The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-08-20
FIREMEN WANT
S24 MINIMUM
And Day Off in Five-They
Present Request to City
Government
POLICEMEN REPORTED
DISCONTINUED
City Council Took No Final
Action But Received Va
rious Suggestions
Rumblings of discomfort over wages

similar complaint in the police de :
ment came to official attention g 8 lie
regular meeting of the city coun -S asst
night, when the regular fremen - ent-
ed formal request for minim = wage
of $24 week and one day ecS a FIVE.
The matter was debated at s tn, but
no action was taken, the req. st being
referred to the fire committee.
| A sliding scale of wages is now opera
tive among the regular men of the fire
department, excepting in the case of the
I chief, who receives 81 500 year; and,
| by the way, the new chief, Arthur 6.
PrebIe, of Quincy, Mass, was sworn in
yesterday. The lowest wages paid the
regulars is s20.54 per week, and the high
est is S24.33; and the men are getting
one day off in seven. There are eight
regulars on the staff, and the communi
cation presented last night was signed
| by six of them.
| That communication was as follows:
eve beg to call to your attention the
seemingly low scale Of wages which is
! being paid 10 the-members of the fire de-
| partment of your city. The members of
the said department unanimously believe
1 that minimum of at least S24 per week
and one day off in FIVE would be more
consistent with the present scale Of
wages paid in other branches and also
! partially coincide with the present high
cost vi living. Trusting that you will
give the matter your earliest possible
attention, we remain, John Downs, Peter
Purichelli, John Emslie w. B. Robbins,
! Edward Barrett, c. c. Mears."
! After the reading of the communica-
tion, Alderman Loranger divulged the in
! formation that the dissatisfaction over
pay was not confined merely to the fire
department, as the police were desirous
! of more wages.
Mayor Glysson at once declared he
understood that the arrangements which
recently were made regarding the wages
| in the fire department would be satisfac-
| tory; and Alderman Scott said that such
was his understanding Alderman Nc
MILAN expressed - similar idea, but he
| added: Il am not at all surprised that
the agreement is tumbling over, as they
are tumbling over all over the country"
| Alderman Loranger thought that the
question of increased wages might be
settled by reducing the. size of the force
and giving those retained little higher
scale. He also thought the same about
the police department, in view of the
1 fact that the elimination of booze" had
made the causes for arrests less nu-
merous.
Alderman Scott asked: How much do
the firemen get on the side for washing
automobiles ?"
Alderman Loranger; ''One of the men
told me they got 81 week during the
summer months"
Alderman Scott: 81 guess they get
more than that, because there is regu-
lar stream of automobiles going there to
be washed, especially on Monday morn
ing"
Alderman Mcmillan: 'Do the men get
! time off 2"
And the question was answered in the
affirmative by saying that they get one
| day off in seven.
| Alderman Scott then moved that the
communication signed by the six firemen
| be returned to the men, with instruc-
tions that the pay was fixed for year.
| No one seconded the motion, and Alder
man Loranger thought it might be well
| to confer with the writers of the letter.
| Alderman Alexander moved that the let
| ter be referred to the fire committee, and
| Alderman keefe seconded, the motion
prevailing.
With that motion out Of the way, the
suggestion was made that some sort of
! binding agreement should be made with
the firemen that they stay in the service
\ for a definite time and that the practice
/ Z bs baf,
cepting somebody else's offer of more
wages should be prevented. That idea
seemed to find favor, and it was also
suggested that bonus might be offered
to the men for continuous service over
specified period
| Two of the aldermen suggested that
they knew of former fremen who were
| desirous of going back into the service
again. As the matter now stands, it is
probable that the fire committee will
bring in a report The reported dissatis-
faction of the police did not come before
the council in formal or even authorita-
tive manner.
Public Health Supervision.
Much of the meeting had previously
been given up TO discussion with Dis
trict Health Officer c. a. Burr of Mont
pelier as to what should be done to the
betterment of the public health of Barre.
At the present time there are only two
members of the local board of health,
whereas the ordinances call for three.
The city has been holding up on the ap-
pointment of third man to determine
whether that third man should be one
who would serve as secretary Of the local
board and take charge of the clerical
matters that come before such board
When asked concerning a secretary Of
the local board, Dr. Burr stated that in
all of the towns which had organized To-
cal boards he had been named as secre-
tary, not that he was anxious for the
lob, but because Of the better facility for
keeping all the statistics in one place
He said it would be agreeable to him IL
local man was selected for secretary
of the board, only he should like to get
all the records of the work and have re-
ports submitted to him. After stating
that and other matters DR.. Burr went
into conference with one of the members
of the local board, James Smart, togeth-
er with City Attorney Sargent, over the
administration Of public health matters
in Barre No formal organization took
place, as it was stated after the confer
Continued on third page.)