The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-01

windows of the Continental building succumbed. Terra cotta ranks next to brick in fire resisting qualities Pos- sibly there was defective construction, as there was with the rear wall. The face brick there was not bonded to the i inner layer, and the wall collapsed.
 For arches between I-beains the hol- low tile was extensively used. A good many holes were punched through it. Reinforced concrete seemed to make a better showing. In the United States Fidelity and Guaranty building there were concrete pillars and girders, as we'll as arches. The structure was ap- parently in good condition after the fire. In the National Bank of Com merce there were steel beams, and the arches were of reinforced concrete, made with cinders. The spans of the second floor had width of three and one-half or four feet, and those of the third floor measured six or seven. A style of workmanship which brought the covering material well down under the beams-what builders call the
 loaded haunch'-left the metal in splendid condition.
 When hollow tile are used instead of concrete it is possible to give to the particular tile next to the beam a pro- jection downward and under the metal, so as to guard it; but I did not happen 70 see any in Baltimore. In the huild- ings where concrete was used was not able to identify any as containing stone, and cannot judge of the relative merits of that and the cinder concrete. I did notice some of the latter, though, which had behaved admirably
 Quite apart from resistance offered to, fire, another thing must be consid- cred in floors. Where heavy objects like safes are to be used it is necessary to think about weight and the best way to distribute it. In the Equitable build ing the arches were of hollow tile. The upper layer, or web, of this was not over an inch thick. The caster of safe would go through this in no time unless it was covered. On the tile in this building were laid heavy blanks, or scantling, two inches thick, and on top of the latter finished wood floor sev- en-eighths of an inch thick. As soon as the wood burned out the weight of the safes was concentrated at small points and the arches broke through like egg shells. Something like dozen safes went through one floor after another to the cellar. The tile were much too thin anyhow, measuring only six inches through vertically, It is conceivable that layer of concrete two or three inches thick on top of the tile might have distributed the weight of the safes sufficiently to prevent accident, but I am not sure that such an arrangement might not be. open to some objection. However, an arch that was all concrete would stand any load.
 Protection for the metal pillars was furnished in several cases that I ob- served with hollow tile, and the latter were still in place. 1 could not tell whether water had been played upon them What would happen if they were so treated I cannot say. I had no chance to see a demonstration of the value of treating wood chemically to- increase it's resistance. Still, have def mite views on two points. Had such material been extensively introduced in the Hurst building where the fire SIdi tCu, Iue tdttSl Wouiu pTODdply nave been limited to that spot. Its use in other buildings would have done little good when once the fire spread
 Some windows in which wire glass had been introduced gave way. The glass melted, and let the fire in from outside In instances the trouble may have been with defective sash construc- tiOn One window with metal sash retained the wire glass in good condi- tion, but this was parallel to the path of the fire, and the test was not alto gether convincing. Shutters of iron would probably not have done any good. Even the wooden shutter cover ed with iron, which is a favorite safe guard with insurance men, failed in in- stances. Those on the Maryland Trust building burst, owing, perhaps, to the development of gases inside the wood. had no chance to observe the effect of a wire glass window and a shutter of this type in combination.
 There is no doubt in my mind from what saw in Baltimore that it is en- tirely practicable to construct buildings which will make such disasters as that just witnessed impossible. object to the term 'fireproof,' because everything will succumb to heat If the latter is in- tense enough and sufficiently prolonged. like fire resisting better. We cer- taialy can give to modern buildings the qualities which will check an outbreak in its incipiency and avert wholesale destruction"