Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-13
PITTsBURG. FRIDAY. MAR. 10. 1891
FIRE-PRooF CONSTRUCTION PAYS

When $500 600 worth of property is prac-
ticaliy wiped out by fire in the business
part Of the city it is worth while thinking
about the matter. Absolute exemption
from liability to fire we can never have, but
We can establish conditions which will
efectually limit its destructiveness That
too little has hitherto been done in this
direction may be well understood by re-
nembering how far and wide the cinders
flew on Wednesday night, and in what
number OF cases these messengers of con-
fagration found lodging places well
suited to a further spread of the
flames There is no use blinking the
TACT that cheap construction was the
cause of the disastrous losses on Wood
street. The aim in the new buildings
which FELL prey to the flames, as we'll as in
at least one of the older ones which was
lately remodeled, seems to have been to pro-
cure the greatest display of rentable space at
the least cost If this concerned merely the
owners of the buildings aud the insurance
companies which got paid for standing the
losses, there might be no occasion for public
criticism; but no such limitation of damage,
much less Of risk, exists. Given a brisk
wind and there was no telling where such
coriagratioD would stop. Everybody felt
pretty strongly on the subject when the ruins
rose up in evidence yesterday on Wood
street against the "penny-wise, pound-fool-
ish" policy Of construction.
1t costs money to make an absolutely fire.
prooE building, but in the long run every
approach 10 the fre-proot quality will be
found to pay. There is law against wooden
buildings in the old part of the city-that is
to say against wooden exterior walls-but we
have not yet got to the length of any pro-
vision as to toors ceilings or inner parti-
tions, which still continue to be built for the
most part of wood because of its cheapness.
1t is alone by arousing the business sense of
property owners and merchants to the
greater safety, and in the end greater econ
omy, of fire-proof or at least slow-burning
construction, that progressive reform can
be brought about By the use of iron or steel
joists and several of the many devices, such
as tiliug, terra Gotta and concrete for the
floors, buildings can be had which will bid
defiance to the flames. If the first expense
is heavy, the annual saving of insurance
premiums amounts to interest upon part of
it. BY the immunity from heavy insurance
premiums on stocks OF merchandise and from
that interruption OF business for which no
insurance can pay, is of inestimable value
Better rents for ire-proof buildings follow
as consequence; and with a few more
lessons like that on Wood street, merchants
and ofiee-renters are sure 10 be sharply
taught that fre-proof quarters are worth
paving handsome premium for.
We are glad to take notice of the fact that
this is beginning to he appreciated in Pitts
burg. Already a number of handsome and
thoroughly fre-proof buildings have gone
up. Others are under way, and still more
are being planned in the architect Offices.
1t will take long while to rebuild the city
on fre-proof basis; but meanwhile every
business Of large Importance will be found
from this on exhibiting great desire to get
into such safe quarters. Cheap fimsiness
will gradually become of such disrepute, in
at least the business section of the city, that
it will before long be generally recognized
as the poorest investment for property
owners