REAL ESTATE
AND
%) BUILDERS
NEW YORK, MAY 15, 1915
iliiiliiiiii
iilliliiilM^^^^^^^^^^^
THE NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION MEETING
Convention Held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
at the Hotel Astor—Many Important Topics Discussed
â– l!|!iillllllillllillliilliillM^
i:i:||lilll1lillllllill!l1lli1lliii{1lllllll
A T the Hotel Astor, Broadway and
'^*' 45th street, last Tuesday, Wednes¬
day aud Thursday, was held the Nine¬
teenth Annual Meeting of the National
Fire Protection Association. The asso¬
ciation comprises about 130 organiza¬
tions, which are actively engaged in the
protection of life and property from
conflagration. The ballroom, on the
eighth floor of the hotel was crowded
to capacity when Robert D. Kohn. pres¬
ident of the association, called the meet¬
ing to order, and after the usual routine
l)nsiness, reports were read from many
of thc affiliated organizations, which
commended the work of the association.
Election of Officers.
On Thursday, just before the meeting
was adjourned, the following were elect¬
ed officers for the ensuing year: Charles
R. Meek, of New York, president; Louis
Wiederhold, Jr., of Philadelphia, Pa.,
first vice-president; D. Everett Waid, of
New York, second vice-president;
Franklin H. Wentworth, of Boston,
Mass., secretary and treasurer; also the
following members of the executive
committee, to serve three years: H. W.
Forster, of Philadelphia; E. B. Hatch,
of Chicago, 111.; H. O. Lacount, of Bos¬
ton, Mass.; A. M. Schoen, of Atlanta,
Ga.. and Mason R. Strong, of New York.
F. J. T. Stewart, of New York, was
elected chairman of the executive com¬
mittee and the following three mem¬
bers are added to the nominating com¬
mittee, class of 1916: W. H. Merrill, of
Chicago, 111.; Gorham Dana, of Boston.
Mass.. and Richard L. Humphrey, of
Philadelphia, Pa.
The President's Address.
In his opening address, Mr. Kohn
said, in part:
"The purpose of our association is
defined in our Articles of Association
as follows: 'To promote the science
and improve the methods of fire protec¬
tion and prevention; to obtain aud cir¬
culate information on these subjects and
to secure the co-operation of its mem¬
bers in establishing proper safeguards
against loss of life and property by
fire.' What has been accomplished by
our energetic committees in this direc¬
tion will be brought to your attention
in detail by these committees during the
sessions of this association of the next
three days. No one who hears these
reports or reads this mass of technical
material will fail to realize the devoted
service which has been rendered our
cause during the year. The members
who have thus given of their time and
their knowledge have not worked
toward a selfish end. In the best sense
they have been in the service of our
country, for they have helped to build
up the solid foundation on which our
country's legislation to reduce the fire
hazard must in the future be l)ased if
it is to be based on expert, not on ama¬
teur opinion. They have served their
country as the citizens of a democracy
can best serve it—by ofifering the best
of themselves for the good of all. They
offer it and trust to convincing others
through the wisdom inherent in the of¬
ferings, not through force. In this
CHARLES E. MEEK.
sense, we, the workers in this effort
toward the protection of life and prop¬
erty, are soldiers enlisted iu a fight
against an enemy, fire. Let us hope that
more and more the technically qualified
citizens of this country may join in this
and other ways to further by construc¬
tive means the ends of right and wis¬
dom, and that we may be spared from
any desire to attain just ends by means
of violence and destruction. * * *
Official Interest Growing.
"It is fair to ourselves to take stock
of the evidence of growing official in¬
terest in the work of the National Fire
Protection Association. The officers of
your association have been able to co¬
operate for the first time during this
year to a limited extent with certain
departments of the government in the
establishment of standards of safe con¬
struction. This co-operation will in my
opinion be much advanced if we can
present our standards in graphic form.
A plan to this effect has the general en¬
dorsement of your executive committee.
