New-York daily tribune., 1865-09-23
FIRE (!

licked out by the leaping flames, the virtues OF
brick. iron, and stone as building materials will
perhaps dawn upon the human American mind.
When several billions more Of property have
been made ashes of here in New-York, real
scientific appliances, Of which there must be
many, will be resorted to for the extinguish-
ment of fires. Now we stand these combus.
tions with the complacency Of fatalistic Old
HunkerS in Constantinople, and are willing to
consider fires and half-organized fire depart
ments as evils necessary in our fallen state. 1t
is curious that we so thoughtlessly satisfy our
selves, when warehouse and its contents have
been consumed, by saying, Insured" AS If
the loss of actual wealth in the world were any
less You may pile policy upon policy, but
somebody loses in the end every penny that is
lost; nor do any offices with which we are ac-
quainted, insure against losses Occasioned by
the suspension of business. Waste Is
waste, although it may fall in widely dis
tributed portions, upon many persons and
interests. Besides, after fire like that
at Augusta, affecting so many and
such miscellaneous interests, there never is found
to be adequate insurance; and immense losses
fall, if we may say so, upon first heads. In
this case the damages are estimated at $780,
900, with about two-thirds only insured, and Of
this over $lS3, 900 falls upon three companies
in single city. The real benefit of insurance
is that it makes loss easier by dividing 1.-THE
gross fallacy is that it prevents loss altogether
We have said nothing Of the fright, the discom-
fort, the disappointment, and the probable loss
of life. Great fires are about the least credlta-
bic circumstances in civilization; but good,
smashing, murderous railway accident rather
takes the lead, and after that, a filth-begotten,
courteouSly and importunately invited peSti'
lence.
! 1t is wonderful how Wise men grow after hard
knocks. The City Council Of Augusta, we are
told will now pass an ordinance prohibiting
the erection of any more wooden buildings as
necessary protection against like disaster. "
Locks for the stable when the thief is well away
astride the stolen steed! There are plenty OF
bricks in Maine, and there is plenty Of lime
unfortunately, also, a plenty Of pine-timber
Shingle palaces are more quickly built, but they
also decay faster, to say nothing of the risk oil
burning, and the money necessarily spent in In
suring them. The truth is, wood is not ut
building material for exteriors in any large
town nor do we see why, because
there is less to burn, people should be
more reckless about burning it, especially when
it is all they have. The compactneSs of struc-
ture in Augusta, relatively to the space covered,
we presume, was about equal to the compact
ness of any part of Broadway. Imagine the
Astor House built Of wood surrounded by
wooden buildings, and on fire Yet that is the
precise contingency Of which the inhabitants Of
country cities are willing to run the risk, and
that, too, with small fire departments or no
fire departments at all. No wonder we hear
of terrible conAagrations, especially in these
dry and tindery days
There is no possible structure, from dog
kennel to hotel, which can be built of wood,
which will not be better built of stone, brick, or
iron--drier, warmer safer handsomer more
enduring, and relatively cheaper. These things
considered the difference in cost is not worth
mentioning. When wood was cheap and every
thing else high, when we had no railways for
the transportation of ponderouS materials, while
the forests were at our very doors, there was
some excuse for wooden towns. But there is
mono now. They prove nothing now but our
folly, the force OF habit and, If we may be per-
mitted to say so, our wooden heads. And it is
a remarkable fact that thoroughly wooden viii
lage rarely has more than one lcaky wheezy,
rattle trap of fire-engne, built after the very
oldest pattern, and with every stitch in the hose
rotten. building takes fire. the bell rings,
the men, women and children shout, and the
dogs bark-another building takes fire, the
machine arrives, the hose splits, and the
inhabitants fall back upon Divine Providence
and buckets, wet blankets and gunpowder.
The fire goes out, when it gets ready-the gro
cery is gone, the church is gone, the school
house is gone, dozen homes are in ashes, and
there is a very pretty bill for the insurance
otlices--an awful falling in Of the perfectly safe
risks. More awful still, perhaps, the Phenix
Rural Mutual Safety Fire Insurance Company,
in which it cost nothing whatever, according to
the Directors Annual Report, to be insured,
stops payment and leaves the losers to weep
among the ruins. This thing happens over and
over again every year in the United States,
causing distress of all kinds-of insolvency, of