The Portland daily press., 1885-11-28

II soon dies away after the cause has been re-
moved. and it takes but few hours for the
matter TO be forgotten by all except those
who have suffered the loss ,, oH Tetry lew PEG
what extent property is destroyed by fire in
This country. The few figures which will be
given in this article upon this subject will no
doubt appeal to the general reader with over
whelming force. ,.-;.,, 100, n.
burned in the United States and Canada
property aggregating in value nearly $780,
600 o00, This sum does not include the $780,
100000 of property destroyed by the Chicago
fire in 1871, nor the $o0,OoV'oUO consumed at
Roston in 1872 To form somewhat salts
factory idea of the extent OF this tremendous
waste. let us take for comparison the valua-
tion Of proper in the different states, and see
what if will cover Were all the taxable
property both real and personal, contained
in the States of Arkansas, Colorado, Mississ-
ippi Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Car
dina and South Carolina to be swept entire
" out of existence, the loss would be but
little greater than that suffered from the
flames in the ten years given. IheTe are on
" five States in the Union that can boast of a
nronertv valuation exceeding this amount,
fhev are Illinois, Massachusetts, New York.
Ohio and Pennsylvania, and only one-New
YOrk-can double it. The most destructive
year in this decade was the Iast; In 1881 the
flames consumed over $110,000000 worth of
property, or more than could be replaced by
any one e Of the four States of Colorado, Flor
ida. Nebraska and Oregon. To put it still
differently, could the property destroyed by
fire be saved and applied to the liquidation
of the national debt, this country would not
owe a cent in thirteen years from date.
One would naturally suppose that with all
the modern appliances and inventions for
the protection of buildings and property
against fire. better results might be obtained
than these figures would appear to indicate.
But there can be no doubt that were 1t not
for the efficiency of the fire departments of
our various large cities and towns, the fire
loss throughout the United States would be
far greater than the records now show. An
examination into the causes of the origina-
ton of fires presents some strange ia cts.
Fires may be classified as arising from accl-
dent, carelessness and design. The first OF
these causes is by far the least harmful IN
its results To design or the work of the in
cendiary may be attributed nearly 30 per
cent of all the fires in the United States, ana
carelessness can claim pretty much all tne
rest. IncendiariSm is not uniform through
out all the States, but is greater In certain
localities than in others, and varies greatly
with each year. In Arkansas Connecticut,
Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Caro-.
lima, Texas and Virginia over 90 per cent OF
all the fires was attributable last year to TINS
crime. In other States, such as California,
MARYLAND, Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire and New Jersey, the percentage
was less than %. Next to incendiarlsm, de-
fective flues constitute the most prollhc
cause of fire; SO, 900 worth of property
was DESTROYED last year from this cause.
Lightning, lamp and lantern explosions, the
careless use of matches, flying sparks and.
| spontaneous co combustion rank about on a
| par in their destructive influences. Spon-
| taneous combustion however, takes sllgnt
precedence of them all. After these prlncl-
| pal causes come a vast number OF minor
ones. such as bonfres, fireworks, cigar stubs,
children playing with fire, friction, tramps,
| stove and CRATE fires, ETC., all of which con-
duce to the destruction of property by fire.
| Atmospheric conditions have a great deal to
| do with the number of fires in this country
| In March, April, May, June, July, August
and September, the rainfall generally
| throughout the United States is comparative
| " light, and in these six months the loss by
| fire IS per cent less than it is during the
| other six months of the year. The number
| of failures in the United States also has very
| much to do with the fire loss, and it will be
| found that the record of fires follow pretty
| uniformly the record of failures. This would
| tend to show that what is called the moral
| hazard in the insurance business is very
much influenced by the state of the money
market and the condition Of business.
| Thirty-fve thousand people were rendered
| temporarily homeless last year by the burn
| ing of dwellings and tenements, and $500,
| 900 were swept out of existence in country
| and general merchandise stores. OF all the
| property destroyed by fire in the United
| States last year not one-half of it was COW
| cred by insurance.