The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-09-22
THE GREAT RED PLAGUE. FIRE
STUPIDITY OF THE NATION

The following article was written
for the Ardmoreite by r. w. Fitz-
patrick, consulting architect and exc,
cutive officer of the International So.
ciety Of Municipal Building Com.
missioners, Washington, d. c:
The country has grown to the
point where everything about It is
big; It's commerce. It's products. yes,
even It's crimes are colossal Pre-.
sumably to keep things harmonic
We permit our fire waste. our nation
al ash heap. to also be mammoth,
incidentally losing sight of the fact,
however. that It is. at the same
time. idiotlc. our burnt offerings,
our national ash-pile. could well be
called a tribute TO the "mercless
stupidity of the most enlightened ma
tion on earth
The strange thing about It all is
that so much is said in the daily
and periodical press about liie-in-
surancc abuses, the piccadillocs or
more serious onenses OF state and
municipal graftcrs and all that sort
Of thing. indeed wave of reform
has made itself felt the country
over. but so far little or nothing has
been done to reform one of the
greatest abuses. the costliest and
most murdcrous of municipal ills
from which W. suffer-Fire. True.
millions are spent In actually fight
ing fire. but minutes thought is
sufficient to convince any one that
an attempt at cure Is futile. Pre-
ventive measures can be the only
solution OF the matter.
4 normal years losses land. by
the way. there are nightly few nor
NAL years. what with Baltimore and
1904 and San Francisco IN l9O6)
mean s2O0.0O0,OO0 in smoke. AT
least another sl5O.0O0OOO is spent in
alleged shre.protection, fire depart
ment high pressure water plants,
etc. beyond which we eXpend another
slgG. 600 600 in attempting to get
some solace via the fre-insurance
route. The sum of those figures rep
resent our annual normal cost of
fire. In 1905 phenomendlly pros
porous and busy year in building
We did In actual construction and re-
pairs in buildings, S525, ,000.O 900. What
think YOU OF nation that wastes
as much as 1t produces? We hurn
up more property than a half dozen
nrst.class nations put together. Just
| fire. eliminating insurance, protec-
/ ton and everything else, merely
smoke. costs us over $500 per capita
a year: the average OF all Europe Is
| less than s0.33 per capita.
/ Incidentally We have destroyed
over 1000 human lives by fire In one
years time.
| But all this Is n normal years rec
/ ord See what We did in 1906. At
no time or place on earth has there
/ been SO much building dope. We
/ passed the 5000 ,O0O 600 mark In con-
struction that year, but what with
| san Francisco and our regular
/ fires" We also destroyed over $500
100000 worth of property Tn"
cost of our alleged fire protection
has also increased and We have
gamblcd with the insurance compa'
nics In sull heavier amounts than
usual so that our total expenditures
for fire must be- away in excess OF
| 100000. .OO0 II indeed is cancer
eating at the very vitals OF our eco
nomic structure, a devastating pla
que. The apotheosis of folly.
Few people realize the degree in
which gambling peuetrates the bust
ness fabric. We see the work OF
the gambling bug but accept II as
matter of course. Rather than
build little better and thus avoid
fire. We have built to use mild
term, "rottenly," but have sought
protection" from the gentlemen,
who, banded together in that legi
innate spoiation, under the name OF
fire insurance, have graCiously con
descended to sit in the gam with us
and rake In our shekles. We have
paid them premiums since 1860
/ s3622 600 600, or just in the past
rn years, sl6io,sS5,op. In 1905
We carried into the house" over
sl96,OO0,O0o in premiums and got
back in salye for our losses trine
over s95,OOO, 900. See how far that
solace goes. Take San Francisco rs
an example; over $500, 100000 went
up in smoke sherc The loss in
/ business TO tho city and TO the
/ country generally as a re-