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Show UPROAR IN FIRE DEPARTMENT WREN FOUR MEN ARE LET OUT BY FIRE CHIEF 0. A. GRAVES Charging unfairness on tho part of Fire Chiof G. A. Graves and City Com-missiOner Com-missiOner Miles L. Jones, head of the dppartmpnt of public safety, which in eludes ihf police, health and fire departments, de-partments, four men who were dis-i charged from the service of the city in the fire department told B standnrd, representative this morning thai tin v had been dismissed because they had been instrumental in an effort to Torn1 ii local branch of the International A sociation of Fire Fighters, which is af-filiated af-filiated with the American Federation of Labor Fi e men vere really forced out of the department, one stating that he had been informed by Chief Q-raree that it would be wise for him to resign because he was one of eleven men in the depart im-nt who had signed the r.p-plicatlon r.p-plicatlon for a charter in the organ i zation. This man is J. D. Dean, and the other four are Benjamin Libby, A. L. Dawson, Amasa S Holmes and Richard Rant Several other members j also left the department, it was stated,;' because of remarks of the chief that he would "fight the organization to the; limit," and that, "no man could belong! to the organization and remain in the tire department so long as I am chief" Commissioner Explains. Monimlssloner Jones was Interviewed Inter-viewed by the' Standard representatire on the subject, and hi'- rersion was to j the effect that the effort of the men to organize had nothing to do v, iih their being discharged. "We Vtet( obliged to trim the department." h( said, "because too ruuch mone W8.B being spent and we would not ha? enough In the treasury to hold us with-ing with-ing the limit of the budget we made on the first of the year. "Our budget for the fire department. I as made up the first of the year, was ?o9,945. The reduction was made &t j my suggestion to Chief Graves a few : days ago. After we had made up our ; budget last January, protests on the wages received were made and we granted increases. This resulted in our going over the budget, in proper tlon to the whole year, by the first of June I wrote a letter to Chief Graves on June 7 advising that some reductions reduc-tions in the force be made to take effect not later than June 10. And hs action was in keeping with my Instructions. Instruc-tions. In fact we have planned to trim as much as possible in all departments depart-ments " Knew Nothing of Union. A copy of the letter written to Chief ; Graves was shown to the Standard re- porter, and it stated that the fire department de-partment had already run short of j $728 36. Commissioner Jones gave the impression that he knew nothing of the attempt to form the labor organl-i organl-i zation. The men who were forced out of the department sta.ted that they had not made any threats of any kind as to j what they would do when they Lad j j completed the organization. "We had I asked for not one cent extra, and for nothing but our legal and constitution ul right, to organize, ' said one of the discharged men this morning. "This I organization has a branch in every large city in the L'nited States, and it is noted for making for efficiency among fire fighters. It has beon praised at conventions of lire chiefs." Council of War. I The five men who had been forced jout met this morning at the city hall and drew their pay warrants, and then held a council as to further action. Thej announced they would appeal to the citizens of Ogden city to see that they are given a square deal, allej, ing, in most emphatic terms that there has been trickery on the part of bO'h Commissioner Jones and Chief Graves, that these two men have conspired to i break up the organization under color of economy, and that in fact it is their 1 hatred of organized labor that has ' prompted the action Why do thev attempt to fool the public," said one of the disehart'' id men, "when they are keeping on the pay roll men vsho are junior in servicfl to any one of us. A man who was hired for the department on the firs' of April. Dale Phillips, and another, ho was hired within 'the p.ist week, William Farr, are still in the depart ment. If thev were so anxious to cut down expenses, why did they hire a man after they had practically decided to fire us. Boy On Pay Roll. "And how does this agree with the fact that Chief Graves learned mor than ten days ago that we were taking steps to form this organization, and at once announced that he would fir"' ry man who had anything to do with it. There are a number of old men in the department who have refused re-fused to join the organization, nnd they were the ones who told the chief that a delegation had gone to Sail Lake to confer there with the men. bers of the local in that citv "And if they want to cut don expenses. ex-penses. vh does the chief keep his own son, Richard, who is only 18 ye:irs of age and ineligible to work in the department de-partment ,on the pay rolls? Why was this 18 year old boy kept on the pay roll all winter while he attended school, and why docs he now have the paid chauffeur take him to his meals? Why is the chief's car used for joy riding and to take his familv to BROWS in the evening, while all the gasoline that is used in it is paid lot by the ttaxpayers? These ;ip things we would like to have Mr. Jones and Chief Graves explain to the good citizens." The discharged men state that th? will take such steps as are necessary to have their right to organize guaranteed guar-anteed to them. According to the rules of the International association, it requires re-quires at least seven members of Ihe department to sjgn for a charter. The eleven men who signed for the Ogden department claim that they had not attempted to coerce or in any way in terfere with the others who did not care to join. Tho personnel of the department de-partment is twenty-four men and the chief. The five men also asked w hy Commissioner Jones had written his letter to Chief Graves on Sunday pointing out that there seemed to have been considerable haste in the action, ac-tion, especially as the order to "trim" gave but three days for results Chief Graves was called over thel telephone and asked to give a state i ment concerning the trouble. He referred re-ferred the questioner to Commissioner! Jones, saying that ne did not wish to be interviewed. He did state, however, that "these men were let out because they were trouble makers and disturb- |