The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1908-05-15
BUILDINGS ARE CRITICISED
LABOR ssIoNER RYDER IS
DlsPLEAsED WITH SOME.
NORFOLK AND PLAlNvlEw CITED

In His Trip OF inspection, Col. Ryder
Finds One Of the Norfolk School
Buildings Not Properly Safeguarded
Against Fire.
Some school buildings III Norfolk
and Plainviow have come In for Sc
we're criticism from Labor Commissions
er Ryder, who was in this section of
the state the latter part of the week
inspecting public buildings While In
| Norfolk Col. Ryder complimcnted the
school board ON the new high school
which he said was II model of excel
lenco rs concerned provisions for exit
in case of fire He also said that tho
contemplated action of the board In
| planning fire escapes for the two Lin
| coin schools was wise. Upon this lat
| ter subject he expressed himself mora
| fully on returning to- Lincoln.
Just the same old story" said La
Dor Commissioner Ryder, in an inter-
| view after his return to the state cap
ital The wakefulness as to danger
| from fire which followed the Iroquois
disaster a few years ago, did not last
long enough to have even school build
ings made safe. AT Plainview, for in
stance, | found a large building of old
style construction, situated mile
from the center of the town. 1t has
no fire escapes, and but one entrance;
and in the basement was n room half
full of old paper, rubbish and lumber
the finest kind of food for u quich
blaze that in the daytime would give
the children a run they would never
forget, and in the night time would
mean certain and complete destruc.
ton.
Some one In authority, In the days
to come, will be working to secure
safety, ventilation and sanitation in
school buildings, let us hope. At pres
ent, even in the small villages where
land can not be very dear, school
boards carry their structures high up
into the air, and condemn children to
reach the upper floor by narrow, wind
ing and dangerous stairways, with
sharp turns and the smallest possible
landings.
zone entrance IS generally the rule,
arranged all right, perhaps, for the
lower floor pupils, but to get to it from
the second floor and get out in case of
emergency would be a task impossible
for some, Now place the heating APP
paratus directly under this one en-
trance, as is the case in the Lincoln
school at Norfolk, and you have a con-
ditiOn that is far from ideal. There is
not even a sheet iron ceiling over the
heating pipes, nor a piece of hose at
hand. The joists are exposed close to
the heating pipes, getting dricr and
more tindery every day. There would
be clear case Of a disastrous fire in
that building. The same is true, may
hap in a slightly less degree, in a
grade building at Norfolk This build
ing is heated from the Lincoln school,
and that element of danger is re-
moved. However, the school was the
first Norfolk had, and the stairways
are damned into a small space in the
front of the building, with curved
landings at the bottom, well calculat-
ed to break the legs of hustling chill
dren any day. In case Of panic from
any cause | hate to think what might
happen to the youngsters on the sec
ond floor of this school. At the bot
tom Of these dangerous stairways
were two doors securely fastened,
with former steps on the outside re-
moved.
THE Norfolk school board has been
talking of taking measures to rectify
these glazing mistakes, but the days
have come and gone without action.
The board president told me they were
willing to do whatever is necessary,
and | feel sure that now they will
get busy, after | write them formally.
But it should be unnecessary for this
bureau to have to jack up school
boards, as | view their duties, Nor.
folk and Plainview are instanced
here, not because they are worse than
many other places, but simply be-
cause they are typical, in the matter
of putting off till tomorrow what
should be done today" =