THAI 18. 1918. 



1 



The Florists' Reviesv 



BOILER BILL IN ILLINOIS 



LICENSE LAW IN LEGISLATURE 



Legislation requiring license for operators of boilers working 5000 

 feet of radiation in state of Illinois up for passage in lower house 



|INCE Ohio greenhouse own- 

 ers opened their fight on 

 the enforcement of a musty 

 and hitherto moss-hidden 

 statute providing for the 

 examination and licensing 

 of firemen operating boilers 

 of thirty horsepower or more," florists in 

 nearly every state in the Union have 

 learned that they face the possibility 

 of a similar fight. The article on this 

 subject in last week 's Review called 

 attention to the extent of this wide- 

 spread and sudden legislative activity. 

 No less than seventy-five bills have 

 been introduced in various state legis- 

 latures within the last year. 



In Illinois the bill on 

 this subject has 

 reached a more ad- 

 vanced stage than 

 those, in most other 

 states, and prompt ac- 

 tion is necessary if its- 

 passage is to be pre- 

 vented. Manufactur- 

 ers ''associations, apart- 

 ment house owners' or- 

 ganizations, real estate 

 boards, boiler coa©erns, 

 etc., are all taking ac- 

 tive steps to oppose the 

 measure. Greenhouse 

 owners should lend 

 their aid 4)romptly and 

 fully, for the provi- 

 sions of the bill are 

 such that practically 

 ho grower will escape 

 the hardships imposed 

 by its passage. 



of pressure or radiation has been placed 

 so low that few boilers can be oper- 

 ated without a licensed fireman. Ten 

 pounds is the maximum pressure al- 

 lowed on a boiler operated by an un- 

 licensed fireman. And to prevent green- 

 housemen from heating their ranges 

 on low pressure, there is the addi- 

 tional limit of 5,000 feet of radiation, 

 no matter what the pressure. 



This low limit has been imposed, it 

 is quite apparent, without the consul- 

 tation of expert engineers and boiler 

 manufacturers. Such men, backed by 

 the higher authority of the American 

 Society of Mechanical Engineer?, have 

 given it as their opinion that low 



Pressure Limit Low. 



SALIENT SECTIONS OF ILLINOIS BILL, 



Section 9. No i)erson shall operate any manufacturing or 

 commercial plant or any steam boiler carrying a pressure of more 

 than ten pounds gauge or any heating plant of more than 5,000 

 square feet of radiation ilMthout first obtaining a license to 4o 

 so as provided by this act. \ 



been brought forward, not one by one, 

 as though there might be a dawning 

 recognition of the fact that a danger 

 to life and property had been over- 

 looked in allowing unlicensed firemen 

 to operate steam boilers of the size 

 aimed at in these bills, but they haW' 

 all been presented more or less sud- 

 denly and all more or less at the same 

 time. It is also noteworthy that such 

 legislation has made its appearance 

 since the beginning of the business de- 

 pression, caused by the war or what- 

 ever you choose, that closed many fac- 

 tories and threw out of employment 

 the operators of many steam plants. 

 The inference is natural, therefore, 

 that organized labor is 

 •responsible for the sud- ' 

 den. legislative activity 

 on this head, in its at- 

 tempt to secure posi- 

 tions for those whom 

 the business depression 

 rendered jobless. 



House bill number 

 563, which was intro- 

 duced March 31, 1915, 

 by Lee O'Neil Browne, 

 of wide and unsavory 

 reputation since the 

 Lorimer fumigation, 

 has already been taken 

 up, read a first time, 

 and ordered printed 

 and to a second read- 

 ing without being referred to a com- 

 mittee. Recent advices state that it 

 has reached a phase where it will be 

 passed this week, or killed. A similar 

 bill — an identical bill, indeed, save for 

 the insertion of the word "stationary" 

 between the words "operating" and 

 "engineer" — was introduced March 17, 

 1915, by the same gentleman, and re- 

 ferred to the committee on license and 

 miscellany, from which it has not yet 

 escaped. 



Verbatim extracts of the bill, in- 

 cluding the provisions most important 

 to greenhouseraen, are given herewith. 

 It will' be noted at once' that the limit 



Section 14. Any person ovfr 21 years of age who is a citiz.e& 

 of the United States, or who fite declared his intention of be- 

 coming such, shall be eligible to make application for license 

 as a steam and operating engineer, provided he has had three 

 years' expe^ence on boilers and power driveti apparatus; pro- 

 vided, that atiy engineer who shall make affidavit as having had 

 three or more years' experience prior to the4)assage of this bill 

 as a steam and operating engineer, next preceding Ms applica- 

 tion, and upon certification of such fact by his employer, shall be 

 granted a license for the plant he Is then operating without fur- 

 ther examination. 



Section 17. Whoever, being an engineer or owner or user of a 

 steam boiler, heating, manufacturing or commercial plant, vio- 

 lates any provisions of this act except as specified, shaU be 

 fined not less than $10 or more than $100. 



pressure heating boilers carrying fif- 

 teen pounds or less steam pressure 

 should be exempt from inspection and 

 the requirement of a licensed engineer. 

 That, in the face of such authorita- 

 tive statement, not by one but by 

 many, the legislature should fix the 

 legal requirement at ten pounds steam 

 pressure shows only too plainly the 

 absence of even the ordinary examina- 

 tion of facts expected of the lawmak- 

 ers. ,, 



What's Behind. 



It is noteworthy that the present 

 bills reqniri'ng licensed firemen have 



The Danger. » 



A law thai requires 

 the addition to the 

 small grower 's payroll 

 of at least two extra 

 men threatens bard- 

 ship to a large major- 

 ity of the trade, but 

 that which, in addition 

 to this requirement, 

 mean* the entrance of 

 organized labor into 

 ijreenhouse work, car- 

 ries danger to every 

 grower. One has only 

 to consider what would 

 be the effect of a sym- 

 pathetic strike of fire- 

 men, for the petty 

 grievance of s o m e 

 other trade, in the 

 neighborhood of the 

 Christmas and New- 

 Year's holidays. whtMi. 

 perhaps, the mercury 

 is hovering about the 

 zero mark, to realize 

 the danger this law in- 

 volves to big grower as well as little. 

 Not only must the fireman who wishes 

 a license pass'an examination "in the 

 construction antl operation of steam 

 boilers and power generating and 

 driven apparatus," but he also must 

 have had three years' experience of 

 boilers and power driven apparatus, - 

 must be 21 years okl, and must be a 

 citizen of the United States or have 

 declared his intention to become one. 

 Those acquainted with the trade need 

 not be told how hard these require- 

 ments will ?trike growers in general. 

 fVw of those now oju»ratiug. their own 

 boilers could obtain a license, except. 



