New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-29
FIRE COMMISSIONER
MAKES BIG SAVING
Adamson Cuts Expense
s6SS, 76l Compared with
Same Period in 1918.
PLANS CENTRAL
REPAIR SHOP
pe,ort Calls Attention to De-
partment's Need of an In
crease in Men.

~, careful scrutiny of thousands oil
-.a1isitions and by a systematic re-
a,roDization Of many fire companies W
80 hanged conditions, Fire Comn'ls-
,;o,,sr ASamson in the period from
T'.,,srv ; 10 June / has effected a saw
- the city of S6S3,76l Os. com
ro5 with the expenditures Tor the
800 neriod last wear. according 70
- renor. submitted TO Mayor MitcheI,
H. sn;te Of these economies the report
shov,s heavy increase in the volume
- work done BY the department
THE number Of fire prevention oraers
complied with has been increased uE
az. Der cent and the uniformed forces
have made, up 10 June !, 44z'5ol ~
prevention inspections of klnd never
before undertaken by the department
on supplies bought for the 1epai
ment in the open market SaNl,ls ~, "
S7o 96t OS was made. BY readluSthleht
of FIRE companies due to motorlzat .I.:ii
,be Commissioner has already or WIZ
soon relieve and make aVaiiaole ~
dptv in new companies ohcers ana
C~o,an whose annual salaries totai
s9SS 800 At the same time ne mas
,ronsferrcG to new companies equip
ment yalued ,at $4,000, and has thrown
oncn 10 othef uses by the city proper
~ valued at about 100000.
One of the features of the report Is
. Man for the construction OF q cen
tral repair shop, in which the repair
work Of all city departments Shaii DC
done Commissioner Adamson tgures
tbat the cost OF such repair Shop
,gonld not exceed 100000, all OF when
could be obtained Icy the sale OF pres
ent Fire Department property now used
FOR repair and storage purposes.
MIR Adamson's idea is 70 purchase
cite central TO all of the borougns'
nreferablv near the Queens end OF the
greensboro Bridge or the Brooklyn
end of the Williamsburg or Manhattan
bridges. lie has been appointed by me
Major chairman OF the commlVIce'
made up of representatives CT the NaIi-
ous departments concerned, to lnVeSu-
gate this plan and report on It's prac'
ticability. -,
bilitv. II is said, for the Fire Depart
,ncrf In the event of a decision by
tho committee that the other city de-
uartments cannot be included III the
pIan. Commissioner Adamson will make
apnIication TO the Board of Estimate
for authority to carry out the plan LOT
his own department.
In readiusting the personnel OF the
department following the motorizatlon
and consequent increase OF ehectlVe-
ness of Ginerent companies, l5o men
were shifted from old to new compa-
MES. This number includes twenty
four officers. nine engineers, two pilots,
four stokers and 119 fremen. In his
report TO the Mayor describing how
This saving was made, the Fire Com
missioner said;
"You will realize that making econ
omies by a reduction Of force is not
possible. so far as the two principal
branches of this department are con-
cerned On the contrary, on Jan. l, l
was confronted by the fact that botn
the uniformed force and the Fire Pre-
vention Bureau stood in urgent need oil
n substantial increase of men. For
example. only twenty additional fire
men were allowed in the Budget Tor
1914, although twenty new fire houses
were 10 be- completed during the year.
recurring on an average OF about NJ
teen men each, or 300 tiremen IN all.
One new fire boat, requiring a compile
ment of at least twenty-five men, was
10 he placed in commission.
ain addition to this need of men to
man the new companies the chief OF
the uniformed force reported short
age in the necessary men 10 man the
existing companies properly, and there
was a more or less widespread agta-
ton throughout the uniformed force
for additional time off. In view of the
strong pledge Of the administration to
economy the problem before me was
to perform, if possible. the work Of
these two bureaus without applying
for additional appropriations.
$50 Car this has been done, although
the fact that we have about seventeen
fire companies to be organized in a
short time makes it probable that ad-
ditional men will have 10 be asked for