THIS DAY IN 1918 IN THERECORD
Friday, July 26, 1918. Troy’s paid firemen have organized to form a local of the International Association of Fire Fighters to press for higher pay, The Record reports. Truck 2 tillerman Stephen J. Dwyer, an eight veteran of the paid force, is elected the new local’s first president during tonight’s meeting at Station 14. Dwyer has been agitating for a union since last summer. “It is not denied that the principal object in organizing is to seek better salaries,” our reporter writes, “It is contended that the firemen of this city are simply doing what firemen in Schenectady, Albany and many other cities in the state either have already done or are contemplating.” Schenectady firemen advised Dwyer on forming a local and affiliating with the American Federation of Labor. Dwyer tells our writer that his next step will be to petition the common council for a raise. “The Taft-Walsh War Labor board has requested that employer and employee bargain collectively on such wage differences and we mean to avail ourselves of this advice,” Dwyer says. Asked what may happen if the council turns them down, “none of the firemen was prepared to say what might follow.” Schenectady again provides an example of what might follow. When their paid firemen threatened to strike, General Electric contributed money to supplement their pay. With that example in mind, “It was ru- mored in fire department circles that several businessmen of this city with whom members of the paid department have discussed their desire for more pay have stated they would be willing to advance the increase in pay desired to the city.” Aldermanic Dispute Some Troy Republicans are calling for a special common council election this fall in the Fifth Ward, where Mrs. Patrick J. Kennedy serves as the city’s first female alderman.
Kennedy’s husband, a Democrat, was elected last November, but died later that month. Mayor Cornelius F. Burns appointed his widow to serve his term, but GOP lawyers are questioning whether the mayor has the authority to appoint a replacement alderman for a full two years.
Critics claim that Mrs. Kennedy no longer lives in the Fifth Ward. She explains that “she is spending a temporary period with her mother, who is a resident of the Twelfth ward. However, she has retained her legal voting residence in the Fifth ward and recently enrolled there.”
Pending word from the state attorney general on the status of Kennedy’s appointment, more cautious Republicans are recommending “not opposing Mrs. Kennedy so that the will of the voters of the ward as expressed last fall and embodied in her appointment should be fulfilled.”
-- Kevin Gilbert