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the Pacific Coast. Many a thrilling rescue has been made when the value of the imperiled craft was not sufficient to have tempted the cupidity of the most avaricious. And the records show that on many occasions the tugs have put boldly out to sea to succor vessels in distress in the face of weather conditions that have kept Government craft, built and commissioned for just such work, tied up in some snug harbor.

What could have been more heroic than the saving of the steam schooner Washington, by the tugboat Tatoosh, in command of Captain "Buck" Bailey? The story is so recent that only the essential facts need be recited here.

It was on November 13, 1911, that the Washington, with 48 persons aboard, became disabled at the mouth of the Columbia River during a terrific gale and was in imminent danger of going on the rocks. Five vessels had vainly tried to reach the surf-beaten vessel when the Tatoosh put out to her

rescue.

Captain Bailey handled his vessel with his customary skill and daring. After allowing his tug to slowly drift within heaving distance, a line was put across the helpless steamer and after what seemed ages to those aboard, the Washington was literally towed from the jaws of destruction to a safe anchorage. Captain Bailey was awarded a medal for his gallant service, though in keeping with his usual modest demeanor, he emphatically declared he had done nothing but his duty and wished no reward.

And right here seems the proper place for the comment that tugboat masters such as Captain Bailey, are in a large measure to the manner born. Long training in the details of the operation of his craft is necessary, as well as a perfect knowledge of the waters to be traversed; but these factors will not of themselves make a competent master. There must be back of all the ability to think and act quickly in the exigencies that are forever arising.

The tugboat captain must often be a law unto himself, acting first and looking for a precedent afterward. Then there is the double responsibility that many otherwise capable steamboatmen cannot rise to. The tugboat captain is of course expected to look after the welfare of the tow depending upon him.

When weather conditions are favorable and everything is moving according to schedule, the mate will answer as well as the master. But when the dense fogs are shrouding the intricate passages in a funereal sheet, or sudden gales are lashing the sea, while a Stygian darkness conceals from view the far-reaching reef and no less cruel shore-then the captain must assume full responsibility and for hours at a stretch guide the destinies of the two vessels committed to his charge.

Although immune to a remarkable degree from the vicissitudes of the sea, the tugs themselves occasionally come to grief. In 1895 the fine tug Mogul was run over and sunk off Cape Flattery by the British bark Dara, and not more than three years ago the handsome tug Sea Lion met a similar fate in the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the hands of the schooner Oceania Vance.

The one diversion enjoyed by the crews of the various tugs is fishing for salmon, cod and halibut off Cape Flattery. The salmon season opens in June and continues through September. During this period springs, silvers and sockeyes are taken.

A favorite fishing for the tugs is just off Tatoosh Island. As many as six lines are let out and as the tug slowly steams about, the lines tighten like whip cords as the trolls are taken by the hungry fish. The salmon caught in these waters range in weight from 12 to 45 pounds. When other fishing fails, shark are taken. These are a small variety, which bite readily at a chunk of fat pork, or even at a white rag.

The rapid disappearance of sailing craft has been rather keenly felt by the various companies operating tugs

TO A VIOLET.

upon the Pacific Coast, as it takes from them one of their most profitable sources of income. But still the business cannot for a moment be classed among the waning industries. The coast-wise schooner business continues good and this alone will afford work for quite a fleet of tugs. Docking and otherwise assisting the steamship fleet

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that is yearly growing in magnitude calls for a flotilla of harbor tugs. And even though the old square-riggers are abandoning the ocean highways, they still continue in service as barges, and in this capacity must needs be towed up and down the coast laden with coal, lumber, canned salmon or concentrates.

TO A VIOLET

You bloom in pensive beauty,

Shy Violet of the grove;

You breathe where glints the dreaming dew-
Where wandering zephyrs rove.

You spring where thought might picture

Its summers of delight,

While memory turns her mirror back
Reflecting time in flight.

Around you spread wild-flowers,
And blow the wild rose trees-
The spirit of your fragrance haunts
The valley on the breeze.

You speak in Love's low language-
Sweet constancy you teach;
And lovers give you, floweret,
As tokened love to each.

The brook, it softly murmurs
Its silvery lullaby!

All through the night 'twill sing to you
While shadows round you lie.

What purple dreams will shroud you

In mystic shade and light

All gleaming, garbed in nymphic dew-
All folded-hushed to-night?

Frail thing now close your petals-
It is the twilight hour;

But in the morning breathe afresh,
Your sweet and lonely flower.

The night is falling, Violet,

I leave you now to sleep!

So close your eyelids, dainty plant,
While night her vigils keep.

HEDLEY HALL.

