The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-01-19

ANOW tudI IuC UuSy 6CdbOH 10 OV6I
1t is open season to take an inven
tory of property on hand, customers
we have, dealers we patronize, the
methods they employ in serving the
public. their system or lack of sys-
tenn, their integrity or lack of in.
gritty, the way they meet or fail to
meet their civic duties, the way they
care for their buildings and pave.
ments. waste paper and other fire
-menaces; whether their buildings are
fire traps or constitute flre-walls that
protect others. Whether the city
government affords protection to peo-
pie whie in town; whether it affords
hitching racks for teams; whether
the police force protect the vehicles
from being raided by thieves;
whether they fail in this and with
the knowledge of the mayor and
council and still let the condition pre-
vail without any effort to effect a
remedy. Whether or not the fire
department keeps in training;
whether the chemical engines are
kept charged or allowed to run down
so they are inefficient; whether or
not the fire chief and his aids ever
make a tour of the town to see
where the hydrants are; whether or
not they ever visit the business
houses to Ie, IN the position of
doors, windows. stairways, registers,
that need closing to kill draft in
time of fire; to see where and how
to break into building If it Is
necessary to go thru wall or door
quickly in the dark; to see where
stoves and furnaces are located; to
see II old pipes and f1ues are pulling
apart and constituting fire menace
that adds to the danger of that store
and all the others in the block; to
see If they have suitable fire-fighting
materials of their own to combat a
blaze at the start. There are a great
number of things that progressive
community looks after in some de-
gree all the time, but takes a more
complete inventory of in the few
weeks that follow the first of the
year that ought to be better than
the old one.
Some people think that because a
building is old and has never taken
fire from the chimneys that it never
will. Some think that because a
building is new it needs no inspc-
ton to see If 1t. is safe. The writer
knows of a new modern building
that has such a fire menace under
and about the stairway, it would
make you shiver to go down and look
it over and consider what conse-
quences will follow when some
smoker inadvertently drops a match
in there and that match does what
it was made for. We have seen
places where big stocks of merchan-
disc owe their existence to pure luck
in having the sparks jump from the
flue into the chimney where there
may have been proper fitting at some
time but they have pulled apart.
There are sections of pavement in
town that are so slick it is unsafe
to walk across them for five months
of the year, and the city carries the
risk of indemnity suits If people fall
on them and sustain injury. In a
well regulated city the officials would
not let the sun go down till they
had put men to work with hammer
and chisel to chip the surface in a
hundred places to the square foot,
and they would say that was cheaper
than law suits. They would rather
pay a few dollars to laborer to pre-
vent pain and trouble than to pay 1t
to physicians and lawyers to combat
the trouble after 1t comes.
There are people in the country
who do not drive to town unless they
have somebody to come along to hold
the team while they go in to trade.
The hitching racks are so few and
so far out, and in muddy times there
is such a plenitude of mud and such
a scarcity of ashes and cinder about |
the hitching racks, they can get but
little use of them. There are people |
who unhitch and tie their horses to
their vehicles, and then when they |
begin to assemble their purchases,
they take turns staying with the
vehicle to keep sneak-thieves from
walking off with their goods. When
q train pulls in there are two crowds
in town that might have offenders
among them. One is at the depot,
and the other in the alleys and va
cant lots where teams are tied and
packages are plentiful in the rigs.
The police are invariably at the
depot, and the sneak-thieves in the
alleys know it. II fifty-dolar horse
Is stolen from hitching rack, the
officers spend time and money trying
TO run down the thief, but the loss
Of packages taken from the rigs
to $50 week receives no
at the hands of the Of
icers. and the public pay out thou
sands fdollars to run down pos
,ible boot-leggers and ignore the ac-
.ivities of the hitch-rack pirates.
If a business man were held up
IN his way home and relieved of two
dollars, the officers would be out
the alleys and would tele-
phone all up and down the valley
o sheriffs and trainmen. to look out
or the heavy-set man wearing a
'louch hat and coat with the torn
sleeve, but If farmer reports the
oss of ten dollars worth of gro
,eries while he stepped into the store
o bring out the rest of his purchases,
le can report it to the officials and
public and he will be, told that that
9 happening right along. L
If a couple of women of the
card circle walking home in
he dusk of the evening should be
obbed of some bric-a-brac, the town
would be busy till midnight In q vain !