, but 1t is going IL ty steep. we think,
when we have TO wear 1O-cent buttons aud 30
cent ties TO fires. lot OF Us could have got
the same shirts made much cheaper, but we
were told we had better not hunt any new
dealers, and so we all ordered shirt apiece.
OF cours We've got 10 have another one and
that's another 50, and at The very first fire our
fancy shirts may be so burned as TO render
them useless except for The buttons.
Again, we don't like the idea. as said, of
having To Zip on and sew on the buttons every
time The shirts are washed. IL will be great
bother and 10 single men no little cost, but it
must be done for the buttons cost a dime each
aud are as brittle a. glass. Well" with sigh.
Il suppose IFS case of stand Il or quiz, but
Pll tell you that there are lots of fellows who
would do better work 10 a 81 shirt. knowing
that the other SO OF So, as the case may be, was
beng used for the wife and babies"
The muimurs are not loud but they are deep,
and the people who think for the firemen will
probably hear an echo of them before he sec
ond lot of shirts and buttons are bought.