为什么酋长应该参加国际消防工程师协会。
这个杂志的省自成立以来thirty-seven years ago is. and always has been, to protect the interest of the chief engineer from unjust treatment through politics or discrimination against his administration of the department of which he had proved himself the competent head. We have stood in the breach in defense of his rights to hold the position he had earned through years of the hardest kind of work and patient study of the difficult and hazardous duties imposed upon him. No public officer is more entitled to consideration than he, yet we regret tc say that in many cases his efficiency and long, faithful service are made to count for nothing when his place is wanted for some inexperienced political hack. Moreover there are some municipalities so shortsighted as to object to allow the small expense of sending the chief to the annual convention of the International Association of Fire Engineers. This is poor policy as it shuts out the most important opportunity afforded him to study improvements in apparatus and hear instructive papers read and discussed on subjects vital to his calling once a year. It is absolutely necessary that the chief engineer of a fire department be a member of the International Association of Fire Engineers and it is the duty of city officials to see that his attendance at the conventions is assured. By being present at these meetings, he is the better prepared to guard the lives and property of the people to whom he is responsible. To learn the experience of the chiefs assembled for mutual improvement is so important that the poorest municipality cannot afford to keep the head of its fire department from this school of instruction. It therefore seems opportune that the attention of those responsible for the efficiency of the fire service be called to the fact that the next convention of the International Association of Fire Engineers will be held at New Orleans, La., the fourth week in October next, and that it will be a great educational occasion for those actively engaged in the science of fire fighting and economic conduct of fire departments. Now that important changes are being made in apparatus from horse-drawn to motor operated machines and their consequent operation and management, it would be false policy to deny these chief engineers the opportunity to obtain such invaluable information. Not only will the municipality be greatly benefitted by his attendance, but the taxpayers will certainly receive ample returns for the small sum invested by lower insurance rates owing to a greater efficiency in methods of controlling fires and smaller fire losses in the communities to which the chiefs belong. It is then without doubt a most judicious course for those responsible to adopt, to see that a sufficient amount is appropriated to defray the traveling expenses of the chief, and that he be at once notified of the intention of the city or town council so that he may make himself conversant with the subjects to be discussed at the meeting. Besides expert opinions relating to modern fire fighting and extinguishment, a full line of apparatus and fire appliances Will be on exhibition, and skilled mechanics present to operate and explain their construction. Such an instructive course cannot be obtained by any other means, therefore the missing of such an opportunity as will be presented at the New Orleans meeting will not likely occur again and those who fail to send their chief engineers to it will be responsible for withholding from them information that would prove most important to the interests of the people whose lives and property they have to protect and which will be given at this convention. It is not our intention to instruct the mayors, council committeemen or fire commissioners what their duty is in this matter, but we trust in pointing out the object of the International Association of Fire Engineers and the great benefit the chiefs will obtain by participating in its proceedings, that they will see how necessary it is to the municipality they represent that the responsible head of their fire department be present at this great gathering of experts in fire fighting and kindred subjects.
