Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-10-20
ALARM is USELESS
Practice Prevailing at WaterwOrks is
Harmful and Should sbe
Discontinued.
CAUSES NEEDLESS TROUBLE
Excites Curiosity, Attracts Crowds to
scene and Department Is Handi-
capped in Work.

AS has been suggested heretofore
by The Argus, it is high time Rock
Island abolished the village system of
blowing the waterworks whistle in
cases of fire, and adopted some meth
cd of fire alarm more nearly in keep
ing with the development of the city
in other lines. The fire of last week
showed clearly the difficulties that
may arise through the sounding of the
whistle by wards. as soon as the
alarm was blown. practically every
telephone subscriber in Rock Island
and large portion of those in Daven-
port and Moline took down the re-
ceivers of their phones for the purpose
of securing more definite information
as to the location of the fire. The re-
suit was that very little attempt was
made for over an hour to do more in
the telephone exchange than satisfy
the inquiries of the subscribers
The service was practically paralyZed,
and while this, of course, implies no
reflection on the telephone companies,
it indicates the extent of the trouble
that originates with the waterworks
alarm.
Answered No Calls.
Chief Hastings spent some little
time-and time was certainly worth
small fortunes then-in trying Friday
evening to get the central operator
and secure connection with the Daven-
port and Moline departments. In the
end it was necessary for Chief of Po-
lice Eckhart to hurry to the police
station and telephone from there, when
the attention of the operator was fl
nally secured
| Instead of the usual response of
| Number" and the usual wait for the
subscriber to explain his wants, the
operators were answering all calls
with the location of the fire. Twenty.
ninth street and Fifth avenue" and
| never waiting to see if that was what
the subscriber wished to know. They
could not do otherwise, so many were
the calls.
Superintendent j w. CavanauSh in
formed the council last evening that
| it was over 20 minutes before he
could secure the attention of the oper
atoT, and get connection over the
| phone with the reservoir station from
| the waIerworks. AS his message had
to deal with changes in the valves
and machines bearing on the fire pres
sure, it can be seen that the delay
could have proved very serious. AS
it was it meant loss of very valua
bic time.
Practice lis Wrong.
All of which shows that the blowing
of the waterworks whistle does moi
locate the fire. but merely
More often than otherwise il
serves to attract crowds of people t.
the scene of fire, and then crowds
do more harm than good, and hinder
/ the firemen in their work
There is certainly no occasion fo
the whistle where there is paid fir,
department, and an adequate alarm.
Those affected are as rule The
first to know of the fire, and wher,
the blaze is big one, it serves of il
self to attract large crowds Their,
can be nothing gained by the below
ing of the whistle. That sort of thln'
belongs to the village days. The bus
. ness man must concede. if he give
Pthe matter thought, that he would pre-
fer not to know that there is fire i
, his place of business, if he must b
: informed in manner that is to a
/ tract to the scene hundreds of othe
people, who are certain to hinder tn
work of the fire department. and pc:
sibly cause damage to the propert
in addition to tie damage from tn
| fire. If the business man can not b
: informed privately, it probably woul
be for his own good not to be il
formed at all. if it requires the arou
ing of the whole town in order to NJ
Q fifty him of fire in his block dow
v town.
; .Nuisance,c Says Chief.
: Chief Hastings of the fire depar
e ment, commenting on the positiC
taken by The Argus relative to tt
alarm whistle, said: You can II,
4 state too emphatically that | approx
f. of the effort to stop the blowing
n tie waterworks whistle. | have /;
n ways protested against that practic
and in my opinion it is quite wron
and harmful to the interests of Il
n city in general. My protests son
If years ago, under the McConochie a
d ministration resulted in an order
discontinue the blowing of the whist
But a few business men complain
s. and brought pressure on the may,
II. and the practice was resumed. AS
ty as I can see, it only serves to bril-
o out crowds of people that hinder t
department, and who have absolute
no interest in the fire on the proper
le involved. l shall heartily aid any
III fort to have the practice stopped"
re 1t would seem that the matter Won
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