New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-11
NO MORE FIRES OR PANlCS
But Hammerstein Won't Disclose
Wonderful Boon Yet.

mayor Mcclellan has consented to delay put
ting into effect the recommendations Of a COM
iiiittee composed OF representatives of the Fire
department, Health Department and Bureau Of
buildings regarding changes in the theatres
He saw many theatre managers on SATURDAY.
and they declared that they would cooperate
In carrying out the recommendations of his
committee although some of the changes sug-
gested would cost considerable money The
Mayor and the managers agreed that the thea
tres must be made safe quickly as possible
ana there must be no repetition in this city Of
the disaster in the Iroquois Theatre. in Chicago.
Then the Mayor talked with Oscar Hammer
stein. and, presto. he decided that it might not
be necessary to have any of the recommenda-
uons OF his committee carried out Instead, 1t
might be better to have an entirely new set of
recommendations. Exactly what Mr. Hammer
stein said TO the Mayor is still a dead secret.
Inc Mayor will not tell and Mr.. Hammerstein
says only enough to increase pardonable Curl
osity the subject.
gave to the Mayor only an outline OF nv
invention for making all the theatres safe" Mr
haminerstein said last night at the Victoria
Iheatre. I am going TO have a meeting with
'he Mayor, the Fire Commissioner and the Su-
perintendent OF Buildings soon and then will
publish my invention 10 the world Meanwhile
Inc changes will not be necessary as soon as my
invention is known. 1 expect that the Mavor
VIII let me know by telephone tomorrow when
the meeting will be held.
Watch for the announcement of the roee+
irg' ana be there and you will know all about
iii' Invention am not going 10 tell about II
'ii 'heh. am not mercenary in the case, for
am gong 10 give leave to all the other theatre
eard s rs 10 make use of my invention. 1 re-
eard IL as a physician might regard a discovery
hn 80 itieGiclne that would save countless lives. 1
shali run over 10 Washington to see about per-
iecthg patents, but that is because I want the
creolt Tor it. l feel that / am entitled to have
some glory out of it. for that is all expect to
set. II did not protect myself in that way.
somebody else might want to steal my invention
and make money out of 1t.
VIII II make theatres safe against fires?
Why' that is exactly what it will do 1t will
MAKE fire in a theatre impossible. BY the
operation OF my invention fire will be extin-
suished at the very moment it starts. Mark
my words AS soon my invention is made
known, there will be an instant feeling Of relief
IN the public mind. All the theatre managers
VIII rejoice. Every body will know at once that
there are to be no more theatre disasters. OF
course. in saying this understand that l would
be supremely ridiculous If my invention did not
DO all l say 1t will do But | sure that
Just as soon as my invention is made known,
thousands of fellows will be saying Now why
didn't think of that? And there Will be some
smart fellows who will say: Why 1 thought of
that, only l wasn't quick enough in getting a
patent on it. Those are the fellows l want TO
head off.
"Fireproof scenery? That is not possible. L
have been hearing about that for years and ex-
perimenting with IL. too. You can make seem
cry freproof for a little while, of course. 1t
won't burn Just after IL has been saturated
with solution. But in a few weeks, after the
solution has evaporated, il will burn like kind
ling No, my invention goes ahead of any fire
proof solution. You can have much innam-
Inable scenery on the stage as YOU like. and you
can lock all the theatre doors. and yet everybody
In the theatre viii have such feeling of Sc
curity and serenity that you couldn't start a
panic if you set off a wagonload of real fire.
works on the stage