The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-30
BETTER PAY FOR FIREMEN. PLAN OF A CITIZEN. Work and Remuneration Compared With That of
 Policemen.
New Haven, Conn. May 2s, 1907.

New Haven, Conn, May 29, 1907. To Editor of the Journal and Courier:
 Dear Sir-I note in the issue of your morning paper of this date your very pleasing arrangement regarding the pay of the various departments in the city, wherein, you rightly term, the citizens and taxpayers of the city of. New Haven should be interested. With the satisfactory arrangement of the school teachers most worthy demand for an increase of pay, think it is no more than right and just that the con sideration of the cause of the New Ha- ven firemen should be discussed at some length and let these men, who. are employed for the city's protection from fire, realize that their recent pe- tition for an increase of pay, having been acted upon by the fire commits sioners, is a guarantee that the amount presented to the board of finance is a just claim for the duties of the men. I can see no reason why the parent body should not act in some way to satisfy the members of the fire depart ment that official recognition of their petition has been acted upon. At the rrarop+ do1r +ba Aroy1a,, Lnour no+h;po as a result of the fire commissioners acting on their original petition. The public press has given it out in record that such paper has been presented to the board of finance, and believe that, out of respect for most worthy cause, an endorsement should be forthcoming. I heartily agree with the comment of your morning paper as regards first determining the proper value of the services of these men, and I believe such has been done As a comparison of nineteen different cities, ranging somewhat near to the population of that of New Haven, was taken into consideration by the board of fire com- missioners at their meeting to discuss the increase of pay, believe at that time it was shown that the New Haven firemen were not so much underpaid, but it was decided unanimously that the men rightly petitioned for more, owing to the increased cost of living and the necessities of life at the pres ent day Personally, I believe it is very unfortunate for the firemen that !. y,rSlzr Ina in "a parison of the eighteen cities, the ser vices of these servants are not deemed equally as valuable as those of the law. Certainly their time of duty for every twenty-four hours is much less than that of fireman, yet 1 hear that an increase of salary to their present grade is soon to be asked for. This, in measure, is very humiliating to the fire-fghters to be classed as un- worthy of as much for their services for twenty-four hours as another body of men for ten hours. If l am inform ed correctly, the present grade of sal ary for the police department Is the same as that originally asked for by the firemen.
 A great many of the firemen to-day believed that their petition would com mence July 1, yet they are given to understand such is impossible, as the money is not available for such a pur- pose. Is it fact, MT. Editor, that when emergencies arise for the neces- sary use of finances, the city has in more cases than one found the means whereby such necessity could be taken care of? I cannot conceive that there will be any more pressing demand aft CT January 1 than there is at the pres ent time. for believe the cause exists at present why this increase should be granted as soon as possible. l feel sure that the heaviest taxpayers of New Haven look upon the care of these servants as a righteous consideration,