THE 3IORXING OREGOXIAX,' SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1910. -1. ? ,i . ; -stiff v; a ?? .? S 4 - if- ssss HI a: 1 . c. r i & m m x ; -5:- V . 1 .-.-jIrvard, Ctaicaso. No Fire E-app. 1 n r 1 i i ti ii'--T A M a m Si Bm? Hit raj To David Campbell, Chief of the Fire Department of the City cf Portland, and His Mighty Assistant, Johnnie Young. torbett Building. Portland. Ten Stories. lOOjclOO. Two Fire Escapes. UlBfiR I r: IS . i HK RWf'M HI 1 1 4l!it"4 sb1 1! llNi'rJ 33 1311 ilS Office Bulldins, Fifth Are., N. Y. No Fire Escapes. You gentlemen have seen fit to give me some free advertising- in the Jour nal of March 25, to which my atten tion has been called, and being1 some thing of an advertiser myself, I pro pose hereby to return the compliment. You are reported to have stated that I am violating the law in declining to put an additional fire escape on my six story building on Fourth and Oak streets. As I explained to you both, my building is a costly building;' I endeavored to put up a very handsome exterior, and that while the brick, in the Beck building and Commercial Club building cost $43.00 per thousand laid down at the jab, the Tiffany en ameled brick, which I procured for my building from Momence, I1L, cost $130 per thousand, as II. A. Keppner & Co., local agents, will verify. Building Thoroughly Safeguarded. My building Is so constructed that It has an unusually llgrht court and area way on the west side of the building, adjoining the Corbett building; has a larg"e light court and area way adjoin iag the Sherlock lot on the south, and has a continuous corridor through the building on every floor; is supplied with two of the latest high-speed Otis electric elevators; enclosed in the high est style of fireproof elevator shafts; all windows facing on light courts be ing metal framed "with wire glass, as required under our recent building re strictions; in fact, being up to all the severe requirements of the Building Inspector's office. And yon also know that I have made arrangements to buy the heat for my building from the Board of Trade building, which is car ried through in an underground con duit, doing away with the necessity of fire, fuel or ashes. And it is also provided with the American XMstrict fire alarm system. Won't Allow Building Defaced. I stated to you gentlemen that it was not the mere matter of three or four hundred dollars for the additional fire escape that I objected to, and of fered to put an lrotn ladder down on the west light court, also one down on the south light court, and one or more down the center, but that did not want to mar and ifare the hand no me front of the builUu on the Fourth street nide. These you would not ac cept. You bojth seem bent and deter mined to push and augment the sale of fire escapes. Nothtntc would do you but 1 muMt innr, deface Mod disfltrur the bulldins: on the Fourth-treet 1d, and I tell you flatly I wont do it. The Police Station Is on the corner of Sec ond and Oak streets; I never have been arrested, and don't want to be, but In your excessive zeal for the fire es cape business, you may take that . course If you want to. and then a judge of the court is the one to s ij whether I am a isw-breaker. not you. Why This Partiality? I have one fire escape on my six story building: the "U'ells-Fargo build ing "of 12 stories has but one ; the Commercial building1 on Second and Washington streets, on a quarter block, with but one single elevator of the old fashioned, slow-going type, has but one fire escape; the Chamber of Commerce building, eight stories in height, has but one lire escape to the quarter block; the Worcester building has but one to the hundred feet. , Why do yon say I am a violator of the law, when these buildings have no more fire escapes than has mine? There are a number of other buildings in like position that I might mention, but I have no desire to impose any hardships on other prop erty owners. Some tf you city officials do enough of that, the Lord knows. Put Tire Escapes on City Hall. If fire escapes are so very necessary, why don't you have fire escapes put on the City Hall, with its one old fashioned, slow-going elevator; or have them put on the Postoffiee building, with its great mass of people and thronged courtrooms? Brow-Beating Property-Owners. You are after me, and holding me up as a law-breaker. Why? Is It because you have of late been brow-beating and coercing property-owners to put up fire escapes according to your whims, notions or caprice? Let us see. The McKay building, on the southwest corner of Third and Stark streets, is a six-story office building. SOxlOD reet In size, with but one fire escape. Ad joining it on the east is the Concord building, a like . office building, the same six stories in height, on one lot, and yet you have recently forced its owners to put two fire escapes on that, while there Is but one on the McKay building. In doing so you obliged them to cut, mar and disfigure the fine stone cornices on that building, and also mar and disfigure the front on Second street, cne-third of the front being taken up with unnecessary, rusting aid unsghtly fire escapes. You have also rectntly forced the owners to put two fire escapes on the flve-story build ing on 3ne lot on the southwest cor- ner of Sixth and Washington streets. Why ttis partiality? You brow-beat tfaeae people Into sabmlisloit by Mtylns "It 1 tne law." Is It not a fact that a city ordinance "gives discretion to the Executive Board, ifter consultation with the Chief of the ?ire Department, as to the kind, number and location of fire escapes etc.?" That being the 'ease, why is your discretion' manifested ao arbi trarily agaliut some and not gwint others! Buildiigs Marred by Busting Iron Junk. Ik The writer has visited a great many 3 33 W 333 33 13333 3 13 31 1? 