The San Francisco call., 1906-08-12

perhaps a little accentuatsd in san
Francisco on account of the natural
hazards there-l mean s9i9,tl the sin of shod-
were not shaken down by the quake,
fa tae e be h BEST fsa saf
] fered little from the earthquake. Those
that were the best built IN regard to
ber that point well-and wherever In
any OF those buildings. any one detail
was anywhere near perfectly done, that
satisfac5oriiy satft Had ali % the puiidinga hig
been well built, none would have
been shaken down; had. there been
| have been no fire following the quake,
or had there been less fuel 1t requires
ize ffh fhat there @ would have been @ less e Are.
| The whole trouble therefore resolves
itself into having given fire too much
| to burn.
MAJORITY BUILDS POORLY.
There has often been editorial and
other mention of our countrys appai-
ling contributions to the fire flend, but,
Judging by the number OF people who
to have been paid to the admonitions
of those who know how building should
a d9ne Of Grsn In Iae ts Steel M frame
and building the toors and partitions
of hollow nrepToof tile or. other more
or less fireproof material, there are but
ed in the entire country In San Fran
cisco there were perhaps thirty, and
burned district, and as far as regards
the homes, where we should spend the
most time and where we house those
treas treasures. doubt If there @ are 900 prop prop
erly built in the entire country, ard
there was not one in San Francisco.
have, otter. been mentioned; II may
eapltgiate, We destroy usually about
there is an average OF $500 fires year,
in Chicago 400. We burn up 8 the
seSoos ssSes qsp hoseal5 sfs asyans col
leges, s apartment houses, 8 depart
ment stores, . tails. 26 hotels, 146 fiat
week Of the year, and md WI while doing SO
day in the year. Normally we are sup.
Worth Of If property year. % but S;sSHiesO the aues
tion is. what is a normal year? Nina
teen hundred and four, with it's Bal
here we are this year with San Fran
cisco. The same thing may reasonably
happen to New Orleans or any of the
other particularly aimsily built cities
half of this, So far, including San
bGand to be 0q $500 Sss 5Sr hesdes hs that n
we pay out pretty nearly $500, 100000
more a year for fire departments, wa,
| fire protection. All, we are great on
trying to cure evils, but astonishingly
slow in inaugurating anything that
looks to their prevention-and to cap
gentlemen who are willing to gamble
with us that our himsy buildings will
s9m s9a Is that has ns reaehed 1anss in
ten years time
TALL BUILDINGS HERE.
At the very highest possible estimate
we will build in this year OF boundless
plenty and anS unprrecedented prospsrity
is a magnificent showing; granted. But
what think you of a people that Will
product rt can be utterly consumed m Ls wiped
out of existence--a prodigality that ex-
ceeds that exercised in our worse tnap
criminal devastation of our forests and
our other great natural resources and
that can spell but one thing-ultimate
bankruptcy?
things had been well done-the founda-
tions were partieuiarly good. and the
nary care In all else even those tail
buildings were built no better, in fact
not nearly as WELL as we build in the
The brick and stone work was no
more rigidly tied TO the steel frames.
the flreproofng tile protection or. the
tuted therefor would not even equal the
ordinary Eastern constructions; wood
used In the finish with lavish hand,
and there. where eonhagration possi-
oility was Imminent and the earth
IL anything was done to guard against
the dire results of either or both even
Qualities Yet decorative carving, ex-
pensive marble, dainty mosaics and the
most costly of elaborations were APP
piled with lavinsh hand to those build
'"e MERITS OF MATEPrAIs
Fortunately, and it has occurred In
no other great fire. in some one or
other of the buildings that We're the
Migration incidentally 1T is we'll to OBJ
serve that OF the total damage Of over
$500, ,Qo0, 900 wrought in the destroyed
more than sufficient TO rapair all the
quake damage) there had been done
some one or perhaps fwo Th, details of the
pie must necessarily have observed that
Wherever this excellence, of work,
il resulted in very great benefit to
the particular building in which it did
duty. They must have seen that brick
marbles that where the freproofing
thoroughly incased the steelwork the
latter was absolutely uninjured; that
where the ireproofing was of well
made and well set hollow tile or even
# did its work well and suffered little
damage: that wherever stairways and
elevator wells were properly inelosed
fire did not travel from story to story
internally; that where any spaces were
inciosed in freprooting partitions and
protected openings fire did not pene-
trate those or. being in one was con
fined to it; that where the interior trim.
the doors and other finish of building
was OF metal or other nor -infiamma-
the prevention of fire travelling from
one room to ;,disg anNthisr II 1t i did gain In
case a building OF highly combustible
CONSTRUCTION as to its I,as i,ntsernais was In;
closed with a good brick wall and all
Wired glass + IN metallic ra orH frapes pes and
outside. withstood that attack perfect
". and that men were ,a at at work at their
day after the fire; and. further, that
wherever employees stuck to their posts
building with anything like a suficient
local water supply or, In the absence
Of that. wet blankets or gunny sacks.