Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1903-09-24

F|REMEN
Fire Marshal Dett|ebach Believes
All Should Belong to the
National Association.
Is A CHARTER MEMBER
Interesting Paper Prepared BY Him on
Subject to be Read Before Coming
Convention.

The following interesting and in
structive paper on the topic: "Why
Volunteer Firemen Should Join the
National Association" has been pre-
pared by A. Ia, Dettlebach, fire mar
shall of Santa Fe, and will be read be-
fore the sixth annual convention OF
the National Firemens association OF
the United States, to be held in Chica-
go, September 1880.
Every state, exempt, veteran and
volunteer association, and every fire.
man, paid or volunteer, is entitled to
membership in the National Firemens'
association of the United States. Mr.
Dettlebach has been identified with
the association since its inception.
and is one OF the veteran volunteer
firemen of the Territory of New Mexi-
CO.. His paper follows:
I'm opening the discussion why
Volunteer Firemen Should Join the
National Association | will revert to
the history of the volunteer firemen,
and endeavor to show the various rea-
SOuS why We SuOulu uCSOLAC AOAiD0in
of the association
st is perhaps not necessary to re-
call the deeds of our volunteers from
the early days of the bucket brigade
up to the present time, when we have
SO often been called heroes by ora
tors, newspapermen and Others at our
musters, banquets, etc. Have we ever
thought ourselves when we have mod
estly declared it was only our duty to
be ever faithful and vigilant, to arise
in the midst of a cold winters night
and wade through snow UP to our
knees and stand where the blaze was
scorching our faces. while our backs
were freezing, with pieces of ice COM
ing out Of the nozzle, and then re-
| turn to our homes, wheeling and
sneezing, with touch of pneumonia
and a lay off, with loss of time and
money, in order to cure our colds-l
reiterare have we ever thought of the
sacrifice made, and what it meant.
Then when we have gone to the great
orators and others who have been loud
in their praises of us, and have asked
them to help US get doctor to cure
our sick or help us bury our dead, how
often have we been turned down.
"How often have we listened to the
sidewalk orator at fire, telling 9th
ers what he could do, who when called
upon to help has sneaked away like a
whipped cur, with the remark, Il am
not a fireman"
"How many volunteer firemen have
listened to the politician, who before
his election to an Office has promised
to see that we had city or state aid
for our old and disabled members and
sick, and their widows and orphans,
and when the election was over when
reminded of his promises has turned
you down with the assurance: 1t was
only a campaign promise Why has
all this been done? Simply because
we had no organization.
Look at the value today of TIE
trades unions or other societies, Wlo
have a national or international or
ganization. Are they turned down?
Take the states and territories that
have a state or territorial association
and see what has been done for them.
Look at New York state with it's home
for aged firemen Could it have been
built without an association? Gould
our volunteers in New Mexico today
exist without the organization that
gave us the two per cent tax law on
| insurance premiums and our exemp-
tion law, what at least protects us in
some manner? We would be where we
were twenty years agO-beggars-
from city councils, merchants and citi-
zens We should again have to take
our hat and stand on the street cor
ners and beg passers by to drop
nickel, so we could buy hose to pro-
tect their houses, help our sick or
bury our dead.
with our Territorial association
came new era. We now know that
at small cost from all our members
we can protect our helpless, our wld-
ows and orphans, and are not vag-
rants as we were formerly. The nat
ural outcome of the state associations
is the national association-the SUI
preme lodge-as it might be called.
When our volunteer firemen have re-
sponded to the call and enrolled them
selves under the national banner, then
can we truly say that we are strong
and true uniOn-then can the volun-
teer firemen of the United States. no
matter whether East West, North or
South-feel that they are safe, that
such body of men will never be ig-
nored, but that they will be looked
upon all over the union as men and
l,,.>4l,e.r l,olioxris,cr that II,