The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-19
FULENW|DER RAPS . NEW PLUMBING PLAN He Says All Property Owners Should Oppose Ordinance IT WOULD BE COSTLY Pending Ordinance, Says He, Would, If Adopted, Throw Plumbers Out
 of Work and Cost the
 Public S1oo,ooo.
1T WOULD BE COSTLY

A. L. Fu1enwider president of the Bir- mingham Realty company, says that the proposed plumbing ordinance now pend- ing in the city council should belopposed by every property owner in Birmingham who is not in the plumbing business, and that the existing law is a great deal fairer and wiser than the one the council is considering.
 When the subject of the new ordinance was mentioned yesterday to MT. Fulen- wider, he behaved very much as bull does when that animal, turned loose in the amphitheatre. spies for the first time the red or yellow flag of a toreador.
 BristIine Statement.
 When at length, however, he had re- gained his composure. MT. Fulenwider dictated a statement that bristled with aerid adjectives, prickly adverbs, caustic interrogation points and hair-raising ex- clamation marks.
 When the dictated statement passed through an expurgating refinery, and when it came out it was as prim as quakeress, and it's author had all the ear- marks of some Daniel come to judgment and ready to render a judicial opinion.
 Here Is what Mir. Fulenwider said:
 Extra Expense for City
 "The ordinance provides for the ap- pointment of a chief plumbing inspector at a salary of $125 per month, to be paid out of the city treasury. Under the ex- isting ordinance all sanitary plumbing l.. ba new law thus means charge against the city treasury of $500 per year, with out any increased benefit.
 "The proposed ordinance is a step backward. from sanitary standpoint. While Philadelphia hopper pan, and other closets are prohibited in pards, nothing is said in the new ordinance against the use of short hopper closets in dwelling houses and these are much less sanitary than the closets condemn ed by the ordinance. The present ordi- nance with a few amendments to mod ernize 1t, is declared by those in posi- tion to know, to be absolutely effec- tive.
 Would Limit Plumbers.
 "The striking feature of the proposed measure is the effort to limit the num- Der of persons who shall be permitted to do plumbing of any kind. Its provis- ions are that it shall be unlawful for any person either to do any plumbing work of any nature, including repairs and house draining, or employ any other person to do such work unless he has first passed an examination before the plumbing examining board, to their satis- faction.
 "The operation of this clause can read fly be seen. An expert plumber, or me- chanic, not having stood the examina- tion is forbidden to put on a washer in his own hydrant. but must call on one of the plumbers who has beer exam- ined. It would be entirely within the power of this examining board by their arbitrary action. to close every plumbing shop in the city. by refusing to certify that their employees are capable. Inspectors Fees, | Where any new material is used, whether in repairs of the most trivial na- ture. or in new work, a fee of s1 is charged for a permit to do the work and a further fee of sl is charged for the in spection of the same.
 Tt is conservatively estimated that un- der the provisions of the ordinance the changing of the yard closets condemned therein would mean an expenditure to the property owners of upwards of $100000 within sixty days and this in face of the fact that these same closets, thus con- demned, are considered by probably the best sanitary expert in the city as being entirely sanitary, under the present ex- isting ordinance.
 Tt would probably be safe to say that plumbing in general in the city would cost probably 100 per cent more under the proposed measure, from the fact that the number of plumbers permitted to work in the city is absolutely dependent upon the opinion of this examining board.
 Would 1t not be just as reasonable to require that carpenters, brickmasons, painters or puddlers should be examined by a board before permitting them to do work here?
 An examination of the facts in the matter will show that the existing ordi- nance is very much superior to the new one. l am convinced that if the matter Is placed before the public every property owner in the town, unless he be inter- ested in the plumbing business, will be opposed to the rev ordinance