MYFBS, MAY(R - the Digital Library of Georgia

100 MAYOR'S ANNUAL REPORT.have families for whose actual maintenance and support,the salary received is barely sufficient. Thesemen serve 329 days per year, or 6,909 hours ; theyare allowed one day off out of every ten days of successiveservice, and this is taken from them if thefire bell rings or their station is shorthanded by reasonof sickness or other causes ; thev are allowed full7 vpay while sick, if the sickness does not exceed fifteendays in a year; after that they are paid half pay forthirty days and no pay thereafter. Even when injuredin the discharge of their duty they are allowedfull pay for ninety da.ya only. They are confined totheir stations while on duty, and oftimes an alarmis welcomed by them because it gives them a littlefresh air and change of scenery. Hardty any of thesemen can pay for life insurance, and only a few insurancecompanies will write them even at an advancedrate. If killed in the discharge of their duties theirfamilies are left dependent, in most cases, upon thecharity of the citizens. If they are permanently injuredthey are kept on the rolls for a time, but theyare finally dropped, to work out an existence inwhatever way they can. After a service of twentyyears a pension of one-third of their pay is allowed,' provided they are no longer able to perform duty,and after thirty years' service they are allowed halfpay under the same conditions. The men are anxiousto protect their families, and with that end inview they have organized a benevolent society whichpays sick and death benefits, but the amounts are sosmall that the relief is very short-lived. I beg, therefore,to recommend that a pension fund be establishedunder such rules as may be thought proper,