The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-08-11

| At last Tuesdays commission iioe'iiia
| Commissioner Arlie Barber announced
that there were seven fire horses tha'
the city had for sale.
That announcement was passed hgntly
by the scriveners present-but investga-
| ton develops the tremendous news Iac'
| that with the announcement that the
CITY had horses for sale meant that the
Birmingham fire department was now
being operated without the use of single
! horse.
! The city has now seven horses in Its
| fire stables, but they are not used IN
going to fires any more. They are Tor
sale-and cheap.
| Hundreds of citizens in Birmingham
will read of the passing of the horse IN
| the Birmingham fire department and win
surprise will say: "Why, how can tha'
bel didn't know such improvements
were going on"
| In fact few knew what was going on
| in the Birmingham fire department,
which is one office at the city hall that
consistently escapes criticisms for the
very simple reason that there is nothing
to criticise and less to exercise any imagl-
nation on.
STARTED IN 1911
The motorization of the Birmingham
fire department started in 1911, Wnen
Bozeman Pepperman, an energetic young
contractor, sold a large order OF motor
combination hose wagons to the city.
Since that time Mr.. Pepperman has been
consistently on the job until the appa-
ratus he represents has completely super
ceded the horse.
Sometimes citizens inclined to captious
criticisms inquire as to the various chan
nels that the money OF the tax papers
goes into For their benefit it can be
stated that some S165,00O has been ex-
pended in the past four years in the mo-
torization of the local fire department.
Not all of this sum was used as the
last batch of fire equipment Is to be
paid in the same manner that young
married couple go housekeeping-on the
installment plan. However, the city IS
to pay more than a 81 a week.
Now, why was the fire department mo-
torized?
THE OLDEN DAYS
Remember the old days, when the fire
alarm would clang forth it's strident call.
Citizens, women and children Woulu
crowd the curbstones and anxiously wait
and way down the street an insistent
gong heralded the approaching OF the
fiery eyed and foaming mouthed fire
horses. What a majestic sight as the
wagons crashed by, the shiny nickeled
steamer, belching forth black heavy
smoke upwards, and the cubersome hook
and ladder, three horses abreast, eacn
trying to outrun the other, but held IN
check by the iron arms of the driver.
Those were the scenes of old in Birming-
ham. They are no more-a memory is
all that is left.
Now even, the fire alarm is silent!
There is a fire gong. 1t clangs once!
There is no confusion, a few firemen
slide down the brass pole, some ger
UP from a checker game or stop play
ing pool and walk to their ordered
places. The driver is in his seat, ne
presses a button, the self-starter on
his motor whirs, the doors Of the sta
tionhouse swings open and without
even causing passersby to look around
the apparatus swings out in the street
and is away to the scene OF the Iire.
] 1t Is all done in a manner -of-fact way:
no undue exertion, no excitement and
| is the result of a perfect organiza
| ton.
ARE MORE COSTLY
Some will say, especially the small
| Imaginative boy, that they prefer the
| horses the majestic sweep around
a corner of the hook and ladder at full
| tilt Granted that the horses make
more picturesque sight in going ia
| fire, it must also be admitted that
| horses are more costly, and that with
| horses there were also some very pic
! turesque fires.
| With motors, it is all business-likc
procedure The going to a fire Is moth
/ ing but rhythmatic chug-chug OF the
engine intermingling with the clang-
! ing of the gong of the driver. There
| are no more picturesque fires for the
very adequate reason that the motor
had been made by Senator Brice and
General Thomas. when they were the
/ owners of the bank The great CONNER
| cial organization of New York. the
| Chamber of Commerce, recognized Mr.
Hepburn's achievement by electing him
president of the body. The public will
never know how much OF the perfected
| federal reserve banking law reflects Mr.
| Hepburn's advice. but the monetary com.
mission. whose work made that law pos
sible gave him full credit for these serv-
| ices. Now, at last. the institution is to
be numbered among the few American
banks whose capital is $10,000,0O0.