Arizona republican., 1907-09-27

damage. Meanwhile the insurance companies have figured their losses and find that they owe San Francisco s132. .000, 900. Surely 1t was most un- profitable gamble for San Francisco.
 Yet the insurance companies wrote a very low rate on San Francisco be- cause, forsooth, of it's excellent fire department People gauged the re- quirements of construction thereby and built just as shoddily as insurance reg ulatiOns would permit. They and the people of the country at large have virtually been seduced into combus- tible. shoddy construction of buildings under false pretenses made by the non- -prohibitive rates of the firein- surance companies.
 Wood has been another curse of the country It is almost a blessing in disguise that our forests are we'll nigh devastated by our extravagant ruth lessness because even to the most ob- tuse it must be evident that the use of wood is no longer economy. A build ing of steel frame and hollow fire proofing tile, or of structural rein forced concrete protected from fire by tile. costs but a fraction over ten per cent more in first cost than does the usual frame of wood with wooden joists and studs. The life of such framing is infinitely longer than the old wood affair. the cost of mainten- ahce is less, SO is the insurance rate. and. all in all. in a very few years time. good construction not only means safety. but an actual economy. The enclosing of stairways and elevator wells the protection of windows and sky-lights with wired-glass. the mak- ing of a building fireproof in design costs nothing more in money than the cheap fire traps. but is merely the ex- penditure of a little intelligence on the part of the architects.
 Millions are spent yearly in handling this plague. but only hundreds are doled out in steps to prevent it's out break
 Looked at fairly. says the American Architect. the leading architectural journal of the country. itsis the com munity at large that is the culprit. since it suffers" fires to take place. when 1t really has the power to pre- vent them. It looks calmly on at the expenditure of millions annually. mill lions that come out of it's own pockets. for the maintenance of imperfectiy ef- fective ire-departments, and yet. If but half of the money spent in this way had been used in the difference in cost between cOmbustible and incom- bustible construction. the greater part of our cities would now be indestruct- ible.
 It has been the assumption that a real estate impr0ver. as a sane buv- ness man. should be able to perceive how much it was to his own ultimate to build an indestructible building. The true theory is that in- conlbustible buildings must be built It is really immaterial to the taxpayer whether an individual elects to let his building be destroyed by fire. but it is of very real interest to the public that the lives and property of other people shall not be jeopardiZed and destroyed at the same time. It is desirable to substitute unburnable for burnable buildings with the shortest delay pos sible. since a cOnflagration may occur any day. and the process can be met ter accomplished by coaxing than by compulsion.
 The one thing for our municipalities to do is to arrange the taxation of property in accordance with the lat ter's permanency and indestructibility A fixed rate on ground values and a sliding rate on buildings. the minimum on fireproof buildings and the maxi mum on fire would be perfectly equitable to all. IL would put the burden of paying for the maintenance of fire departments upon those who needed the service and would meanfa lessened load of tax on those who are as we'll as business like enough to build so as to not require such servicce. It is the one sane mu- nicipal solution of the problem. the one way of extracting ourselves from