Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-14
PERMANENT FIREMENa,

| rThe Appolntment of Three New ones Leads the Mayor to Suggest That They l Form a Mutual Admiration Society," Is Mayor Kilduff presided at the meeting l,of the meeting of the fire board last night io The petition of Daniel D. Gregory for ire alarm box at the corner of Washing ton avenue and West Porter street was re- ferred to Chief Snagg for an estimate of expense and as to its necessity. Commis- sioner Hart asked the chief if all the boxes are in use. He said they are.
 In view of the fact that James Douglas, engineer of Phoenix Fire company. No l. has been away for some time it was voted to declare that position vacant and on mo- tion it was voted that Eugene Rowley be appointed to the position.
 Commissioner Hynes said that last year the board asked an extra appropriation of s2, POO in anticipation of the appointment of few permanent fremen and he thought the time had come when the appointment of such men should be made. He be- lieved such action would strengthen the efficiency of the department. He moved that William NJ. Cassin be appointed per manent fireman of No l. The motion was put and carried.
 Then vote was offered to the effect that George Doderer be appointed perma- nent hoseman at No 2's.
 Here the mayor broke in and said he thought the board should move cautiously in the matter of appointing permanent hremen. He thought such action was slowly but surely tending toward paid fire department. and if this thing should be continued we might have several paid fremen who might not be able to render sufficient service for the amount of money | which they would receive. He thought | the same care should be exercised in ap- pointing a permanent fireman as there is | in the election of policeman. The mayor said he had it in his mind for a long time that the engineer of No Is steamer was receiving too much salary for the amount of work which he performed. "Just think of it. he said. ''the engineer received S2OO last year and the steamer was called out but once. His helper re. ceiyed s100. This means that it cost the city $500 to take out the steamer once. " The mayor considered it bad economy nc matter how competent an engineer might be.
 Mir Hynes was willing to vouch for the character and efticisncy of those whom he
 had named. He said the trouble is there are too few men at some fires, and cited (
 case which occurred recently where there
 were but seven men present from one oi
 the companies. Speaking about the ex'
 pense, he said: "At Reading. Pa. n city (
 little larger thar this, n paid department
 is maintained at an expense of S30, 900 I
 year"
 The mayor said it made no difference tC
 the city of Waterbury how much it cos l Reading to maintain her fire department It is not question of how much we cal spend, but how little. What the cit, , wants is the lrest possible service for thu least money possible. He did not thinl , I .n-.- fremen. He believed few call mel :, would be of more service to the depart
 ment and cost good dea r less money. lie did not kno' what all those permanent firemen wer going to do during the interval betwee
 fires. He summed up about the numbe
 of fires that occur per month and the asked the board if they proposed to pa some more men to sit around waiting fo g fires to occnr. In order to entertain eac
 other he thought what permanent irome
 the city has should form a mutual adm ration society. The experience of pas
 years does not warrant this expenditure.
 It was shown that the board of finanC
 and the council were fully aware that th
 board intended to appoint few more per
 manent firemen and no one could say thf | it was being done unknown to th
 public. George Doderer was then vote for and elected permanant hoseman on N
 2's steamer.
 Then Mir Hart wanted to recommen ', some one for a permanent position. br forgot his name. Finally he found 2 written on n slip of paper in his pocke l. MT Hart then moved that Henry HeItmaI ladderman on Mutual Hook < Ladder Co il truck. be transferred to the position of pe | manent firemen on No 2's steamer. I'll , motion was carried. Harry Hull was al . pointed permanent ladderman in MT Hei n mans place. The salary of the permaneI , men is S60 per month.
 n It was plain to everyone that the mayo n was dissatisfied with the result of Il fl meeting. but the board thought the ne fl men were badly needed and all went hon 2 apparently quite happy.