Arizona republican., 1915-03-22

by reason of criticism and often ri dicule, the volunteers become demor alized and next to worthless and yet no paid system is established. This sort of thing has led to strikes and disorder it commonly results in a big fire which frightens the authori- ties into action and heaps unmerited blame upon the volunteers.
 It would no doubt be highly de- sirable if volunteer firemen were diff ferent in nature and disposition from the rest of humanity but they are not It is unreasonable to expect them to be anything but ordinary mortals, for during something like 9S per cent of their time they live and occupy themselves like anybody else. Being just plain folks they have an idea that if they volunteer to do work that others do not want to do, cer- tain amount of appreciation and sup port is duo them. When stood up in line and praised in extravagant terms by the orator of the day at some public celebration the hearts Of a few may swell with pride but
 
 the council give five hundred feet more of hose or some good ladders. Being human. they may enthuse slightly over a grand. eloquent write up in the local paper. but they would i remember longer and with more sa : tisfaction description of a fire in which they were given proper credit for what they know to be work wor- l thy of commendation.
 If the majority of the members of city councils in our volunteer towns would devote q little serious thought ] to the matters. they would get along very much better with their firemcn ! Tn other words, the motto Put your ! self in his place" might serve very useful purpose. The average corn- cilman does not enjoy jumping out of | bed in the middle of night to go to 8 fire. or if he does that much as a good .citiZen, he is apt to draw the l line at running through a muddy street with hose cart and then | soaking himself to the skin to save i somebody's old barn. Why then, does he not conclude that if there are cer-
 tain young men in town willing and even anxious to do these things. they
 can be sure of his good will and sup
 port The good will is needed the
 most. With it he will realize tha,
 the firemen may not always do theii
 work according to his ideas and may even at times become over zealous
 in their demands. but if he meets
 them in a friendly spirit it is fore gone conclusion that differences vii
 be readily adjusted
 | The man who last night had charge
 of the work of controlling fire
 that very nearly swept away the business part of town( may be ex- pected to he emphatic and forceful ir ! telling of fire protection needs. Some.
 body must take such matters serious
 ly.
 | Just as a paid department must
 have the money due it for salaries
 the volunteers need to be given plenty Of moral support. Of course this is a necessity with both systems but
 itsi often forgotten that the volun- teer gets practically nothing else as pay.
 Many town would have had a | serviceable and efficient volunteer department for years after the time l. of change. had it's members not been demoralized by the nebleca and indifference of those who should have shown appreciation.
 An important item in this regard is that the failure of the volunteer system often forces the installation of paid one before the town can afford to make the latter what it should be. There is this to say about 7ounteers: They do not put the small fires out as quickly as do the paid men, but when the big threaten Ing blaze comes they have the men .o handle the number of hose lines