31 W.rfJ Rlni' ! ii:dll Hit mziHtmtH m til m mewm fi MVS IA cities in tnis country, ana In no other f ,jf t,? r f"M r(mJfV rTT?! ""? WZJS Tit T.TT9 city fn.the United States is there so l UU 1 feB FH "1 P4 Hi 2$ . ' J much iron Junk, rustingr. unsightly, fi,.."---5. t I p fcZTli ' 11 I HmI . dust-jollecting-, so-called Are escapes & i SiL iJ?& Wf-ij 4 fr'Lti.i-i as there is In this city, with Its smaH J ,r V X I 1-4?! -LZLJIJ' toy 3l0t ks, under youn direction and I s ' - J 'v ' v ?v official coercion 'A Were you or either h -r -- t of you Interested In the manufacture it&&&wvzx and sale of fire escapes more seal In p-fTf;. t-j Hti 'lllljl 111 fll1! 4 i l j--3;f n?ii i!!,s i ! El m i . Hum in B; in p E If pusUng -sales of fire escapes could not be thovrn. The city has been obliging the companies to take down their un sigttly poles and wires, while you have forred property-owners to put up far more unsightly fire escapes to mar and disigure the appearance of the city. X fire chiefs' duty, after all, is not so much in looking after and providing for things after a fire occurs, as It Is tlat he should endeavor to prevent fl-es in the beginning. The good old siying is, 4 "An ounce of prevention is worth, a round of cure," and is very applicable fJr your consideration. rattening at the Public Crib. The writer has brought about the removal and destruction of a lot of old houses, shacks and fire-traps in the down-town part of the city that were a real menace, and in so doing feels that he has rendered great assistance to your Kire Department. This was being done without much fuss, while you gentlemen have been fattening at the public crib, riding around In city automobiles or buggies and pestering citizens who are trying to erect new buildings in the city, and whom you are punishing by your "discretion," or rather lack of discretion, and putting a premium on the old shanties that still rern,ain. If you really want to earn the salaries that you are drawing, I would suggest that It Is better to avert fires than to put thein out after they are started, and urge you to inspect the old shanties on the southwest corner of Fourth and Stark streets, in the rear yard of which there is a mass of old lumber and paint debris; or that you inspect the premises on the southwest corner of "Front arid Salmon streets, covered with a lot of old tumbled-down shacks and shanties, used as a feed and sales stable, in which many horses are quartered and much hay stored, a dire menace to that section of the city. There are many others that you might look up in like condition. Having published that I am a vio lator of the law, you gentlemen have been so petted, humored and pampered in the conduct of the Fire Department of the city, that you go to undue lengths: How dare you ' say I am a violator of the law? That is for the court to say, and not you. Extraordinary Demands of Tire De partment. You made a demand for your depart ment this year for the sum' of $610,000, or about $35,000 more than Seattle had last year, her fair year. Do you really require more money to run the Fire Department of this city, with its level streets, than it does to run the Fire Department in Seattle, with its steep, hillside streets, and its great fair year on? Let us look, at your conduct and expense of your department. You asked for $610.000 more than was .allowed all the following departments: Kngineer's Department $136,796.20 Health 25.S12.00 Garbage Crematory 23.000.00 street cleaning & sprinkling 224.590.50 found Department Mayor's Office Auditor's Office Treasurer's Ofrlce City Attorney's Office .' Council Council expenses Civil Service 1 Building Inspector's Office. .Municipal Court Inspectors Office. Inion Trust Building, Los Angeles. Twelve Stories. No Fire Escapes. National Bank of Commerce blx btorii No Fire Escape. Wells Fargo Bldg., Portland. 12 Stories. One Fire Escape. r it S ft r , - - Is i -! tfifltll Ifxlii 't3 11 IrSX, tiff Hi!! , Milttfff I . . - liflllilllllBBoia aSIIIoi JfS j I lIlgBBIS D 3 0 0 0 Q 0 0 n !3 ID f lllll!illip .IjnranBsnBDDnnnnn n a 0 0 Q illlliliP 4Iaka Building, Seattle. Fifteen Stories. Ko Fire Escapes. Paulson Building, Spokane, Wash., Eleven Stories; Larger Than Any Building in Portland.. No Fire Escapes. The I0,000 that you asked for is more than was allowed for the Police Department, the street repair depart ment of the city, the street lighting of the city and the Park Board. I concede that the City of Tortland is growing rapidly, no man knows it better, but I charge the expense of your department is increasing In great er ratio, as the following table will" show: Fire Department Expenditure. For For For For year year year year 1S04. . . . 1905 1906 1907 For year 1908 For year 1909 Appropriation for vear 1910 (Asked for $610,000.) $173,218.68 182.120.95 262, 478. SI 341.730.07 367.S71.23 351.598.64 469,553.00 Plumbin i. lr y Han expenses Harbormaster Sealer of Weights and Meas. h ree Employment Miscellaneous apparatus . . Total Look at the Pictures Closely. Attention of the public is called to the accompanying pictures, showing the disfigurement of the buildings" In Port land with -fire escapes, and contrasted with the series of pictures of buildings in other " cities, not marred and dis figured as they are in Portland. Evi dently the fire chiefs In other cities are not pushing the sale of fire es capes. You gentlemen are public servants, paid by the city to avert and prevent fires, i nd not to push the sale of fire escapes. You evidently assume that the city ordinance invests you with, or 2,400.00 ! attributes to you, "discretion." Readers 3.391.00 cf this letter may think you woefully '. 65iiao!oo j lacking in "discretion." Respectfully ' I yours, .599,004.20 I . CHARLES K. HENRY, ,640.30 .300.00 S7.260.00 7,500.00 12,120.00 4,500.00 1.000.00 2.100.00 1C.500.00 3.000.00 7.200.00 lo.54n.00 I " v --?s:sSp---i , ?-lJr I thill i r-r kJ Nr . i 1 1 Concord Building. Portland. Stx Storlefl, 5 0x100. Two Fire Eccape. . Merchant Truat Bldjr. Five Stori, 50xioO. Two Yin Kcap. G3106.0