'-•^ UK'- 



MARCH 4, 1915. 



The Florists' Review 



23 



FLORISTS FIGHT FOR FIREMEN 



OHIO GREENHOUSEMEN IN ARMS 



Enforcement of law requiring licensed firemen for all boilers of 

 thirty horsepower or more meets opposition from Ohio growers. 



FTER an unsuccessful com- 

 bat with the state officials 

 over the taxation of green- 

 house crops, Ohio florists 

 and vegetable growers are 

 again in the thick of fray 

 with state authorities, this 

 time with the boiler inspection depart- 

 ment of the Industrial Commission of 

 Ohio, with the Toledo Florists' Club 

 leading the forces. 



The Cause of Conflict. 



There is a law in the state compelling 

 owners of steam plants to put them in 

 -charge of licensed operators if the boil- 

 ers are 30-horsepower or larger, A 

 horsepower means, according to state 

 law, twelve square feet of heating sur- 

 face. It is immaterial whether the 

 •operator develops this horsepower by 

 the 100 pounds of pressure required or 

 whether he runs his boiler at only one 

 pound of pressure. It is held, appar- 

 ently, that a 30-horsepower boiler run 

 at low pressure is a dangerous thing 

 and must be in the charge of a licensed 

 operator, while a 29-horsepower boiler 

 operated at the highest pressure possi- 

 ble can be run by Tom, Dick or Harry. 



This law has been in force about 

 fourteen years, but was not enforced 

 in the case of greenhouse boilers until 

 about three years ago. At that time 

 Krueger Bros., Harry Heinl and E. A. 

 Kuhnke, all of Toledo, were hauled up. 

 Krueger Bros, and Harry Heinl sent 

 their men to be examined and E. A. 

 Kuhnke took the examination himself. 

 These three firms thereby satisfied the 

 authorities. It is not known that any- 

 body but these three was molested to 

 any extent until last fall. 



Last summer, when dull times com- 

 pelled a number of factories to close 

 down, a great number of steam oper- 

 ators lost their jobs. Since that time 

 almost every owner of steam-heated 

 greenhouses in and near Toledo has 

 been hauled on the carpet and told to 

 put on licensed men. These owners had 

 no trouble to get all the licensed men 

 they wanted without advertising for 

 them. Some of them hired licensed 

 men; some of them fired them. 



Oreenhouse Heating Has Peculiarities. 



It seems that a regular steam oper- 

 ator has not that bred-in-the-bone feel- 

 ing about handling greenhouse heating 

 which the average greenhouse worker 

 has. While the licensed man is un- 

 doubtedly as good at the boilers as 

 the average greenhouseman, or even 

 better, he certainly has not the 

 knowledge requisite to handle the 

 greenhouse temperature and conditions. 

 In one case the owners had to put their 

 unlicensed man, whom they had broken 



in and trusted with nearly 1,000 horse- 

 power for five years, with the licensed 

 man whom they were compelled to hire 

 when their own man could not pass the 

 examination. This same man was given 

 his license later, after passing a special 

 examination. 



It is charged the examinations are 

 unnecessarily severe. Many questions, 

 while certainly proper in case a man 

 wants to make the firing of steam boil- 

 ers his trade, are entirely out of place 

 in the case of an owner of a small 

 plant who must fire his own boiler. 

 Nearly all greenhouse boilers in the 

 neighborhood of Toledo are either hori- 



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zontal tubular or marine type. Yet the 

 owner of such a boiler must be able 

 to tell all about the construction of 

 water-tube or any other steam boiler, 

 or he cannot get a license. 



All boilers in the state of Ohio are 

 inspected, or supposed to be inspected, 

 at regular and irregular intervals either 

 by the state or by certain reliable in- 

 surance companies. The insurance com- 

 panies do not specify that their boilers 

 shall be operated by licensed men. They 

 rely on the reports sent in by their 

 inspectors as to the care and condition 

 of their boilers and would soon revoke 

 their insurance if they thought they 



were taking any unreasonable risks. 

 The state boiler inspectors are supposed 

 to inspect any boiler not protected by 

 insurance, for which inspection the own- 

 ers have to pay a fee. 



If those inspections are properly and 

 conscientiously made, it is held that 

 there is no danger whatever with the 

 low pressure carried in greenhouse boil- 

 ers. Some growers have fired their 

 own boilers for many years and have 

 built up a comfortable business, but not 

 being acquainted with the construction 

 of other types of boilers, they are not 

 allowed to do their own firing. Their 

 business is not large enough to warrant 

 the employment of licensed men and 

 trouble commences. 



For Instance, 



For instance, Mrs. Hecklinger, a 

 widow, has three grown sons at home, 

 who last summer built two greenhouses 

 for growing vegetables. They of course 

 had to put in a boiler and, with an eye 

 to future development, they put in one 

 above thirty horsepower. Those boys 

 are of at least average intelligence and, 

 like most American-born lads, have the 

 knack of understanding mechanical de- 

 vices and, of course, the use of steam, 

 but since they have not had one year's 

 actual firing experience they cannot 

 even take the examination for a license, 

 according to the state law. Their range 

 will probably pay wages to two or three 

 men, but if licensed firemen have to be 

 engaged to care for the boilers, then 

 the houses had better be shut down. 

 One of the boys was arrested and fined. 



Another case: The son of a local 

 owner, being a good mechanic, over- 

 hauled both their boilers; he put new 

 flues in them, and the state boiler in- 

 spector complimented him on the neat, 

 workmanlike job. At the time this 

 place was built, the young man set the 

 boilers and installed all the piping in 

 the place. He also had a hand in the 

 firing at both the old and new places 

 for about twenty years. Yet he could 

 not pass the examination. By order of j 

 Otto Elzeman, the chief deputy in 

 charge of steam operator examinations 

 in Ohio, a special call was sent to the 

 different growers to send their men to 

 the Hotel Navarre for an oral examina- 

 tion February 5. A number of men 

 went, men apparently able to handle 

 the heating plants of their own busi- 

 nesses or of their employers'. It seems 

 but one of them passed. One of them 

 claims the examiner told him he had 

 passed and would get his license, but 

 the license never came; instead, a letter 

 of regrets. 



All through the state, the conditions 

 are undoubtedly the same, and Ohio 

 greenhousemen feel that it would be no 



