St. Johnsbury Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-1920, 1920-09-22
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
REGARDING FIREMEN
litor of The Caledonian:

| IQItUE VI liz CuICuOIlIiH.
Through the columns of your pap
er we wish to make reply to the an.
ticle which appeared in last Friday.
issue Of the Caledonian regarding the
fire department OF St. Johnsburv. W.
feel in justice to the citizens and tt
ourselves, that reply should be
made as some of the statements il
the article are misleading and woulc
convey the wrong impression in the
minds Of the citizens, as to the
amount of fire protection they now
have. And also as to the standing oil
the former members of the st
Johnsbuly Fire Department, who
have tried to the best of their ability
to respond to alarms and to fight
fires regardless Of condition. Ane
who are now held up before the pub
lie as a lot OF lawlcss strikers. Whcr
the petition was nrescnteda skiing fol
q raise in pay the matter of calling
a special village meeting was consid-
cred, and ample time given. And the
matter could have been adjusted in
a satisfactory manner had the trus-
tees made the least attempt. Instead
they showed their appreciation OF
our services in the past by ignoring
our petition. 1t is stated that the
change in the denartmcnt was made
upon advice Of several of the leading
Insurance men of St. Johnsbury. Up
on investigation it is learned that sew
eral of the leading agents have never
been consulted upon the matter.
Instead of having a meeting Tues
day night the men went to the vari-
Gus hose houses, claimed their person.
al property and left the towns prop
erty in the hands of'Chef Maruen.
1t is also stated that twenty men,
bcrS of the call derartmcnt whose
names did not appear on the petition
will remain.
AS far as can be traced none of
the former members of the call de-
partment will remain. And there
were so signatures on the retition as
a former issue of your paper will
show, and several members could not
sign because of absence from town,
but they have resigned. And as there
was only about 60 men in the de-
partmcnt, and so or more resigned,
it is hard according to simple arith-
metic to figure how 20 men remain.
The article in the Caledonian was
prompted by several members of the
former department who felt that it
was proper the citizens of st. Johns
bury should know what they had for
fire protection, as a greater part of
the residents of the village supposed
the matter of wages had been salts
factorily adjusted. Otherwise we
think thu trustees would have re-
manned silent and the citizens would
not have known the facts.
We have no fault to find and well
come any new organization that will
protect the village from confagration.
But it must be an exceptionally cap
able lot of men. If 20 call and six
regulars will equal or fight fire better
and more efficiently than 60 call and
four regular men, many of whom
have had long experience fighting
fires in st. Johnsbury.
Trusting the new department will
be as ready to respond to alarms,
under all conditions, and render as
good service as we have tried to in
the past, and thanking YOU for the
space in YOUR NAPIER, and for the
opportunity to express ourselves, we
be- to remain,
Respectfully,
Former Call Men of the st.
Johnsburv VT, Fire Dept.