The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-14

President she drew rawhide and start ed to lash him. It was a member of the Presidents party who. for some req son, went to the Presidents room first. The Pi esident had happened to step into the first room of the suite with a friend.
 A fact not generally known is that the first passenger elevator in the world was erected in the Fifth Avenue.
 This constant tearing down costs a pretty penny. The buildings torn down in New York every year would make q city several times the size of Birmins nam. The money they cost would buy four hattleshps like the oregon, pay the board bills for all the men in the United tates army for more than year. or wipe out the national debt in decade.
 In other words. progress in a great city like New York, is purchased at a tre- mondous sacrifice Of invested capital. The churches. warehouses and dwellings destroyed in the metropolis every year to make way for larger structures cost fully $200O, GOO. The wreckage sells for about one-tenth of what 1t costs.
 Yet the compensations for this de- structlon of property are as remarkable as the story of the losses. Collectors ol fine decorations find treasures in the dismanted buildings which are preserved in newer and finer dwellings, churches and public institutions. The property de- stroyed Is replaced by modern edifiees worth at least eight times what the old buildings cost
 T..e records of the building department show this demolition of the newer New York in a surprising manner. Last year permits were issued for the destruction of 6lS buildings in Manhattan. In 1905 the records show 756 structures destroyed. ftst- in 1907 fer the destruction of 337 old buil1- ings This makes q total of 170O buildings in thirty months.
 Adopting the records for last year as q basis. 1t will be seen that nearly two structures fell q prey to the wreckers every day in the year.
 The dwellings and shops on the site Of the Waldorf-Astoria cost the Astor estate at least s15O.OO to build When torn down the materials in them sold for not more than s50oo At least fifteen dwellings, and stores were destroyed to make way for the Astor hotel They cost S15,0O apiece, or S225 900. The materials in them sold for sGQ00. The four blocks of tenemenls, dwellings,, stores and church buildings on the site of the new Pennsylvania terminal, between Seventh and Ninth avenues and Thirty first and Thirty-third streets. rep resented $2G0o,00 capital invested Not more than $1C0000 was realized for the materials in the dismantled structures. One of the heaviest sacrifices of property recently was the destruction of ninety four buildings in 1904 to form the Dclah- cey street approach from the Bowery to the Williamsburg bridge. Each of these old buildings cost sS00 or thereabouts-an investment of s750,O 900. They were consid- cred almost worthless and were sold Tor something over s2Jo0.
 Three experts who have just finished an exhaustive investigation of the ire and earthquake in San Francisco, and of the rehabilitated city make the astoni5h- ing assertion that practically no fire-proos buildings are 10 be found anywhere. The warning is delivered by Richard L" Hum phrey of the geological survey and sec rotary of the national advisory board on fuels and structural materials Prol. Frank Soule, dean of the College of cifil Engineering of the University or cal- fornia. and Capt John stephen SeWell, en- gineering corps United States army. an international authority on fire-proof build ing construction. Their report son Is to be published by the geological survey. MT. Humphreys says:
 'The San Francisco disaster has dem onstrated that the lessons from the Chi cago and Baltimore fires are still un- learned The same faults in construction continue to be repeated. The only sure way to remedy grave defects of this character is to enact strict building laws. which will compel an observance of the essentials for hreproof structures.'
 Prof Soue voices this conclusion;
 When we can see plainly as we may, looking backward, that nearly all of this destruction and suffering might have been prevented by wise foresight and provision, we feel that we must sound warning to all the cities of the world. Any city that disregards this warning will be guilty of great crime"
 Captain Sewell says:
 "The Baltimore fire and the San Fran cisco fire, as well as many other fires and fire tests have proved quite con- clusively that commercial methods of fireprocfing are Inadequate to stand any real test. In the majority of cases, the steel work Is fairly well protected, but the number of failures is sufficiently great to show that the factor of safety