SCALING DOWN FIREMEN S PAY
Considerable bad blood has been stirred up in Philadelphia recently in consequence of a little “shave” alleged to have been perpetrated on the Firemen by the Fire Commissioners. It has been the practice, it appears, to pay the Firemen by means of city warrants. Recently these warrants commanded a premium, and instead of giving the Firemen the benefit of the advance, the Commissioners paid them in currency, themselves appropriating the premium. The matter was brought to the attention of the City Council, where the conduct of the Commissioners was severely commented upon, and a resolution passed instructing them to report by what authority they did the deed. An attempt at an explanation was mado by one of tho Commissioners, who said the premiums went to pay political assessments. The explanation only seemed to make matters worse, and was pronounced “ too thin.” The warrants issued by the city government in payment of its employes are unquestionably the property of the persons for whom they are intended, and if the Fire Commissioners appropriated to their own uses the private property of others, they can undoubtedly be held accountable, both officially and as private individuals. The warrants were tho property of tho individual Firemen, just as a check on a bank would have been, and if they were worth a premium, tho owners of tho warrants were entitled to the benefit of it. Certainly tho citizens of tho City of Brotherly Love will not sanction this robbery of their hard worked and inadequately-paid Firemen. The action of tho City Council shows that that body at least does not sympathize with the action of the Commissioners.
