Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-03-27

notable addresses given on that Occa
sion was one on The Securing of New
INDUSTRIES by Roy S. Smith, Il native
Of Maine, and whose boyhOod days
were passed in Bangor, but now Secre-
tary OF the Chamber of Commerce IN
Llmira, New York.
The present is an era of publicity and
progressive cities and towns are in
manifold ways keeping themselves in
the public eye Boards Of Trade are
engaged in praiseWorthy work when
they aid in the issuing and distributing
of literature setting forth the attrac-
ions and advantages of their respective
localities.
Treasurer Gorham VI. Weymouth of
Bitdeford reported as follows:
Cash on hand $5i1 IS
Dividend York Co. Savings Bank 9W
State dues 2G2 10
SEAS
Expenditures 1878
Total se24 so
The financial condition of the board
was found TO be highly satisfactory.
Th2 reports Of the various commit
tees were received and disposed of.
Thomas ]. Little.
An address en- "The Causes and Pre-
ventons of Fires" was delivered by
Cart. Thomas j. Little of Portland, the
president of the Cumberland County
Board Of Fire Underwriters, in
scholarly fashion and called forth
much comment from his audience.
Mr.. Little gave to his subject an eX-
haustive treatment, taking up the his
tory of fire insurance. telling of the
way in which the companies survived
such disasters as the confla grationS on
Boston and Chicago and presenting
figures of the amount of annual losses
in this country and abroad. He showed
for instance that in anuary of this
year the fire loss in the United States
averag ed $650,000 Il day; that in a
group of American cities the annual
loss per capita is $4.05 and compares
with So cents in European cities.
'The most important of the eXter-
nal hazards are, in their order.-after
exposure, sparks, which cause about
per cent of the entire number of
fires, locomotive sparks alone caused
over 600 out of 1900 cotton fires in one
year, of which the average loss
amounted to over $4,000, and lightning,
which is responsible for nearly 3 per
cent lot all losses or three and a half
millions.
1.-THE internal hazards are much more
numerous and. leaving out exposure,
much more productive of fires. They
may be sub-divided into five classes,
,thic or ahcnlIlt Fol dis
tinct. The first class, according to our
arbitrary division. is spontaneous
combustion. This, while ordinarily not
an imminent hazard becomes one
whenever vegetable or animal fibre is
handled or stored, as in cotton and
wooden mills, cotton warehouses, ice
houses, etc. 1t is a characteristic of
these substances when more or less
saturated with any oily substance
Cmore especially if it be an animal oil
or grease), that rapid oxidation or
spontaneous combustion ensues.
1.-The next general division comprises
the hazards due to the operation of
machinery. These include friction Of
machinery, heated bearings. accidents
and breakages, over-heated boilers
and stacks adjacent to inflammable
substances, and the presence of foreign
substances in faSt-running machinery.
For example. in the pickers used in
cotton and wooden mills and in cotton
ginning machines, sparks caused by
the presence Of stones, buttons, cart
ridges, etc, cause a great many fires.
In cotton mills, 9S4 out of 1853 fires
We're caused by friction and the pres
ence of foreign substances in machin-
cry, and in flour mills, AZ out of 2616
fires were caused by friction in ma
chinery.
The third division comprises the
hazards incident to processes. Among
these are hazards arising from dry
kilns, roasting furnaces or ovens, use
of inflammable mixtures for painting
or jaraning, the compOupding of COM
bustible and explosive chemicals in
drug and paint mills, the improper or
careless handling Of heated substances.
such as molten metals or the dried fer
tilizer just from the dry kilns, the use
If fire heat under kettles, etc, and the
production of various explosive gases
or mixtures, as. for instance. dust in
flour r?ills and starch factories or
benZine vapor in furniture factories or
Japaning ovens.
THE fourth, ard so far as the num-
Der of losses and value of property
are conce rned, by far the most impor-
tant of internal physical hazards, is
due to the various processes and kinds
Of apparatus used for purposes Of heat
ing and lighting.
1t is quite natural that the process
of heating. which usually means the
actual use OF fire, should make more
losses tndn any other cause; yet it is
sad commentary on American meth
DDS of building and en- American laws
concerning building that defective
fues should be responsible for twice as
many fires as any other one physical
or known moral hazard. This cause al
so is responsible fer a greater proper
ty loss than any other, as when
wooden joists or timbers are allowed
to pierce their walls, or when upro-
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