Evening star., 1898-09-26

deavor to make it second to none in eff
| cheney.
1t was with great regret that the chief
| engineer was called upon to announce the
| death of Charles Mead. which occurred the
| llth day of September. 1891 He was ap-
| pointed a member of the department April
| 2S, 1874, and served the District faithfully
and well.
The Pension Fund.
| In the matter of pensions granted for
deaths or disease contracted in the line of
duty, have the honor TO renew my rec
omme ndetion Of last year-that the present
law be amended so as to authorizs the pay
| ment of such money as may be needed to
| supply any deficiency In this fund out OF
] the revenues of the District of Columbia
| instead of from Police Court fines Ii Is
apparent that the police revenues will not
| De suf1cient to. meet tho demands upon IL,
ana such an. amendment to the law seems
absolutely necessary at this time in order
10 avoid complications which might arise.
| As the amount of fines in the Police Court
| necessarily varies from year to year, it Is
not at all unlikely that such complication
| VIII happen which will result in derrigtng
some or tho disabled firemen or their wid-
oWS or the means provided for their main
| tenance. Such an event would work. a
hardship upon those who have spent the
best years of their lives In the service.
ana thereby defeat the object Of the law.
| the pension roll was decreased by $50 per
month, but this excellent showing 1t cannot
be expected will be repeated In the future
| L would also call attention TO the neces-
| stty for n change in the law providing for
the firemen's relief fund.- ana would reg
onnend that II be amended as followsi
Inat the chief engineer, assistant chief
! engineers. foremen, engineers fremen.
hostier5 and Drivates Of the fire depart
ment, when inca DacItated by age Or 40
disabled by injury received or disease con-
e traeted In the line Of duty as mentioned in
sad provisions, shall be entitled to receive
benefits of the firemen's relief fund as fol-
| lows: Chief engineer. 500 per month; as
sas.ant s chief engineers. S75 per month: fore
| month; f1reLnen, $50 per month; hostlers
$50 per month: privates, $55 per month:
| but nothing in this amendment shall be
Construed TO prevent the allowance now
| authorized for funeral expenses
| The pension roll at the present time con-
| Ialhs tWenty-four names, the amounts al
lowed each person per month running from
| @io 10 %fV' monthly total of 500.
Fire Alarm Boxes.
Notwithstanding the fact that thirty-five
ne" ire alarm boxes were erected during
the year just ended. the city is greatly in
need OF an additional number. This is true
not only of the business portion but also
OF the residence section and the county.
me necessity for an increase has been
! iully set forth in my reports for preyious
years. This is matter of vast iuaportan
not only to the department, but to the
| property holders of our city
| Il would earnestly recommend that durins
| lhe ensuing year attention be given this
| matter with view of increasing the nunn
| Der OF boxes, If possible.
| False Alarms
| Inc department has been greatly handi-
capped during the year on account of the
| number Of false alarms turned in through
the boxes which only require the breaking
! OF a glass and the turning of a. KEY TO
summon the department. Seventy-tNo such
alarms were turned in during the past
| Twelve months. and on each occasion at
least four companies responded If is trDe
| that the police department succeeded In
! arresung some of the offenders and II Is
| hoped that the severe punishment recently
meted out blythe Judge of the Police Court
VIII nave the. effect of lessening these vio-
| lauons In the future. The cost of the de-
| partment in answering these false alarms
| amounted to about 5000, while the fine
imposed amounted to nothing like this
| amount. In view of these numerous cases
/ 1t Is my opinion that it might be well to
| enact law much more severe than the
| present law and one which would prevent
| future violations.
The Bicycle Nuisance.
L desire to call attention to a serious cb-
struction to the department in the nature
| of bicycle riders, who seem to feel # a
| matter of duty to respond to every alarm
| or nre, and reach the scene Of the fire be-
! fore the department. An average of about
a hundred wheeImen respond to every
| alarm, and many times the number reach
es over four hundred. Most of thess riders
| in their desire to reach the fire ahead of
| al; others, engage in what is commonly
| called scorching," thereby hnderinG the
movement of the department vehicles and
| n nodes ri ,fs
| Is dangerous nuisance, which certainly
should be stopped in some manner The
presence on the streets Of so many wheel
men frequently causes serious loss of time
| on the part of the apparatus and conse-
Quently causes Increased loss ut fires In
this connection I would suggest that your
nonoraoie board provide a police reguia-
ton making 1t an offense for wheeiue n
| to interfere in any manner whatever with
the movements of the apparatus I would
| also suggest the enactment of a regulation
providing against wheelmen resting their
wheels within one square of fire. On
many occasions wheeln1en seem to have
| the idea that it is incumbent upon them
to lad the way and set the pace for the
drivers of the department. and this is not
only dangerous to the rider of the wheel
but retards the progress of the horses.
A regulation covering the nuisances COM
plained of above, 1 think, will be OF great
benefit to this department, and may lie a
preventive to the loss of life.
Fire Marshars Exhibit.
From the annual report of Mr.. w. o.
Drew. the fire marshal, accompanying the
report of Chief Paris, 1t appears that dur
ing the year there were 313 bell alarms of
fire and 305 local or silent alarms, a total
for the year of G1S alarms, an increase of
101 bell alarms and a decrease of 10 local
alarms, compared with the record for
the previous year. The estimated loss dur
ing tie year closed was SSiS 1885, covered by
An Insurance of $471 .Oo5, against a loss Of
S29I,TU and an insurance of s176,555 for
the preceding fiscal year: The destruction
of the power house OF the Capital Traction
Company in September of last year ac-
counted for the large increase in the item
of losses.
Specially referring to the fremen's relief
fund, Chief Paris states that the balance
on hand July /, 1887, was $S25.9S The re-
ceipts during the past year were: Interest
on bonds. s2; donations. 1910; fines imposed
on members Of the department, $3.50; fines