Evening journal., 1919-10-18
Spirit of the
DelmdrUia Press
IS rms REQUEST UNREASONABLE?

7 u ii
From the Salisbury News.
For several weeks past, there has
been controversy going on by letter
between The Mayor and Council on one
hand and the Chesapeake & Potomac
Telephone Company on the other rela-
tive to the giving out of information
by the central Office in this city 10 the
volunteer hremen Of Salisbury as 10 the
location Of fires. As we understand this
controversy, the Mayor and Council re-
Gently established a system of fire
alarms in the city so as to relieve the
telephone company OF the annoyance OF
answering hundreds Of calls whenever
the fire bell tapped. Prior TO this ar
rangement there had been placed above
| the telephone number Of about 20 fire.
men who have phones in their homes
a small signal light to call the atten-
! tion Of the operator to the fact that
| this was a flreman's phone and it was
| the custom Of the operators TO give
these 20 llremen The information as 10
the location OF the fire when they rams
in on their telephone. After the town
was made into districts and the alarm
system established, It seemed that these
signal lights were taken from the tele-
phone switch board and that these %
tiremen have since been unable TO gel
any information regarding the location
Of a blaze As many of these men live !
in widely separated sections OF the city /
and many Of them far removed from |
the City Hall where the apparatus is 1
kept, the Mayor and Council made the
request Of the telephone company TO re-
establish this system on the phones and
to give the fremen the information as
to the location Of fires so that instead
OF having to go to the City Hall. they
could go direct to the blaze from their
respective homes, thereby insuring a
quicker response Of the department
and a quicker action in eXtinguishing
the fire. To the average mind, this re
quest does not seem to be unreasonable
inasmuch as the property Of the tele-
phone company of this city has to seek
It's protection from fire at the hands
Of the fire department as we'll as all
the rest Of our people.
The telephone company. we under
stand. has made the point that as the
,ity is districted, that the flremen could :
the location of the fire from
he number Of taps sent in on the /
alarm bell, but as a general alarm is
turned in first and the district numbers
IRE struck afterwards, if every ilremeH .
lad 10 wait TO ind out what the district }
number was it would cause a serious
lelay in many cases which in turn
night prove the cause for a much lar
yer cOnlagratlun.
There should be no friction between
he telephone company, the city au- I
horities and the fire department as the
after is q volunteer organization, the
nen giving their time and often taking
reat chances Of serious personal in
ury for the benefit Of the community X
verybody should aid as much as pos
ible in making the department as ef-
cient and prompt as united work can
lake &C. The telephone company Of
curse. has its side to this question,
ut taking everything into cOnsidera- i
on, we believe that the request of the y,
ty should BE- acceded to in this case IN
5 IL may mean at sometime very much n,
! the saving Of life and property in m
llisburV