"We are convinced that the publication
of diagrams illustrative of forms of con¬
struction that reduce the hazard from
fire to life and property will encourage
their adoption after due trial as safety
standards by the national and state gov¬
ernments. They would then be distri¬
buted throughout the country to any
one interested. Citizens in far-away
places, completely out of touch with fire
prevention experts, would then be ad¬
vised most easily as to the proper con¬
struction of chimneys, the proper en¬
closures of elevator shafts; thc safe
construction of staircases and other
exits; of roofs, of cellars, of hatchways,
etc. We have during the last year re¬
ceived many assurances from dift'ercnl
government departments that such a se¬
ries of standard sheets would be of in¬
valuable assistance. Their publication
would be a great step forward in the
cause of conservation,"
Franklin H. Wentworth, the secretary
and treasurer, said iu his report: "The
status of our membership as of April
30 is as follows: Active members. 126,
a gain of 5; associate members, 2,595. a
gain of 84; honorary members. 4, a gain
of 1; total, 2,725, a gain of 90. As in
previous years, our resignations have
been met and exceeded by new adhe¬
sions so that the records show an un¬
broken gain for the past five years.
"By all odds the association's most
important publication of the year was
tbe inspection manual. Field Practice,
the entire first edition of which, aggre¬
gating 3,000 copies, has already been
sold. Its olhcial adoption by the New
York Board of Fire Underwriters aud
its genera] use by the inspectors of the
New York City Fire Prevention Bureau,
place the seal of the largest American
city upon its value, and inspire the hope
that it will continue rapidly to gain in
favor and become the standard fire in¬
spection manual for all fire departments
and inspection bureaus in the United
States and Canada.
Mr. Wentworth's Report.
"The demand for speakers on fire pre¬
vention is also becoming nation wide.
The growing habit of cities to institute
'clean-up week.' with its accompanying-
public meetings, is rapidly multiplying
this demand. Although motion pictures
are an admirable feature of such meet¬
ings, a good speaker is necessary.
The following members of the associa¬
tion served in the delivery of lectures
and addresses: Gorham Dana. Powell
Evans. Joseph O. Hammitt, E. M. Un¬
derwood. H. W. Forster, W. H. Mer¬
rill, J. Tremblay, John Kenlon, W. O.
Teague, John A. O'Keefe, Ira G. Hoag-
land"". Ralph Sweetland, J. A. Robinson.
Benjamin Richards, John C. McDon¬
nell, Thomas R. Weddell, F. R. Mor-
garidge, Charles E. Meek, Rudolph P.
Miller, Edward R. Hardy, Alcide
Chausse, Gilbert A. Pevey. Robert Ad¬
amson. H. M. Wilson. R. H. Newbern,
Lew R. Palmer. E. P. Heaton. H. C.
Henley. O. B. Ryon. Lewis T. Bryant,
John R. Freeman. Robert D. Kohn, F.
M. Griswold. William Guerin. F. E.
Cabot and Frank E. Henderson."
One of the pleasant features of the
convention was the luncheon on Wed¬
nesday that had been arranged by New
York Chanter, of which Rudolph P. Mil¬
ler, ex-Supt. of Buildings, is president.
The company was large, filling the
grand ballroom comfortably. The
honor guests were the Acting Mayor.
Plon. George McAneny; Fire Commis¬
sioner Adamson, Chief Kenlon. ex-Pres¬
ident Phillips and Secretary Wentworth
of the N. F. P. A.; Messrs, Stewart and
Anderson of the Board of Fire Under¬
writers. ex-Supt. Milller and Allan Rob¬
inson of the Allied Real Estate Inter¬
ests. President Robert D. Kohn acted
as toastmaster. The speakers were the
.â– \cting Mayor, the Fire Commissioner
and Messrs Robinson and Wentworth,
and the general subject of discussion
was "Fire Prevention and the Business
Man."
The Acting Mayor extended the wel¬
come of the City of New York and made