A CHANGE IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AT WASHINGTON.

A CHANGE IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AT WASHINGTON.

On June 30 Chief Dutton will retire from the command of the fire department of Washington, D. C., and his place will be taken by an active member of that department. This is as is should be. In the economy of firefighting there is no place for a chief engineer who has not been brought up in the service, much less for one whose previous calling as an editor was not such as to afford him the necessary experience for a man placed in such a position. What is wanted is an active fireman who can scale ladders with the same agility as a private in a hook and ladder company; who can take a Hying leap from building to building when the occasion calls for it; who will not he afraid to soil his hands or his clothes by laying hold of hose or nozzle at a critical moment; who by long practice can at once detect danger in the wall or roof before it begins to show outward and visible igns of weakness; who can see in a moment which is the proper point at which to attack a tire, and what is the right and most effective method to pursue; who is experimentally acquainted with the practical details of firefighting, including water pressure. hydrants, the liest style (and type) of equipment, and the like—-not one who knows about such details only theoretically. With all his talents. Mr Dutton was not a practical fireman; he was only an executive officer. If. therefore, it were necessary to create an office for one who had proved his usefulness as editor of an influential political organ, the correct course to have followed would have been to make him fire commissioner, and to have promoted an active and competent member of the department to the office of chief In the case of Washington as well as in that of any other city, to appoint an outsider and an amateur as chief of a paid fire department is unjust to the interests of the department ami hurtful to those of the community. Cornni nsense teaches that it crushes out all ambition in the ranks of the former, when its members see that they have no chance of succeeding to the highest position in it, and, besides, engenders a feeling of resentment, which undoubtedly rankles in the minds of the firemen, and renders’them—-insensibly, perhaps, but none the less certainly—less zealous and. consequently, less efficient in their work. The result is that the department suffers more or less deterioration, and through that deterioration (always the first step towards demoralisation), the interests of the community are more or less jeopardised in time of need. Washington, therefore, with whose civic interests those of the nation are more or less intimately interwoven, is to lie congratulated on this wholesome change of front on the part of Congress.

On June 30 Chief Dutton will retire from the command of the fire department of Washington, D. C., and his place will be taken by an active member of that department. This is as is should be. In the economy of firefighting there is no place for a chief engineer who has not been brought up in the service, much less for one whose previous calling as an editor was not such as to afford him the necessary experience for a man placed in such a position. What is wanted is an active fireman who can scale ladders with the same agility as a private in a hook and ladder company; who can take a Hying leap from building to building when the occasion calls for it; who will not he afraid to soil his hands or his clothes by laying hold of hose or nozzle at a critical moment; who by long practice can at once detect danger in the wall or roof before it begins to show outward and visible igns of weakness; who can see in a moment which is the proper point at which to attack a tire, and what is the right and most effective method to pursue; who is experimentally acquainted with the practical details of firefighting, including water pressure. hydrants, the liest style (and type) of equipment, and the like—-not one who knows about such details only theoretically. With all his talents. Mr Dutton was not a practical fireman; he was only an executive officer. If. therefore, it were necessary to create an office for one who had proved his usefulness as editor of an influential political organ, the correct course to have followed would have been to make him fire commissioner, and to have promoted an active and competent member of the department to the office of chief In the case of Washington as well as in that of any other city, to appoint an outsider and an amateur as chief of a paid fire department is unjust to the interests of the department ami hurtful to those of the community. Cornni nsense teaches that it crushes out all ambition in the ranks of the former, when its members see that they have no chance of succeeding to the highest position in it, and, besides, engenders a feeling of resentment, which undoubtedly rankles in the minds of the firemen, and renders’them—-insensibly, perhaps, but none the less certainly—less zealous and. consequently, less efficient in their work. The result is that the department suffers more or less deterioration, and through that deterioration (always the first step towards demoralisation), the interests of the community are more or less jeopardised in time of need. Washington, therefore, with whose civic interests those of the nation are more or less intimately interwoven, is to lie congratulated on this wholesome change of front on the part of Congress.