A

By H. W. Dennie

FIRE department minus politics would be practically an anomaly in the United States, but that is the happy position of the men in the Manila Fire Department, simply because everything is under civil service rules, all appointments are made from the Manila Bureau of Civil Service, there are no elections in Manila, and, to quote Mr. Dooley, "there you are."

The natural result of this is, that the men feel a great deal more secure in the tenure of their places, knowing, as they do, that as long as they behave themselves, there is no reason for not retaining their jobs indefinitely. And a lack of personal worry is a very desirable feeling in the tropics, as any old resident will testify.

The department is made up of about half Americans and half natives, both filling places as engineers and firemen. The higher offices are all filled by Americans. The engineers and firemen are divided into "first" and "second" class employees, meaning Americans and Filipinos respectively. The American engineers get $1,200 to $1,300, and the Filipinos $600. The men in the ranks are paid thus: Americans from $900 to $1,140; Filipinos, from $240 to $360, depending in both cases on length of service.

"What sort of firemen do the Filipinos make?" I asked Chief Lewis H. Dingman, who has been in charge for eight years.

"Excellent," he replied. "They like to have a leader, but they will go any

[graphic][subsumed]

Manila Fire Department, 1890. Before the American occupation.

[graphic]

The Manila Fire Department, 1912. Part of its modern equipment.

where that I, or other officers, will go. In some cases, where the men have been under the old Spanish rule, and have acquired weak lungs, we don't try to send them into the smoke, but where their physical condition is all right, we find them perfectly able and willing. And they obey rules admirably, never get intoxicated, and don't talk back.

"And as for the Americans, most of them are either ex-soldiers or sailors, and as such are used to discipline. They don't know what fear is. The general health of the department is good; in fact, we haven't had a death in nearly two years."

The Insular government is very liberal with the Americans in the matter of vacations. A man's "accrued leave" begins with the day of his service, but he must serve two years before it becomes operative. He gets 30 days of this each year, but need not

use it every year. However, he must use it by the expiration of five years, or else begin over again. In addition, he gets 28 days' vacation leave annually, and this he must take annually. Either or both of these may be spent in the islands or elsewhere.

For example, a man having served three years with good behavior, wishes. to go "home." He has had his 28 days each of these years under full pay. Before he leaves for "the States" he is given pay in advance for three months and a half, representing a month of accrued leave for each year, and half salary for an extra half month. The Insular government has special rates with three lines, one to San Francisco, one to Seattle and one to New York, by any one of which employees get a substantial reduction on passenger rates home.

When an employee gets ready to return, if out of funds, he simply gets an

order from the government for an advance of return transportation, which is afterwards deducted from his salary in six monthly payments.

As will be seen by a comparison with salaries in many of the larger cities in the United States, the Manila fireman does not get quite so much. pay. "No," I hear critics answer, "nor does he have any skyscrapers to contend with, nor any ice or snow." Very true, but he has other troubles. One is the enervating effect of the tropical climate.

Another trouble, which he meets invariably every early spring at the termination of the dry season, is the nipa house fires. The man in America is totally unable to comprehend the effect of these fires in their quickness. On February 25th of last year, 777 houses, covering an area of a mile and a half square, were consumed in a few hours. The department had the blaze under control within an hour, but was obliged to put in eleven hours all told before the danger was over. The thatched roofs of these native houses are miniature tinder magazines, and fires of that description keep the department on the jump getting their hose lines out of the way-not in the way-for the flames simply run like "wildfire." These fires usually occur in the daytime, when the heat of the tropical sun is hardest on the firemen.

Residents in this country may ask: "Why don't they rebuild with less inflammable houses?" The answer is, that the poverty stricken Filipino laborer cannot afford the cost.

The Manila Fire Department was first organized just after the American occupation in 1898, by Captain Dodge, one of the volunteer officers, but lacking the necessary experience in such matters, he did not make a success, so ex-Chief Hugh Bonner, of the New York Department, was imported in 1901, and a re-organization took place. The present chief, Lewis H. Dingman, and his deputy, Clarence F. Samuelson, entered the service in August of that year. Three years later, Mr. Dingman became chief, and has re

[graphic]

Lewis H. Dingman, Chief, Manila Fire Department.

tained that position since.

The present department is up to date in every respect, the equipment ranking with cities on a par in population with Manila in this country. The second Webb motor was received last fall, which, with the usual complement of modern engines, trucks, and hose wagons, places the department on an efficient footing. American horses are, of course, used for the engines, the diminutive little native ponies being of about as much use as a carabao for such purposes.

The horses stand the climate surprisingly well. "At first we thought," explained the chief, "that five years would be their limit here, but we now have in service several animals that have been here for ten years, and apparently they are good for several years more. Naturally, when they are first brought here they perspire greatly when driven to a fire, but they seem to get acclimated gradually, just the same as the men."

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