HOW OLD SHOULD BE A FIRE CHIEF?

HOW OLD SHOULD BE A FIRE CHIEF?

Each year of human life has its peculiar compcnsations. The young man in college is often told by his elders that these arc the happiest years of his life, and that he should make the best of their duration. Old age will stealthily creep upon him, life will impose increasing burdens of responsibility, and he must gather the roses while he may before the cruel frost of custom has nipped his budding aspirations. It is said that a prize ring man is old at forty, and this may be true in the majority of cases where muscular energy instead of brains is employed. Keen intuition and intelligence born of experience, which are demanded in many callings, can seldom be found in a man who has not yet reached the meridian of life. One has not to reflect long to recall someone on the shady side of sixty-five and even seventy with average physical agility, who is filling a position where a man half that age would be an abject failure. We would not deprecate youth, but would rather rejoice with every young man in his strength, and applaud when his aspiring spirits bubble over. But it is possible to recall instances where old and experienced men have been supplanted by younger and inexperienced ones. These changes have proved to be grievous mistakes and often costly ones. This brings us to the question—"How old should be a fire chief?” It is suggested by the effort now being made in Fall River, Mass., to depose the fire department chief because he is seventy-two, but we are inclined to believe that politics rather than age is the reason for his removal, and in this we are indorsed by the mayor and citizens of Fall River, who demand the retention of Chiet Davol because of his value to that city in this capacity. A fire chief with knowledge bought with long service is far preferable to one without experi'ence, no matter what may be his other qualifications. It is true that Chief Davol lacks the agility of a young man, but his superior judgment more than makes up for this. It may not he so in every position, but is proverbially the case in the history of fire departments that the longer a chief serves the more valuable he becomes, and the only reason for this is the knowledge he has gained by experience. The ablest chiefs in the country to-day are those who have had long experience.

Each year of human life has its peculiar compcnsations. The young man in college is often told by his elders that these arc the happiest years of his life, and that he should make the best of their duration. Old age will stealthily creep upon him, life will impose increasing burdens of responsibility, and he must gather the roses while he may before the cruel frost of custom has nipped his budding aspirations. It is said that a prize ring man is old at forty, and this may be true in the majority of cases where muscular energy instead of brains is employed. Keen intuition and intelligence born of experience, which are demanded in many callings, can seldom be found in a man who has not yet reached the meridian of life. One has not to reflect long to recall someone on the shady side of sixty-five and even seventy with average physical agility, who is filling a position where a man half that age would be an abject failure. We would not deprecate youth, but would rather rejoice with every young man in his strength, and applaud when his aspiring spirits bubble over. But it is possible to recall instances where old and experienced men have been supplanted by younger and inexperienced ones. These changes have proved to be grievous mistakes and often costly ones. This brings us to the question—"How old should be a fire chief?” It is suggested by the effort now being made in Fall River, Mass., to depose the fire department chief because he is seventy-two, but we are inclined to believe that politics rather than age is the reason for his removal, and in this we are indorsed by the mayor and citizens of Fall River, who demand the retention of Chiet Davol because of his value to that city in this capacity. A fire chief with knowledge bought with long service is far preferable to one without experi'ence, no matter what may be his other qualifications. It is true that Chief Davol lacks the agility of a young man, but his superior judgment more than makes up for this. It may not he so in every position, but is proverbially the case in the history of fire departments that the longer a chief serves the more valuable he becomes, and the only reason for this is the knowledge he has gained by experience. The ablest chiefs in the country to-day are those who have had long experience.