Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-22
A Plea for a Sane Everyday

WASHINGTON, Cleveland, Omaha, Los
Angeles and Toledo have demonstrated that
a sane Fourth Of July" was possible. All
precedents have been smashed. the sacred
personal rights" squelched and we have
seen that when a city really makes
up it's mind TO do a thing It
can be done, the bowls Of the
indictments. the whines Of the dealers
barred from prospective profits and the
assurances OF the best legal minds in
town that the thing could not be done
legally, all to the contrary Notwithstanding.
In those cities the day that usually meant
carnage, disastrous fire, hideous noises and
much lawlessness-whereeveT we got a
notion Of thus barbarously commemorative
the greatest event In our history is one
on me-was spent in seemly jollity, but
without making an uncomfortable kind OF
fools Of ourselves. To have merely for
hidden setting off fireCrackers and such
tomfoolery would have been imperative;
that has been tried before. The cities real
ICED that and did the only sensible thing
they forbade the sale of such stuff. Other
years they kept police and fire depart
ments on the qui vive and provided extra
hospital facilities. a species Of cure for the
evil; this year they went to its root and
prevented it.
Now then II In the face Of a time-honored
custom, one sanctioned by national usage
and as sacred to us as the constitution,
we can be so sane for one day, why, in
Heavens name, not continue that effort
and try to be sane for the other 364 days?
And in regard 10 very many thing we do
or that we leave undone and most insanely.
though, Just nov we will dwell upon fire
insanity only.
1t has been truly said that the love Of
fire was deeply implanted in human ma
ture. 1t used to be worshiped as a god,
and our civilization may be said to date
from it's conquest and subjugation to the
use Of man and it has played an i'm
portant part in the affairs of man and
for long before his memory extendeth. 1t
used to be kindled with the greatest
trouble and children were taught to not
play with it lest It be extinguished now
fits kindling has been made SO easy that
we have to teach them to leave it alone
lest the insignificant blaze lighted in
play may become an all-destroying con-
flagration. Spite of all our efforts Is per
cent of our appalling fire waste In houses
and flats is directly attributable to chill
dren playing with fire or matches. But,
worse than that, nearly 10 per cent of our
fires are traceable to direct carelessness
OF the part of the full-grown children
for In this matter OF fire we are most
Childlike, indeed. As a matter of fact.
all Of our fire waste can be attributed to
our Carelessness or our stupidity. And we
have gotten so rounded in those evil
ways that it is going to be harder to get
us out of them than it was to break up
A. W-..AH 49,.
never get out of those habits voluntarily;
wen have to be forced out of them, com
PEELED out of them and by the same pro-
cess as those few cities accomplished that
other feat.
We have spent vast sums in an at
tempted cure, we submit to a tax of over
5000 0 900 a year for fire departments and
water service and we pay the insurance
people nearly $3.50. 900, 900 more, that they
may reimburse the many of us who di-
rectly suffer from fire about one-haIf that
sum. Spite of all that our fire losses aver
age S215, OOO,OOO a year-with every year or
so a Baltimore or San Francisco confla-
grafton of from 500, 10000 to $500. 900, 900
thrown in extra for good measure-and
steadily increasing at a far more rapid
ratio than is our population. Plus that, we
$3.50 $50 SNAANAAA 81 LII SAl
30 much combustible material, that we are
making 1t certain that however sane our
successors may be they will suffer for a
generation or two from the legacy OF fire
traps we are leaving them.
1t is high time we applied our new
Fourth Of July tactics. No more cure, but
just plain, sensible prevention. Our cities
can do 1t If they want to. There'l be a
now just as there was then. Men with
flimsy buildings to rent or sell will wear
an injured and martyr-like air as did the
dealers in firecrackers; Wen hear lots
about private right being assailed, about
the terrible hardships such preventive laws
Will entail upon the poor man and all such
rot, but our authorities should grit their
teeth and go ahead in the only sane way
there is. We have to contend with the
fire traps that already exlst-though am
Just hopeful enough to believe that in
time they'll be condemned as a menace to
life and property and torn down by the
cities II their owners will not do so Of
their own accord-but we must add no
more fuel for the fires, that are sure to
happen, to feed upon.
Our building ordinances must prohibit
combustible construction anywhere, not
only In the congested business district,
but in the suburbs too, None but fireproof
buildings should be permitted anywhere;
they are not only desirable, but actually
grown used to. Then our taxes should be
remodeled, The owners of fire traps should