The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-08-20
LAST DAY OF FIRE CHIEFS
CH[EF KENNEDY WILL PROBABLY
 BE ELECTED PRESIDENT.

Over the Waters of the Sound-Dinner at
 Savin Rock-Papers Read at Special
 session-Parade of the Fire and Police
 Departments To-day-Line of March.
 The special session of the fire chiefs convention convened at o'clock last evening with Q large attendance pres ent. First on the programme was paper read by Chief c. s. Woods of Evansville, Ind. The subject was "Mu- nicipal Government as Related to Fire Departments"
 At the conclusion of Chief Woods pa- per W. F. Clark of Northampton, Mass, read a paper or the "Compartment System of Constructing Buildings" MT. Clark advocated the construction of buildings in such a manner that in case of fire in any room or on any floor that room or floor might be so shut off from the remainder of the building that the fire could not spread from the room in which 1t originated. He also spoke of the advantage of f1reproof
 stairways. He thought the erection of 
 compulsory by legislation MT Clark called attention to the value ill case Of fire of fireproof shutters, and cited the case of recent destructive fire in Yon- kers. N. Y. in which if the building in which the fire originated had been pro- tected by fireproof shutters the damage
 done would probably not have been one-half as great as it was with the el,, y1yith WI h1liId- ing was fitted.
 On motion of ex-Chief Damrell of Boston the paper of Chief Woods was
 received and ordered spread on the
 minutes, while that of Mr. Clark was referred to the executive committee, as MT. Clark is not a member of the asso-
 citation.
 The next and last paper of the even-
 ing was read by Simon Brentano of
 New York. The topic was "The Con-
 trol of Fires" The paper was most
 favorably received and was pronounce
 ed by a large number of the chiefs
 present to be the most valuable paper
 that has yet been read at the conven-
 tion. The substance of the paper is
 printed in another column.
 At the close of MT. Brentano's paper
  Humphrey of Pittsburg to give to the convention the details of the disastrous
 fire which occurred in his city on the
 Sd of May last The building in which the fire occurred was a so-called fire
 proof structure, and the contents were
 entirely destroyed.
 Chief Humphrey described the con- struction of the building and the cir cumstances of the fire in a most inter-
 esting manner. In the course of his talk he mentioned the fact that the building contained sixty-five thousand square feet of floor and had no parti- tion walls.
 When he had concluded Captain
 Damrell said that he thought that no building should be allowed to be con- structed which contained more than
 five thousand square feet of floor space.
 He said that the attempts of avari-
 cious capitalists to get large profits by
 erecting high buildings on small plot
 of ground should be restricted.
 Captain Brophy of Boston said that
 there was no such thing as fireproof
 building, and that the sooner the chiefs let the fact be known the better 1t would be for the regulations of the heads of the fire departments of the country. He said that to reduce the fire losses in the country we much check fires in their incipiency, even if 1t is necessary to get automatic devices to aid firemen in their work. He
 thought that wooden buildings Of the
 old pattern would stand more than the modern so=called fireproof buildings
 which he characterized as farce and an imposition on the public. Chief Page of Plainf1eld took eXcep- tions to Captain Brophy's statement, and thought that the modern fireproof buildings were much more secure
 against fires than the old style of con- struction.
 President Devine then announced that the committee on constitution and bylaws, of which he was member, was ready to report. As the chairman of the committee was absent he called
 Chief Webber of Boston to the chair and read the report himself. Consider able time was spent in discussing the new constitution, which was adopted secion by section.
 The chief changes in the old consti- tuition are in making the executive com mittee consist of five members and elec- tive by the association, instead of ap- pointive by the president; increasing the secretary's salary from $500 to $500; in providing for the payment of $1O0 annual salary to the treasurer, and in making ex-chiefs active members of ] the association without the payment of dues.
 It was voted that the date of holding the next convention be left to the de-
 cision of the board of directors and the chief in whose city the next convention will be held.
 It was nearly midnight when the ses- 2 sion adjourned.
 Fire Patrols and Salvage Corps. The sixth annual meeting of the su- { perintendents and captains of fire pa-
 trols and salvage corps of the United States met in the rooms of the fire com missioners yesterday afternoon. Those ! present of the 25 members of the associ- ation were Messrs Hiram Williamson, of Worcester, Mass, president of the organization; Secretary and Trea asurer
 J. P. Pelleton, of Kansas City; A. C. Hull of New York; J. J. Cashrave of