Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-17
THE New FIRE STATION

One of the worst pieces Of jobbery with
which the city council has succeeded in
disgracing itself and the city 1t repre-
SCENTS. is the acceptance of the new fire
of the grounds for that building in the
first place was a breach of good judg-
ment. II not worse, that ought to have
called for a grand jury investigation.
Lying on a side hill abutting street car
lines that are in almost constant use.
and where a high degree of speed is
maintained cm the down grade, it Will be-
almost an impossibility fof the firemen
to- reach the street in the clear with
safety and dispatch. The danger If COLI,
lision with street cars will be constant,
firemen or endangered lives for those
who %patronize that line of street railway
will result from such an ill-advised loca-
ton Of a fire station. AS the street car
line leads to the depots and South Butte
it is one of the best patronized in the,
city. and the departure n arrival of
trains necessitates a schedule that can-t
not we'll be adjusted to the tolling Of the
fire bell. 90
But while the location, procured at the
scandalous outlay of 5000. is. bad
infinitely worse. When it was being
erected the walls showed such a devia-
ton from straight and plumb lines that
some of the members of the city govern
merit expressed fears as to the stability
of the walls. deplored their unsightly APP
pearance and made man statements to
the effect that the walls must be taken
down, and that they would see that such
work was never accepted by the city.
Since hat time the north wall of the
building has been Strengthened, but in
| weaker than it was before the repair was
attempted. The outside thickness Of
brick was cut out for more than a story
in height, and then this single thickness
of brick was rebuilt against the main
wall that had been left standing, making
| a wall that was straight on the outside,
! but a split wall, which greatly weakened
the structure, for the real bond of the
brick work had been destroyed.
During the progress of the work, me-
| chanics laughed at it and predicted that
- -...l, - -. A1p~a., - Ato An 49, NJ -
hands, while some of the Powers-that-Be
talked earnestly against endorsing such
work. But the contractor evidently knew
the men with whom he had to deaf, and
by making a showing to the effect that
the original design of the building nwAs
structurally weak, his product was ap,
proved by the council. In accepting the
structure the council transfers the blame
for bad work from the contractor to the
architect, while the public will transfer
it in turn from the architect to the tmem-
bers of that body. After inspecting that
beautiful pile of brick, and finding that
the south wall of the building is in as
a a condition as was the north wall
before a pretense toward repairing 1t
was made, the city fathers ordered a
rants to- be drawn in full payment for
the glazing defect known as the new
fire station! -
Many of the more palpable defects in
the building are visible to the most
casual observer, and no doubt were they
all apparent public disgust would be
greatly intensified over the action of the
council. While no one blames the origi-
nal owner of the grounds for selling the
property to the city, when it was wanted
by the aldermen, or will censure the con.
tractor for working the city fathers
J up to the approval of his brick pile wher
they were such a marks, the tax
paying public has a right to look will
suspicion upon h intellectual breadth
Of the men who are temporarily endowet
with authority to fritter away the none,
( of the people. Nearly $4,000 were ex
pended for the structure, and but for thu
timely interference of the mayor it woult
= have been $1S, 900 or more.
Mr.. Arthur Sewall, who was Bryan
3 running mate in 1896, has come out II
favor of the policy OF the administratfoa
!. on the Philippine question:. n an
: nounces his belief that President McKin
: ley will be reelected.
o