The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-07-20

w SSfsDgN BGtE6tEGs M jfr1Es.-- Ihe moral
Of the9ate frein Chicago, as taught ~ ,th'
Journals OF that Gil ~ that II IS always aan
gerotis 10 put up wooden buildings 10 9
crest city. fecentre Of Chicago IS cotnpac
and WelI.6uilt, but IL is surrounded ~
fYnst number Of cheap wooden structures.
There Is also likely TO be . high wind blow
| ing TO or from the lake. But the wooden
buildings are q constant menace. JIG they
could be burned up, which Is their certain
destiny sooner or later, without endmger.
| ing other buildings, their destruction would
be only the removal Of 4 nuisance. But
few such structures, worth few thousands,
may be the means OF burning down others
worth millions. The late fire may cost four
millions and it might have cost forty. Few OF
our cities have as great PROV ocatiens to- IRE as
has bad Chicago, yet they all have more or
less of wooden structures, and especially
finder box roofs, instead of metal and sate:
These latter materials nre coming more ano
more into use, however, but generally on
buildings 30 high that fire apparatus cannot
reach them, and others are stored with e2-
plosives and food for fire.
Thus 1t is the way in which we build
cities that has much 10 do with their ex-
posture to CONGREGATIONS. There has not
been in this century great IRE IN any OF
the European capitals. SO completely Is
Paris freed from all the elements OF miami
inability that the deliberate and persistent
efforts of the communists to set II on hre
failed. There is not city in America which,
if the same set of incendlarles were left at
liberty to work at their will upon 1t, would
not have been utterly destroyed. little
spark falling on some unguarded spot SUI
fees to lay whole squares in ashes. Laws to
restrict private avarice and insure better
construction of buildings should be rigo.
rousy enforced. The apparatus aud means
of extinguishing fires, and the discipline OF
engine companies should render the lire de-
partment OF every city equal to almost
any emergency. With these ought to
be combined fire eXtinguishers in all
large factories and places Of bust.
ness, and the familiarizing those en-
ployed IN such places with the use Of them. |
A novel suggestion appears in a COMMUNE |
cation in the Chicago Times of the 9th in |
slant, which, singularly enough, discusses
the exposure of that city to the recurrence
of the calamity of 1871, and says that the |
first remark made recently by prominent
Louisville architect was, when showing him |
the city from the roof of a tall building, after
having passed through a number OF them, |
explaining the construction, "This city will
be destroyed again." The writer then asks,
" How can we obtain a fire department
equal to the emergency p and, summing up,
says: >,
1.-THE solution, therefore, rests not with
change Of officers, nor the introduction OF
in the present ire depart |
ment. 1t demands its adjustment, trunk |
and root. My proposition is its transfer TO
body of men who are most directly inter-
ested in its efficiency. This body is the un-
derwriters. In Continental Europe the
State' is largely in the insurance business,
and consistently runs its machinery tor pre- |
venting and extinguishiDg fires. Here we
meet the anomaly that private insurance |
companies take all the risks, and leave the
machinery in the hands of corporations con-
troled by the seltishness of individual poll |
ticiaps. If the underwriters properly APP |
preciate their own interest in the premises, |
they will undertake the task upon the only |
practical basis-l. e., without compensation |
to be paid by the city, meeting expenses oy |
increase of rates, the city merely transfer
ring to them all apparatus and free use OF the /
buildings and grounds"
W bile the fire departments OF other cities,
our own, are not open to the Oh
iections brought against that of Chicago, 1t
is clear that some extraordinary measures
must be taken if our American cities are to
enjoy the immunity from fire which is essen
tlal not only 10 their prosperity, but their |
existence. Baltimore Sun.