Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-03-10
AWAIT W|NST0N'S
| ACTION N|NMUDDLE
r.,e Of Street inspectors Still
i, Doubt as Term Of Sus-
pension Nears End
cuoKED PLUGS TO BLAME
n, GEORGE NOX Mccain

,-u os 10 whcthc" l'ifcrtOr OF iuDlC
uWorl,s u%l winston will dismiss or reinsttatc
W. m"Io long list Of street cleaning inspectors
. ho were suspended by Acting Chicf
tt"pburn, Of the Bureau OF Street Clean
ng. - ,,.h,, ,ho ,c,,, nj
.hoir suspcnsion ends. and the director
rill he compelled to act.
Tho charges made by Chief Hcpburt
,csnst all Of these mel, was gross neg
ioct 70 report street cleaning contractors
M ior failure to keep freplug street cross d.
iDrs and car stops free fr5fh snow during
ths February storm. i,
wv eyery instance Chief HEPBURN had
the dercist insDcctors checked up by
.Savinc squadron" of men selected for
~ nurnosc unknown to the inspectors.
Tho fact that Director Winston rein
stated some of these men as soou
i sS Wr Hepburn retired from Office re
as,,s salient features of Hepburn s work
,Lat have not been made public.
M thc total amount of fines imposed
,,on contractors about $1,000 was for
f.;Inrc TO remove ice and snow from
,round frcplugs. so that engines would
have access to them in case Of fi!'c.
Early in February. after the big con
asrration which destroyed furniture
wsTrhouyc at Third and Market streets,
chief Murphy. Of the Fire Department.
IN a vigorous letter to Chief Hepburn de
mondpd that the fireplugs be made ac
cessiblc. aud cited that particular fire a.
ease of trouble for his men. The con
tractors had already been warned by
pcpburu. but had done nothing.
AZ another fire at Thirty -sevenAb and
Chestnut streets. few days after the
Frst. the fremen were again seriously
bampprcd BY the snow banked fireplugS.
Chief Hepburn then personally re-
ouested Chief Murphy to detail men from
zach fire station to inspect every plug
within four blocks of the station and
renort conditions to him. as he did not
have sufficient men in whom he had con E
Gdence to do the work. More than 20OU
Mugs were reported by the City Fire De
partment men who knew the risk OF
snow blocked plugs.
Fined $40 Per Plug
II was on these reports that Chiel
lIcpburn recommended fines of $40 for
each plug a tOta'. after reasonable re-
durtious. of SlI. 900. There were less
than LOG in which the tircman's inspcc
ton WORK oyerlapped and frcplugs were
reported twice,
Fines fpr failure to remove snow aud
lee so that engines can reacn the plugs
are imposed automatically. The chief OF
the street cleaning department has NJ
alternative: the so fine is agreed to by
contractors in their contract.
In remtting their fines, therefore. the
FIRE department's own reports are dis
regarded. it would seem, and the con
L 70
Fines to the amount Of Sl1 900 were
automatically imposed by Chief Hep
burn for failure to remove snow in the
central diStlict Ii was not an arbi
tsy action. as the contract also pro
vdps for such fines. These fiues were
not recommended by Chief Hepburn un
ti complaints from citizens came in by
hundreds.
II was then that Chief !Iepbnrn sent
out what he called his flying squad
ron" 1t was body of picked men,
whose reports indicated that inspectors
had been culpably negligent and had
failed generally to report snow condi
tOnS as they existed.
Still not satisfied with the reports
Of his dying squadron, a second SCI
Of men went over the districts to cheek
I'D his "SuuadrOn.' The two rcptrtS
tailed in % per cent Of the cases.
Based OH Double Evidence
1t was on this double evidence that
Mr.. Hepburn. as he informed me at thu
time, based his recommendation to Di'
rector Winston that fines to the extcn
Of S1l 600 be imposed on contractors
Director Winston urged Mr.. Hepburn
who was his appointee, not to overlook
any case where contractor had vic
lated his agreement. -,
The remaining $1l 900 Of the $50, ,OO(
worth of fines were imposed in the ordi
nary way. and would have doubtless
been charged against contractors in tn,
regular course of their work.
peculiar circumstance is that vi
until nearly the middle of February NJ
fines Of any account had been assessed
against the contractors. This was be
cause the regular inspectors had failet
TO make reports, although citizens an,
traffic generally were seriously handi
capped by the snow.
SuSpecting from the hundreds of com
plants which continued to come to hin
that bad conditions still existed. Hep
burn sent private inspectors out, and
hndIng this to be true, threatened I,
put his own men at work to clean tn,
streets. Then the contractors began /,
exert themselves to straighten up tn,
tanglr.
The secret sessions of Director Win
sion with the contractors. when tn,
hn"S Tor snow banked iircplugs wer,
S,aShcd in half, have created consider
aOIG uniayorablC comment. particular,
aS Director Winston was fully informe,
OF all OF Chief Hepburn's moves. Th
conference was held behind closed doors
reporters were vigorously excluded an,
,he contractors themselves revealed tn
'actS To ncwspapermen within Il few
hOlrS after adjournment.
:, Colonel Mordcn, the new chief of tn
bureau of Street Cleaning, who was frs
recommended by Chief Hepburn as
solh"tent and conscientious engi
neer, mas, it is understood, receive,
SSuNt orders that no information shal
W. gwen 70 n"wSpapermen, particularly
M TO reinStatcd inspectors who wer
suspended by Chief Hepburn. No sus
W"u'u Inspectors were reinstated durin
"t "t ilepburn's term. but three day
Il nH denarture number were sen
ro Dayh TO their former jobs on the di
srr'or sso published statement that "thc
are good fellows"
Ii,ne prediction is made that practi
nomS omS every one Of the inspectors sus
fnIuru Tor dcreliction of duty or VIII
ldlltu To Tpnnrt E,.nl,.--.1