Daily globe., 1883-05-29
TERRA Gotta LUMBER.

L
is not so much that we have not fire proof
ing-so called-but that plaster and ashes
lime of tell and tiling are not practically
fire proof when set. They are heavy, brit
tie and not at all suited to inexpensive
structures. 1t is claimed for the new ar
ticle, that a hallway, a single room, OF
even a desk can be made to stand the most
intense fire, and that it is as easily adjust
ed as lath and plaster, That it is in
destructable by fire, water or acids, That
it is cheaper than pressed brick. That it
can be shaped to any form, for side walls,
ceilings, flooring, roofs, sheathing of iron
columns, boilers, lining of furnaces; in
short, fitted to any form that lumber can
be. When we think that few absolutely
fire proof buildings would have saved Chi
cago and Boston; that fire-proof elevators
and Railways would have saved the New
hall house victims, it becomes US to look
upon a material with such claims substan-
tiated, as boon of precious considera-
ton. Fires, like sickness or pain, are soon
forgotten when passed. It will doubtless
astonish all who read the following ex-
tract from an article on fire-proof material
taken from the New York Times:
How important this feature is may be
gathered from the annual reports of the fire
insurance companies. From the official
statement of the fire insurance companies
in the United States, exclusive of the for
eign companies doing business in this
country, it appears that the capital invest
ed amounts to more than $60,000,000, and
that the actual losses paid by these COM
panies in 1881 was over S35, ,000, 900, or
more than half the total capital, while the
foreign companies paid nearly $1z,OOO,OOO,
making grand total of upward of $780,
100000, paid for fire losses. The actual
loss by fire was far in excess of the insur-
ance obtained, and is estimated at nearly
$100,O00,000. The sum represents a total
destruction of 80 much property value ut
terly consumed and annihilated, but great
and irreparable as this loss is, it does not
include the individual suffering-the loss
of life, the widespread misery, the poverty,
sorrow. and distress of thousands deprived
of employment, of homes and shelter, re-
duced to penury and want. All this can
not be computed or estimated. 1t is as
serted that in the three years ending in
1880 there were no less than 252 theaters
destroyed by fire or partly destroyed, re-
sulting IN 1870 deaths and about 3,40O in
juries. When 1--WE regard those ten
denotes of modern civilization by
which population is flowing more and
more toward the large cities, and that in
those cities people accumulate in almost
incredible numbers under a single roof
while new architectural structures are an
nually rising higher and higher in the air,
endangering, by every added story, the
chances of human life-the absolute neces-
sitY for fre-proof material is clearly ap-
parent.
Loss of property by fire is as absolute
as death, never to be restored in this
world. Its equivalent by insurance saves
many heart burnings, yet were insurance
is endangered by the reckless and hurried
manner of putting infammable materials
together. Insurance companies make all
their money on what are called frst-class
risks, and underwriters gladly make low
rates for such risks. We quote from a
report of a meeting of merchants and
underwriters in New York, upon the dry
goods district, where, as in our own city,
too great value in merchandise is crowded
into one locality, without suitable protec-
tion as ainst fire.
The meeting of merchants and under
writer's to-day to consider what may be
done to increase the security of property
in the dry goods district isiextremely i'm
portant. The insurance companies refuse
to assume more than three-ffths of the
risks on the $500,000,000 of property in
that small district between Broadway and
West Broadway, and they have good
reason for the refusal in their past ex-
p9rience. During the ten years ending
with 1881 the premiums received from the
district by insurance companies averaged
$780,, ,286 year, while the losses actually
paid during the same time averaged ST.
O42,O10 year. Fire insurance losses are
usually taken to average about 60 per cent
OF the gross receipts, but during the ten
years mentioned the average loss was
nearly twice that per cent.
1t is evident that underwriters are die
Greet in declining to increase their risks
until the danger of fire in the district is
diminished. How to effect that result is
the mOmentous problem under consider
alton to-day.
We are informed that terra Gotta lum.
Der is of recent discovery, as now made
and st. Paul will probably have the second
manufactory in the United States
although many will doubtless be started
in other states before the year closes
From London paper we notice it has
already made its debut there.
remarkable material called sierra
Gotta lumber" has recently been brought tc
notice in England. 1t is composed of the
top layer of fre-clay beds and sawdust
exposed to heat and pressure. Slabs
bricks and boards of any shape may be
nodded from it, and it is capable of being
cut by edge tools, pierced by nails, sawr
and otherwise manipulated, just as wood
is. But the strangest feature about it is
that it stands, without any apparent effect
upon it, more intense heat than fre-clay
will bear; and for lining furnaces, fol
bridge walls in smelling furnaces and
other places of exposure to great heat, il
will be valuable and almost inexpensive
substitute for asbestos. Water seems tc
have no destructive influence upon it. fts
weight is about that of an equal mass o1
c1nder, and its color varies from light buff
to fierce salmon. No doubt it will be found
OF great value for building purposes.
we are glad to note that our chamber o1
commerce have been quick to discover
and report upon the merits of this new life
and property saving material, and we trust
1t Will soon be for sale throughout the
state.
Comedy of Errors