THE 3IORXING OREGOXIAX,' SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1910.
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.-.-jIrvard, Ctaicaso. No Fire E-app.
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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.
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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
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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
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Were you or either h -r -- t
of you Interested In the manufacture it&&&wvzx
and sale of fire escapes more seal In
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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.
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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