WASHINGTON TO HAVE BETTER FIRE PROTECTION.
Chief Parris, of the Washington, D. C., fire department, in his estimate of the amount required for the conduct and support of the District of Columbia, calls for an increase of $280,634 over the appropriation of $306,220 for the current fiscal year. Of this amount $31,850 is needed for the salaries of two assistant chief engineers, a fireman, fifty-four privates, and other helpers; $16,800 for four steam fire engines; $4,400 for four hose carriages; $7,000 for two trucks; and $187,000 for the purchase of eight lots for, and the furnishing of seven firehouses and a stable for the department. In his report on the proposed increase in salaries. Chief Parris says that he does not see why the fire department should be the poorest paid department under the District government.
The salary of the highest paid member of a company (he says) is but $1,000 per annum, which averages $84 per month [and] does not compensate a man for the great risk of life and limb, while going to or performing a service at a fire. Should the de mauds for this increase be ignored, it will be only a question of time when it will be a matter of serious thought how to obtain and retain good, reliable, able-bodied men. The increase amounts to only $31,858.
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