The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-25
Letter te 7he Editor
THE GrRLs' DonMIToRY.
"ssee sehn Says It is safe, sanatar, r... and Comforfable

a1 38t3 tf t8 SHfe, Sanitary and Comfortable.
 Editor The Advertiser:
 nrnss sntly there have appeared in tht aIsIh M MsiItiSlsms Of the dormtory of tht Monrsws,,S SITS IndustrIal School a who do not know ey rne fsets sense to peHgat fsas silat ample nn<ans of escape from the Dni,ra,nF pinas, in case of Ire. have not been
 One of these writers created the i'm. yrsssion that but one narrow door was provided for the occupants of 200 nS,' rooms to pass through in order to get
 There are three doors entering the nam reception hall, or lobby each seven and q half feet wide, and two S1as wSds u1ors' ss' each four and half feet WIue, from this hall on to back porches ana two doors. each eight feet wide, opening Into the dining hall, which has vide back door and about twenty of door spaces, and in addition two Wlndows, so that 1t would be lmpossi- oIe to confile persons in that hall, or e'Tq Tror, snipsde @ them In getting out teen Ieet wide, leads to the second floor landing et the end of a hall eight feet wlde. ana at the back end of this hall stairway on the outside, which viii be plete.
 In case both front and back stair
 
 are two halls leading from the cen tral section to the two wings
 In each wing there are four wide SIrs'as WlIi hs 0;s; a;oors; and in addition there wings the latest and best fire escapes, ana several iron ladders, so that 1t will pc very easy for persons to get out of for the occupants of forty-one rooms on on the ground floor. every one of which
 All ,ot this had been thoroughly dis President and Building Committee weeks ago, and had any one asked for information, It would have been D'GTey Tha Suians aaG wssn son.t.s stysS m building l know. and with far more exits than any building, of same ca any other school building in Alabama, in Furnishing comfortable. safe and sanitary lodgings for pupilsi ,.,.
 Birmingham. May 2S. 1908 ~ .
 Tn order that the public may learn something of the structures to which the Montevsiio letter ter fiYMins of Misas Ap0ie raoh Kendrick Walker to The Birminghsn AEe.Herald is published:
 With the additional dormitory room, girls, 1t would seem that the fondest dreams are about to be realized. and that there would be no further reason cSr cSroSsSTIp SGsmplaint: .,. ! regret that I must
 The first remark addressed to me when l reached the school Monday was m reference to the new building An mother of seven children. two of whom had graduated from the Industrial You must take time" sRe said, to hnflAinR Na T have tried to get someone to say some thing about 1t, to call attention to 1t in the newspapers They have spent thoushf fo St os wortS doiisrs n,,a and naye not building fire-proof. I want you to see this narrow stairway and the do@r opening from the inside. through which squeeze in case of fire. Think of what gender. Something must be done to remedy this condition. It seems to me crimin- al to put 800 girls in a building that Is not fire-proof, but 1t is worse than criminal not to provide them with wid- this narrow door is horrined, and ey- cry mother who has daughters to send to the Industrial School considers it me duty of the board to see that at ing Is eliminated.
 Another woman said that each room In the new building would be equipped like an adjustable life preserver. but twenty more women wondered If there was girl In the world who would nave sumclent presence of mind to get into one Of these fire escapes at the right time.
 Those who have inspected the new building which 800 young women are 10 use as dormitory, shudder at the thought of fire and are not indifferent 10 the increasing responsibility that falls on President Palmer and the An article which apeared recently in The Times along this line has been commended by parents, pupils and teachers. It is worthy of reproduction men of Alabama are saying about fhe danger of fire in the new dorrnitory, escape from which in the event of Are would De almost impossible. The wo- being educated at the Industrial School Tor Girls do not wish a repetition of those school holocausts which apal the
 Says The Times editorially;
 Since the terrible disaster in Ohio the attention of all educators and par ents IS anxiously turned toward the scholars must assemble to receive in- struction, In many cities changes have been made to render the egress more wardly, and in a number of cases the authorities have prevented any usA of the third story of school buildings be- cause the fire escapes were not suit able or were entirely absent"
 There cannot be too great care dis. played in matters of this kind, but when we come to a State Institution In which, as at the MontevaIIo School Tor Girls, the teaching and the living are in the same series of buildings extra care should be exercised.
 The State of Alabama is spending A large amount of money, some S2OO' O'00O on the school in question. and the building is now going on under the plans prepared by a favored architect,
 In front of the building. for purely ornamental purposes. are columns of $12,00o. and while the buildings are not in any way hre-proof, it scene a waste to put so much on looks and so little on safety.
 The new parts of the buildings are a mass of wood work, and should a fire stunned and endanger the lives of an within.
 A building to be used for the pur pose of education which is not to be worked to produce commercial sue cess should be absolutely fre-proof, pared to durability, and decora ton or architectural effect should be second, ary. to the preservation of life and limb.
 We suppose that some one looked but in the Tight light of what HHsG has recentIS snHI, occurred there should be revision and full protection made against fire
 It may be too late to make a com plete. change in the plans, but hra- proof hallv avs and indestructible stairs
 The res6onsihtlitv of housn. a,u