February 6, 1854. }
The following petition of Peter Cooper, in relation to the prevention and extinguishing of fire, and to give greater efficiency to the Police Department, was received and laid on the table and ordered to be printed.
D. T. Valentine,
Clerk.
To the Hon. the Mayor and Common Council of the city of New York.
The subscriber takes this method to present to your Hon. Body, certain improvements for the prevention and extinguishing of fires, to give greater efficiency to the police and greatly lessen the labors of the Fire Department, and at the same time give greater security to life and property, and the government of our city.
Your subscriber is of the opinion, that these improvements will, if adopted, result in great benefit to the City, State and Nation.
A good government in this city, like the heart of a great body, will make itself felt throughout our State, our Nation, and to some extent throughout the world. Desiring greatly to secure for my native city, the inestimable blessings of good government I have ventured to propose and urgently recommend, to the serious consideration of your Hon. body, a plan founded on a principle, that I believe will do more to bring about security, order and good government, than any and all other measures, that are within the range of our municipal powers, to adopt. The plan and principle to which I allude, will make it directly the dollar and cent interest, of some three-quarters of all the officers in the employ of the city government to faithfully perform their duty.
If this can be shown to be conveniently practicable, it must be admitted that it would bring about greater efficiency in the execution of all useful laws and ordinances, than any other means which have ever been applied to the government of our city.
Before I attempt a description of this plan, I will state that it will require greater conveniences for the extinguishment of fires than those now provided by our present arrangement.