The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-30
1T is UNJUST.
Topeka Firemen Indignant
Over Charges
That No Campaign for Fire
Protection.
GENERAL ORDER NO. 100
Issued Not Long Ago Divided
City Into Prevention Districts.
Fire Loss Decreases in Topeka
Increases Elsewhere.

Chief Wilmarth and Mayor Billiard
are much exercised over an erroneous
article appearing in the morning pa
per Sunday August IS. The story
stated that fire protection was best Sc
cured through fire prevention. ""Tne
members of the Topeka fire depart
ment may soon give up their Cavorite
game of .horseshoes' the first para
graph read land devote their time to
a more rigid building and fire inspec-
ton in a campaign of fire prevention
in Topeka
I'VE believe essentially in prevention
through protection" declared the fire
marshal, holly. inspection kas been
going on for Is years, and increaslf
each year as the city grew. 1t is an
absolute fact that fires in the United
States have been constantly increasing
while in Topeka they have peen 1e-
creasing for the past few years.
The chief pulled open a drawer ana
drew forth dig book.
General order No 100. ne salu.
Listen In order to establish as
thorough a system of inspection Tor
the prevention of fires throughout the
city as possible, and requiring a com
pliance with the ordinance OF the city
pertaining to fire hazards, the enure
city is divided into six Inspection nls,
tricts as follows Here 1t IS an
worked out. Look at this order no
IL, March II, 1881 Theres nre u
epection. way back there. The writer
of that article" exploded the cn'eI,
irving ut control his indignation, WIS
rnisinformed. He didn't know "iis-1
he was talking about 1-se-
THE reference to pitching horse
shoes /" he went on. lis extremely Ut
lust. Instead of sitting in the sun,
9ettine fat and lazy, the men on oucy
throw horseshoes to develoP eiieii
brawu. It's magnificent exercise
WiImarth stretched out his arm ex-
Sriii. IT'S just the thing to develop e1I o
their muscles" ne crieo;;,
couldn't do anything better. ma,
ssTrhe article goes on to say WI.
10Th continued, that in Clnclnndli
sthere are 80 fire inspectors 1ney 90 20
IS to follow after Cincinnati wen "e
have IS hremen in topeka 0nIo | Eeo
rrhev, introduced fire inspection IN A tso -
1a12. we introduced it in March, Ae'@'
Draw your own conclusions
II recoa nize the two great princ -l ~
in the FIRE trade" he declared, tney a.
Sc prevention and fire extingulshi i =
- 5on,t 90 separately, but hand III
hand ..4o az indig-
II would not have noticed the artcle
except that it mentioned my Ia aiso.e-
annroying some of the statements tne a,e
~ Contained" he explained, sraNelS
s.tbe whole article either showed I'm :
rIete ignorance of the writer OF ne
desire to rnisrepresent the nre h
ment of the city 1t urged INC
1.sbr,en+ of a system of examination o.
m1biic buildings by the fire departHesn nr
"a system which has been IN erect -
- we nave about six or eight
S~a-,en whose special duty it Is 10 IN
meet buildings and report all cases OF
ere hazard. Their work is as thoLu t;e,n
aS their time allows Salo al ~ I
aso,,sa5 To recommend that the hremeh
5evote their entire time to inspectlon
except when they were actually ehsa Sos,
81 in putting out fires. In this way
tt1ev would be scattered all over town
s.-y,e,, the cali came in. The reporter re-
ferred in a sneering way to the pastl ne
of Ditchine horseshoes. wish to state
right here that this exercise Is as
baaIthv az any that could possibly be
employed 1t is physically penenclai
and leaves the men in a hne condi-
ton to perform their arduous duties at
Ares-
when people are quoting my views" "
he concluded gently, Il like the privI-
lexe of stating them myself.