Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-12-31
WHY RATES ADVANCE
INSURANCE PRESS POINTS OUT
MOST lNFLAMMABLE BLOCKS
IN IOWA CITIES.
Most InflammabIe Points In ottumwa
Not Pointed Out - Des Moines
Leads With Block Worth $2,412,o0o
Some Notable Iowa Fires. ~,

IOS N1OAuSS, D6C. lie AuSuI'
ance Press of New York has compiled
statistics showing how combustible
values are accentuated in single blocks
or squares in the larger cities Of the
country. including Des Moines. The
highest concentrated value in single
block here is put at $2,412,000 by the
Press, and the block bounded by Fifth,
Sixth, Walnut and Locust is described.
value of buildings, stocks and other
contents.
The Iowa cities included in the sta.
tistics gathered by the Press, the value
Of the property subject to loss by fire
in the most valuable block in each and
the description of the block follows:
Cedar Rapids. 100000, block bound.
ed by First and Second avenues, Sec.
ond and Third streets.
Clinton, 100000, block bounded by
Fifth and Sixth avenues, Second and
Third streets.
Davenport. 100000, block bounded
by Third, Main. Second and Brady
streets.
Des Moines, $2,412,oo0, block
bounded by West Fifth, West Sixth
Locust and Walnut streets.
Keokuk, 100000 block bounded by
Main, Johnson, Fifth and Sixth
streets.
Sioux City, s1.60o,oO0, block bounded
by Fifth, Fourth, Nebraska and Pierce
streets.
Waterloo, $16o,0O0 block bounded
by Sycamore, East Fourth and Water
streets and East Park avenue.
! In pursuance of the scheme of the
insurance companies to squeeze more
insurance premiums out of the bust,
ness houses Of the country, the Insur.
ance Press devotes most Of its last
number to exposition along this line
Now that Sioux City has suffered dis.
astrous fire, 1t is supposed the cam.
paign will be renewed with vigor The
1 Press says:
New Preventative Measures.
Very little has been done UP to
this time to prevent recurrence of
such sweeping fires as the historic
devastations at Chicago, Boston, Bal.
timore and elsewhere. The reliance
| for protection, so far as protection has
been thought of, has rested mainly or
the efficiency of fire departments. But
the possibility of fire extinguishment
has limits A greater work must be
done-that is, to begin further back
and render cities immune from conf1a.
grafton dangers, 80 far as engineering
4 intelligence can accomplish that end
A capable fire department must always
be on hand to do It's utmost, but the
engineer must perform his work long
before the fireman is called on to do
his.
1T being relatively impossible tc
4 prevent fires and their spread being
notoriously without rule and having
absolutely no relation to so-called fire
protection 1t is plain that the demand
for higher rates cannot be satisfied.
A Notable Fires.
{ The Insurance Press gives an ex
hibit Of notable fires in the United
States, but only those in which the
property loss has equaled or exceeded
S500,000." In the list Davenport Is
down for a $4,000 fire in July, 1901
and Des Moines is listed for $50O,00(
fire in January 1904 Des Moines ha,
had no such fires. The Frankel ant
ris-Emery blazes were the larges
and neither eventually footed up tt
100000.
In an article on combustible cities
the Press cites Cedar Rapids as al
example of the frame building town
In it's thirteen square miles there ar,
631 brick or stone and $500 fran,
buildings.