The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-01
HARRISON ACTS QUICKLY.
ALL CHICAGO THEATRES MAY BE
 TEMPoRARIIYCLOSED.

AFShttcCe1 " NAoct to~""y sD <~n Recommendations tt Tho Mayor-Lat-
 ter VIII Insist That Extra Bremen be Employed and Paid For by Thsssers-- wni shut Up All Houses Refnsing to Comply.
 Chicago, Dec. s1.-From the action of a committee of prominent architects of Chicago, at a meeting tonight, may result recommendatian to Mayor Har- rison to close every theater in the ely Euntil it's exits and construction have been examined. This idea was suggest Id d ta 1rasidant RAs nont Of the Ghi- |cago Architects ass7riation to-day by w. A. Pridmore, an architect, who lost some relatives in the fire. President Beaumont refused to personally make the recommendation to Mayor Harrison,
 but called an informal meeting of the association. at which it was decided
 that a larger gathering of the members would be held tomorrow and action at that time would be decided upon. Mayor Harrison said tonight: "i see no more reason for closing all the theaters than for stopping all rail- way trains after disastrous wreck. There is no necessity for getting hys- tericaI about this matter, although this horrible disaster has taken place in probably the safest theater in Chicago" The mayor tonight in this connec- tion, sent the following letter to all theatrical proprietors in the city: November 2, this year, transmitted to the city council report on the thea ters of Chicago, calling the attention of the council to the failure of all the theaters to comply fully with the terms of the building ordinances relating to places of amusernent. The council sent the communication to the committee on l judiciary for consideration and pending report from that committee, directed the commission of buildings to suspend enforcement Of the ordinance.
 "The city ordinance, among other 1 things, requires each theater to employ 1 a fireman, to be approved by the chief i of the fire department, to look after the l fire protection of the house. am ad- vised by the chief that several theaters
 have refused to comply with the provi- i sions of the ordinance. Tn view of the l terrible disaster at the Iroquois theater,
 and pending action of the city council, have directed the chief of the fire de- pertinent to assign one regular member
 of the department to each theater not
 complying with the ordinance relating ] to the employment of @ fireman. The
 fremen now employed by the theaters
 should be assigned to the front of the
 house, while the fireman assigned by i the chief should be assigned to the
 stage. I have further directed the chief, { in cases where the ordinance has not
 been obeyed, to assign two regular fire-
 men to the duty of protecting the pub- 1 lie against fire.
 "The wages of these firemen will be
 billed direct to the theaters to which ] they are assigned, and the service will
 be continued until the council has final l ly acted uponthe ordinance
 1 After dispatching this letter, the
 mayor said:
 If any one of the theatrical man.
 agers refuseslto pay the wages of these
 men, as several of them have refused
 in the past, will close the doors of the
 theaters and keep them closed until
 they agree to act as they should"