Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1894-02-09
FIREMEN
Hold a Meeting and Resolve
to Stand Together-wilI
again Petition the
Council for q Sal
airy for Their -.
+.-.. Chief '7--

A special meeting OF the fire de-
partment was held last night at the
city hall. Chief Lafond stated that
as there seemed to be some dissatis-
faction as to the treatment the de-
partment had received at the hands
of the city council, the meeting had
been called for the purpose of getting
together and finding out what they
were working for.
F. B. Stuart wanted to know if
the boys would stand by the ma
jority, and as over half the members
of the department were present, he
moved that a resolution he adopted
to the effect that the members would
abide by the action of the majority.
The resolution was drawn up and
nearly all those present signed it.
Peter Lauerman did not concur
with Mr.. Stuart on staying by the
majority. He said that the majority
might want to jump into the river
Mr.. Lauerman probably had refer
ence to the food in Noah's time,
when the majority were drowned.
Mr.. Stuart said he had confidence
enough in the good sense Of the ma
jority to abide by their decision. His
object was to have the boys act as
4 unit.
w. B. Jones said he had never been
in city where the firemen were paid
less than so cents an hour, while here
they were paid only 25 cents. He re-
cited an instance where he had to
pay out So for getting his clothes
repaired after fire, and at the
Schleusener fire, while charging the
chemical, he had spoiled $4 hat.
Mr.. Jones thought the firemen should
get enough out of it to pay for re-
pairing their clothes.
Pete Lauerman thought that 50
cents an hour was too much Fire
men came out with standup collars
on,' said Mr.. L., land if we raised
their salary they would come out
with plug hats
C.. VanBuskirk said he would
rather work for nothing and have
his work appreciated than to get 81
an hour and be used as they had
been.
A motion was made that the fire.
men be allowed 81 for the first hour
and so cents for each hour thereafter.
Several amendments were offered
and by the time they We're voted on
the original motion was knocked out
and the firemen had resolved to stay
together and work for the old wages
of 25 cents per hour.
Remarks We're made by Lyons,
Van Praag, Alderman Mahan and
Others but none of them were in
favor of disbanding.
A motion was then made that the
old committee be retained and that
they go before the council at the
next meeting and have that body
take some action in allowing the
chief fire warden a salary. Some
one suggested that as the council
had allowed the band $500 per ear,
that the department ask for a like
salary for the chief. The chief stated
that he had never asked for a salary
and consequently did not have to
examine all the chimneys in town,
but that if he was paid a salary the
council would expect him to do more
work than he was paid for.
1t made some OF the boys feel
rather sore to think that they had
to 20 before the present council and
ask for anything. One of them said
that some of the members of the
council had insulted the fire depart
ment by refusing to be present at the
special meeting of council Monday
evening.
The boys have better under
standing of the matter now and they
feel confident that their petition
which has been before the council
will be acted upon at the next meet
ing.