Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-01-21

through the town. For ycnrs g,d
years the principal item Of news IN ~.
Monday newspapers was II chronicl. i,
the drc VIKINGS ut Island PARK IN.
uiH!si"n or recreation OF the nov csty
government has uadc Island I'ari =,
safe as river front can be- A ne.
! SAVING station hdd been cstabiisn.d
with = fast gasoline launch. ,horourll,.
equipped for saving life, ANA nnupa.i
by n trained llfc-savcr. Lifc-snylu..
stations and lfe-sav!ng equipment,
nave also been provided Atom, ~.
river bank, and n life saving crcw nh
been organized in the fire department.
Employment for Prisoners.
Dayton used 10 treat its workhous.
prisoners as most other cities Urea.
| them: that is pui them in Il cell and
!c' them stay there In idlencss. eating
poor iood at the expense Of the cite
uhtli their terms had expired i.ndcr
me commission manager plan the work
nous" has been made clean and All the
prisoners given work in the Omen nfi
Inc women prisoners have been Sc, 10
work making towels and he'd clo,hin1
Male prisoners are taken outdoors
ana used for city work az day labor
ers The result is that the city gets
the bencht Of the prisoners work and
'hc prisoner gets the moral and pAys!-
cal advantage Of outdoor exercise
When the commission. manager GOV
eritIncnt took hold of the anair. Of the
city, II found tina, several thousand
worthless and homeless men urific,s
INTO town every winter The worst
cases 81 d"stitution were handled ~
charity. and many men wcr. M, III
jail Is Migrants. To meet this condi.
lion municipal lodging house Mas
established. where any man out % Il
job and with no place 10 sleep may
have clean he'd and three good meals
~ doing a half days work for the
city. This labor is usually removing
snow or handling pick and shovel in
= grading gang.
Police and Fire Dcpnrtment-
The huSincssliiic manner in which
all the affairs Of tho city have been
handled for the last two years has
been strikinSlH apparent In the police
ana fire departments. An expert from
New York city made a survey OF the
w" services aud recommended reforms
to bring them up TO date. Since then
women officers have been employed to
handle cases OF girls and women re-
curing correctional attention. or in
need OF personal aud sympathetic ad-
vice. policemen's school las been
started. where officers are educated In
police methods. departmental co-opera-
ton and city ordinances. Weekly tar
get practice is held and the men ars
Formerly IL was not unusual for
Nremen TO waste time and let n fire. get
away from them because they knew
nothing OF the interior arrangement of
the building In which they were work
ing. During the last two years every
building in the city has been carefully
studied by the fremen so as TO ia
miliarize themselves with its interior.
Now. when fire company responds TO
an alarm. IL can fight the fire intelli-
gently. Even though the building Is
fuii nf smoke. the hrcmcn can find
their way about.
Commission manager government be-
cause OF it's youth. has not yet CON
clusively justified itself Two things
seem 10 he necessary to its success.
one is q commission of progressive, un-
selfish men. and the other is tho right
man for city manager. Dayton has
both. It's city government probably is
one OF the best in the United states
but whether this is due to its form or
It's personnel, remains to be seen