90





RECORD  AND  GUIDE





Tulv 18, 1914





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I NOT A VICTORY FOR ARBITRARY IMPOSITIONS   |





Decision in the Kaye Case Will Help to End the Reign of Terror
—The Fire Commissioner's Orders Must Be Fair and Reasonable





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THE Court of Appeals affirmed on
Tuesday the conviction of Charles
Kaye of misdemeanor, for failure to
comply with an order of the Fire Com¬
missioner requiring the installation of
automatic sprinklers in the loft build¬
ing, 30-34 West 26th street. The opinion
of Judge Cuddeback, containing the de¬
cision, is not available for publication in
this issue, but will be printed in full
next  week.

If, as it is expected, the Court of Ap¬
peals has definitely determined all of
the important questions raised in the
Kaye case, the decision will go far to
end the reign of terror that has prevail¬
ed in local real estate circles ever since
the Factory Commission began to tinker
with the  Labor Law.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Mac-
Nulty, who successfully conducted the
prosecution of Mr. Kaye throughout its
entire course, stated yesterday:

"The affirmation of Kaye's conviction
hy the Court of Appeals is not a victory
for arbitrary and high-handed imposi¬
tions upon the owners of factory build¬
ings, but is rather a triumph for sane
and reasonable fire prevention measures.
It should be borne in mind that, wdiile
the courts have held that the Fire Com¬
missioner has the power to exercise dis¬
cretion and discrimination in requiring
the installation of automatic sprinklers,
they have also ruled that his orders must
be fair and reasonable. The right of a
property owner to contest the validity of
a fire order, upon the ground that it is
unnecessary or unreasonable, couutinues
unimpaired. In the Kaye case, a con¬
viction would have been impossible had
he been able to show that the order he
disregarded was arbitrary and unreas¬
onable. But the evidence was conclu¬
sive that his building was hazardous and
that sprinklers were actually necessary
for the protection of its hundreds of
occupants; consequently, the courts held
that the requirement of such safe¬
guards was reasonable, and that his re¬
fusal to complv therewith was a crime.
The Significance of the Kaye Decision.
In the opinion of consulting engineers
in fire-prevention matters the decision
was due to the conditions in the build¬
ing and was not a fair test of the law.
The Court of Appeals' decision was ex¬
pected to be what it is by fire-preven¬
tion engineers because the fire condi¬
tions in the building made such a strong
case in favor of the Fire Department.
If a building similar to the Asch Build¬
ing has conditions actually worse than
those which existed in the Asch Build¬
ing at the time of the fire, there can
be little hope entertained that the courts
will interefere with fire-prevention pre¬
cautions considered necessary by the
Fire Department.

"It was. undoubtedly, a mistake from
the standpoint of the interests of realty
owners to make a test case of the Kaye
order," said Peter Joseph McKeon yes¬
terday.

"Now that the case has been decided
adversely, there remains to owners the
consolation that the decision is not as
sweeping as some people think, but ap¬
plies only to this particular building.
In other words, orders against other in¬
dividual buildines can be tried on their
merits. The decision means that the
courts will sttstain the Fire Department
when a building is really dangerous, but
the burden of proof is on the Fire De-
nartment to show that a building is not
reasonably protected against fire perils.
"This was the attitude of the judges
in   the  court   of   Special   Sessions,   who





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practically swept aside legal technical¬
ities and decided the case on the simple
question: Is the building dangerous and
does it need automatic sprinklers as a
protection to life? These are questions
to be answered in the first instance by
a competent expert whose opinion
should be a guide to owners and their
lawyers in deciding whether or not to
contest orders in court. If the expert
agrees with the Fire Department that
compliance with the order is reason¬
ably necessary for the safety of life,
there, is small chance of the courts de¬
ciding against the Fire Department, be¬
cause the facts of the case as well as
the law are in favor of the Fire De¬
partment.

"One result of the unfavorable deci¬
sion of the Kaye case may be that own¬
ers will complv too readily with discre¬





tionary orders which should be carefully
scrutinized in order to be sure that they
are according to fundamental principles
of safety, are justified by conditions in
the building- and follow well-established
precedents.'

Eire Commissioner Adamson an¬
nounced yesterday the installation of
sprinklers in factory and loft buildings
would be required without further de¬
lay. This is a result of the Court of
Appeals' decision in the Kaye case,
which- w^as exclusively published in The
World  of  yesterday   morning.

"The decision in the Kaye case," Com¬
missioner Adamson said, "sustaining the
right of the fire commissioner to order
sprinklers installed in buildings where
they are not required by the Labor Law,
is the most important decision to this
department since the Fire Prevention
Bureau was  created.





A   RIVAL TO   THE   PARTHENON







Wall  and  Nassau  Streets.
THE   NEW





Trowbridge & Livingston. Architects.
BANKING-HOUSE   OF   J.   P.   MORGAN &  CO.





For beauty of material, accuracy of
workmanship and size of the compo¬
nent parts, the men who are building
the bankine house for J. P. Morgan &
Co. have soue-ht to rival the Parthenon,
which was the most beautiful building
ever erected. The best skill which
Athens could command at the height
of her glory was given to the construc¬
tion of the temple. The Morgan bank¬
ing house does not resemble a temple,
but like the Parthenon its walls have
been composed of solid blocks of mar¬
ble, and not merely veneered with mar¬
ble.    The blocks ar^ all three feet high





and three feet thick, and according to
location are seven to twenty-two feet
in  length.

As in the Parthenon, the courses are
so accurately cut that the joints are al¬
most invisible. The quarries at Knox-
ville, Tenn., were torn to pieces in or¬
der to produce blocks which are not
only colossal in size but also flawless in
texture. Some of the blocks weigh
thirty-eight tons. They were shipped
from the quarries in the rough and cut
here in the yards of the Knickerbocker
Marble Company for the general con¬
tractors,  Marc  Eidlitz  &  Son.