Evening star., 1901-12-03

matter of entire satisfaction either TO the
department or to the men, and he recon-
mends that hereafter the Commissioners
shall be empowered by Congress to con-
tract for these uniforms and to deduct from
the pay of the men the cost thereof.
The establishment of a repair shop for
the department is strongly advocated by
the chief engineer, who feels that, should
such shop be established, the cost of re-
pairs to apparatus of the department would
be very materially decreased. The depart
ment would not, he believes, be subjected
to delay, as 1t now often is, the chief en-
gineer being of the opinion that the work
would be done more promptly should the
department be provided with a repair shop
of its own.
A Salvage Corps.
Attention is called by the chief engineer
to the fact that the District is without
salvage corps, an organization to be found
in most of the large cities of the country,
where it has proved most important and
valuable adjunct to the fire department.
The chief engineer is of the opinion that
the character of the building rather than
its height should determine the question of
whether or not 1t should be equipped with
hre escapes. The present law permits the
omission of fire escapes on buildings less
than fifty feet in height. This should not
be, the chief engineer says, cOntendng that
there is no such thing an absolutely fire.
proof building, and that, therefore, fire es-
capes should be required on all buildings
wherein human beings are housed or gath
cred where the structures rise to such a
height as to make it difficult for persons
therein to escape He refers to the fact
that fire escapes are not only valuable as
means OF escape from burning building,
but that they also afford when run To the
roof, convenient means for the fire ,1epart-
ment to reach otherwise inaccessible parts
OF a building so equipped from which to
more effectively fight a fire in an adjacent
structure, and he therefore recommends
fn ,f +lo
building in every instance.
About 10 per cent of the fires during the
past year were caused either directly or in
directly by gasoline or like infiammabIe
fluids The use of gasoline, particularly as
!uel, mas increased, yearly, and the traffic
IN 1t has correspondingly increased. 1t is
admittedly one of the most treacherous ana
dangerous of inf1ammable oils, and its ex-
plosive power is double that Of gunpowder.
The chief engineer recommends that it's
storage IN large quantities within the fire
limits be not permitted except under such
conditions as will tend to insure the highest
possible degree of public safety. and he no
less earnestly recommends that dealers in
gasoline and gasoline stoves and other like
oils and appliances be required to furnish
to every purchaser printed instructions as
to their proper use.
There s, says the chief engineer, no
greater menace to a building in which fire
has started than an elevator WELL espe-
clally where the well is an open one. In
noors of buildings, have been drawn up
elevator wells or shafts to the very roofs,
resulting In the total destruction Of the
structures with almost inconceivable rapid
1ty; the destruction in many cases being so
rapid as to make escape from the flames
impossible. He, therefore, recommends that
elevator wells be either walled up or that
the use of automatically closing traps be
required appliances which are designed to
prevent fire passing by way of the elevator
well or shaft from one floor to another.
High Pressure Water Service.
The fire department heartily indorses the
of the water department to es-
tablish in the business section of the city
a high pressure water service for fire fight
ing, the chief engineer believing that 1t
would enable his department to practically
do away with steamers in the territory COW
cred by the proposed service and replace
them with combination chemical and hose
wagons, the steamers in that event being
sent to the residential sections where there
is need of additional ones.
Many fires during the past year, it Is be-
lieved, were due to defective electric wiring
and the chief engineer earnestly recon-
mends the provision for an electrical inspec-
tor, whose duty 1t shall be to inspect all
such work, and that the Commissioners be
empowered to make and enforce such reg
ulatfons as they may deem necessary and
proper to insure public safety in such mat
terS.
The establishment of a public crematory
for the burning of waste and rubbish has
decreased in the opinion of the fire depart
ment in no small degree the liability Of
fires. The accumulated waste and rubbish
cause many fires, and the greater the
amount of it removed from dwellings and
business houses the more is the danger OF
fires occurring decreased.
The chief engineer also believes that the
regulations prohibiting ashes being placed
in wooden receptacles is largely responsible
for the decrease of fires.
Health Department.
The records Of the health department
show that during the year ended June 30,
1901, 6,0S7 deaths occurred in the District.
OF the decedents 3,430 were white and 1851
colored. The annual death rate per thou
sand for the entire population, 21S3; the
corresponding figure for the white popula-
tion, 1882; and that for the colored popu-
lation, 3O.73 are each in excess of the anal
osous figures for the preceding year. The
death rate for the population as whole is
just equal to, the death rate for the whites
slightly less than, and that for the colored
people somewhat in excess of, the corre-
spending average death rates during the
past ten years. The number of deaths
from typhoid fever decreased from PIG to
1873; from diphtheria and Group from 2O5 to
SO; from scarlet fever from % to land from
measles from Al to II. The number of
deaths from tuberculosis of the lungs in
lis to ISL; from whooping cough from 4S
to "A; and from erysipelas from to 49,
There seems to be no definite assignabIe
cause for any Of the notifications in the
mortality indicated above The number of
deaths from suicides increased from 20 to
50. Those reported by the coroner as due
to criminal homicide decreased from IS to
8. The number of deaths from electric cur
rents, which in 1S9S-1S99 was one and In
1S99-19O0 three, increased during the past
year to 5. Fatal injuries from steam rail-
ways decreased from 10 to II, and from
street railways from to 3. The returns
of births, notoriously incomplete, have not
varied materially in number since last
year.
Attention is invited to the need for
amending the law regulating the distribu-
ton of unclaimed dead bodies among the
medical schools Of the District so that 1t
will provide a supply Of material of this
sort sufficient to permit better instruction
in medicine and as to allow the assign
ment of bodies directly to official examin-
ing boards, such those of the army and
navy, in order to enable them better to de-
termine the qualifications of candidates
coming before them The present law has
provided somewhat less than one cadayer
per annum for every eight medical and
dental students, a number manifestly in
sufficient for proper instruction.
Tn prin n1,nn.n.