The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-12
mUer Comr enADUALLY.

The New Bedford Standard gives voice to strong hope and confidence that the fearful lesson will bear good fruit but calls attention to the many dim cuities in the way of bringing about needed reforms in school buildings It also refers to the manifest fact that it is not to be sxpscted that all the school buildings now in use can ba torn down and new ones built on a safe plan, and that the changes which are necessary must come gradually. But" 1t continues. little by little Improvement must and win come. There Is good deal of mourning because the lessons of this nrs will be. as some say. forgotten in month. We do not think that this is. quite fair. Architects and building commit tees may not in the future directly refer to the Cleveland horror as a req son why they should construct in one way or another; but they will be in- nuenced by the memory to provide as best they can against repetition. For example. double doors will be in- stalled which can be opened more read fly in many schooihouse where other- wise less desirable pattern would have been considered suficlent. Width and direction of stairways and location of heating apparatus will be consider ed as more essential than they have been in good many instances. Strict CT attention will be paid to school disci- pine and the need of self-control especi- ally under circumstances which would naturally cause excitement. Fire drille will be conducted with view to the unforeseen as well as to the foreseen, and will not be so rigid that only one blind routine can be followed. All these things will help--not any one of them conspicuously or very fast 1t may be. But the way of advancement is not always easy and improvement must be slow. The encouraging thing is that there is sure to be im- provement"
 We know full we'll that all the in- provements needed cannot be made at once, but that the work must be done grad ally. That is true enough, but what we fear is that the country will forget the awful lesson of colIinwood until a similar occurrence again shocks humanity. The news dispatches of Wednesday brought an account of what might have been an equally hor- rible affair but for what we may look on as accident. luck or kindly fate in that the fire occurred before the chill dren had assembled in the school house. Had 1t been an hour or two later the collinwood affair might have been repeated. possibly with even greater fatalities. The large building was consumed. but the children had not gone into it and thus they were saved.
 It is not too much to say that what occurred at collinwood may be dupli. cated In any large school building where there are not adequate means of escaping quickly for no one can tell when fire wilI-braak out. And in what we have heretofore written on this subject we have not meant to charge or to insinuate that the school buildings in all sections are faulfv. Tor that would not be right. We have knowledge and information of many schoolhouses that are practically as safe as human forethought and skill with special reference to both com fort and safety and Collinwood ca- tastrophe could not occur in one of them. But we also know of and read about great many that are literal death-traps. and may at any time prove it. In all such cases the people who patronize the schools should take thought of the periis to their children and insist that such Improvements as is possible in old buildings should be made without unnecessary loss of time The next thing should be an impera- tive demand. enforced by public opin- ion, and by law if necessary, that school buildings of the future should be constructed with special reference to danger from fire. It is not a difi- cult problem and there is no excuse for neglecting it. Preventing a disaster is much better regretting 1t after it is too late.
 THE FARMERS LIFE,