Arizona republican., 1904-03-18

nual loss in the aggregate amounts to such a figure as to be beyond ready comprehension.
 A conservative estimate made by the Finaneier places the loss through fires in the United States during the last twenty-six years at three thousand millions of dollars. a sum equal to of our national wealth, as disclosed by the last census returns. On this immense fire loss the aggre- ly 1929 millions of dollars. These are stupendous figures, and it seems per tinent to inquire whether the spirit of carelessness which has marked the construction and care of buildings in the United States since the civil war should not give way to more conserva- tive and stringent regard for public safety As a rule financial damages from fires are not felt appreciably by the public at large, for the reason that the distribution of losses is so wide spread that the individual cannot trace to himself any personal injury. Never theless the fire losses of the country are a national calamity, and represent the destruction of wealth which can never be replaced. Superficial opinion is wont to jump at the conclusion that fire insurance offsets the aggregate loss to a greater or less extent, for getting that fire insurance payments represent a direct tax collected in the form of premiums from the insured. Fire insurance relieves the burden of loss, but it does not replace the wealth destroyed nor is it humanly possible to do so.
 The destruction of 5000 millions of dollars of wealth in 26 years repre- sents an average of considerably over 115 millions annually. It is estimated that the Panama Canal will cost not over 230 millions of dollars, so that the fires of two years equal the cost of this great undertaking. The average ed States is approximately $60,O00 per mile. The fire losses of the past twen- ty-six years, if applied directly, would have built 50,000 miles of railway, or practically one-fourth the systems in the United States today, counting wa tered stock and all.
 The business failures in the United States for the past twenty-six years amounted to 4,163 millions of dollars. But this does not represent loss in the sense that fires do. Creditors recover a respectable proportion of their claims, and tangible property is not wiped out of existence. As a matter of fact fires rank above failures in real loss to the country. Fires are also an appreciable factor in causing failures. Not to go back over the entire period covered, statistics show that for sev- eral years preceding 1904. at least 16 per cent. of mercantile failures are traceable to fires or crop failures and since the latter have been negligible quantity. in the main. fires probably rank first in causing business em- barrassments.
 The fire losses since 1877 also repre- sent a destruction as heavy as that entailed by the civil war, the greatest calamity in our history. These are simple comparisons. but they are ad- vanced in order to make clearer the ruinous, hap-hazard policy which att tends the construction of our build ings and the care of them. A leading fire insurance company president is of the opinion that two-thirds of the cur rent fire loss could be prevented by the enactment and. enforcement of building laws