The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-21
SAVANNAH ONLY CITY
PENALdzED By TARIFF ASSOCIA-
TION, DESPITE ITS EXCEL
LENT RECORD.
STATISTICS WERE PRESENTED
no CHAMBER OF COMMERCE By w.
H. DANIEL.

Action of Thrift Association Charac-
terized rs Violently Un5ust-Sa-
vannah's Fire Loss Percentage
Lowest of Any Georgia City.
Ranks Third in Matter of Tax
RatiO-Water Committee En-
powered to Act in Conjunction
with Insurance Agents in Pre-
senting Matter Directly to Com
Panies-Otber Matters of Business
Before the Chamber-New supply
Company Coming Here.
The discussion of the treatment ac-
corded Savannah insurance payers by
the Southeastern Tariff Association oc-
cupied the greater part of the time
of the October meeting of the Cham
Der of Commerce yesterday. The meet
ing was the largest in point OF at
tendance in the history of the cham
Der and the closest interest was shown
in all the discussions. There were six
ty-seven member present besides Pres
adent ]. H. Estill and Secretary Dom
ian.
The matter of the Is cent insurance
charge first came before the Cham
Der when the report of the Commit
tee on Water Supply was called Mr..
Leopold Adler, chairman, reported that
the matter of rerating the city had
been taken up with the Southeastern
Tariff Association and that an arrange
ment had been made whereby thirty
TO forty points would be saved. This
will make round saving of
about 500, 900. The Is cents per
hundred charge has not yet
been removed, though the COM
mittee had worked hard to that end.
If this is removed, about $4,000 addi
tionaI will be saved insurance payers,
Mr. Adler reported the meeting of
the retail merchants and their pro-
test against allowing the charge to
remain. The action of the Chamber
of Commerce committee in addressing
a letter to Secretary Fleming, asking
that the Is cent charge be removed
at once, was also reported. No salts
factory answer had been received.
Upon request of Mr.. Adler, Secre-
tary Donlan read the letter which had
been received from the Executive Com
1nittee of the Tariff Association. The
letter, dated Oct. Is, is as follows:
Letter from secretary Fleming.
Your favor of the 18th inst. was re-
ceived here this afternoon. The Ex-
ecutive Committee held it's meeting
yesterday and adjourned. so that 1t
will be impracticable to present your
communication to that body.
THE writer is without authority to
remove the Is cent charges. To re-
move these charges now, and before
the revision of rates is completed would
be contrary to all rule and precedent,
and was not asked when other large
cities in the South were rerated. such
as Macon, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Au-
gusta, and other places easily recalled.
"As a matter of fact Savannah has
not yet been placed on a first-class ba-
sis, inasmuch as several improvements
which have been promised are yet to
be provided.
You probably overestimate the time
which it will take to complete the re-
vision. 1t might take several months,
but not many months, in our mind.
THE Executive Committee would
have made the same answer. in the
writer's candid judgment, had it been
in session and your communication sub
mitted for consideration.
Mr.. Adler took exception to the
statement in the letter regarding Ma
con, etc. on the ground that it had
not been penalized with a lucent extra
charge as had Savannah. He asked for
a statement from some of the insur-
ance agents present.
Statistics Presented by MIR. Daniel.
Mr.. w. H. Daniel was called for and
In response he made an instructive adj
dress. He characterized tha 90
the Southeastern Tariff Association as
violently unjust, and in support of his
position presented the following facts:
The Is cents per hundred charge was
imposed eleven years ago for four dis
tinct reasons: First, the inefficiency
of the fire department; second, the de-
tciency of the water supply; third. the
excessive taxes and fire record of the
past five years" This record includ-
ed the fire of 1SS9-confiagration.
A comparison of conditions then and
now shows remarkable change. In
1882 the fire department was part pay
and part volunteer There were forty
six regular men and ten call men. The
largest engine was a 750-gallon ma
chine. There were twenty-seven
horses in service, and only 5,100 feet of
hose. The city had forty and seven
eighths miles of various sized water
mains, varying from four to twenty
four inches. Only thirteen and a frac-
ton miles of the streets were paved
and of this 80 per cent. was cobble.
To-day the fire department is a full
paid department with eighty-two men,
forty-four horses in service, and II, 4S6
feet of standard hose. 1t has added
two 1000 gallon three-horse engines,
TWO chemical engines, and an addition
al 1OOO-gallon engine is in the annual
budget and was when the inspector
made his inspection. The Gamewell
alarm system is installed, and all up
to-date equipment required is on hand
There are sixty-two and half
miles of water mains, the sizes
being, AZ, SO. "a, 16, IL, 10, 8
and inches. A small amount
OF tour-inch mains are noted, but
these are for domestic purposes. There
are thirty-one miles of paved streets
80 per cent. of which is asphalt and
vitrified brick.
Savannah Low in Tax Rate.
The tax rates in the more prorni-
nent Georgia cities are as follows: At
lanta, 1.53: Augusta, PAP: Columbus
&.S3; Macon, 1.63. and Savannah. 2 az
per cent. Three cities outside of Geor-
gia were taken, Montgomery. 4.O1: Mo-
bile, ESQ. and Charleston, 2.2O. From
the above ii will be readily seen that
Savannah ranks third, and yet, despite
her standing, this is the only civ of
those mentioned which is penalized.
AS for its fire record, Mr.. Daniel
presented figures showing that SaVan-
nah had the lowest percentage loss of
any city in Georgia. The percentag e
loss in the past nine years in Georgia
cities is follows Atlanta n.