El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-16

LEGATIONS include all sorts o. construc-
ton material, and the tests are very Sc
we're For instance a material stone, con-
crete. tile, or the like, will be subjected
to ordinary fire temperature, about 10OO
Fahrenheit, and, in another test, TO
conflagation temperature of 1000 de-
grees The heated material is drenched
with water and its behavior then OBJ
served. Tests are made to observe how
rapidly temperature Is transmitted from
one side of wall to another, the fnves-
tigation comprising walls OF varying
thickness and material
Precautions Against Fire.
BY means of these tests the supervfs-
ing architect of the treasury, Uncle
Sans master builder, determines the
foreproofing qualities of various materf-
ais and selects the best for use in new
government buildings. Engineers make
a special study of planning buildings TO
prevent the rapid spread of fire Efforts
are being made to secure the enactment
of stricter building codes
The use of wood for building purposes
is prohibited in certain areas In nearly
all cities. and the tendency is to IN
crease these fire districts as they
are usually called But in the smaller
towns and villages, and in the rural
communities, wood is still the most used
bidding material. and there are Few IL
any legal means TO regulate construc-
ton
One-half of all the fires in the coun-
try are traced directly to faults OF con-
struction and a large proportion OF the
causes unknown responsible for an
other quarter of the fires also may be
safely charged to the same account. De
fective flues and chimneys head the list
of fire causes followed by faulty fire
places. heating and lighting apparatus,
and the like
Europe Prohibits Wood.
In Europe an old country Wnere
things are more or less finished, the
use Of wood is prohibited both py Ia"
and by the expense. Every building must
be erected under the eye of an OFFICER
who will enforce certain rules and resu-
lations evolved from the actual expert
ence of centuries. There a house IS built
TO last forever. and great pains is taken
with it in the beginning.
In America. the abundance OF COM
paratively cheap and easily worked TIM
Der makes wood the chief building ma
terial. The greater number of the build
ings are erected where there is neither
supervision nor machinery to enforce the
regulations If they existed And houses
are not built to last forever
mite idea of making it do until get
enough money to put up a big parn.
An artisan builds a cottage which ar no
time is sufficiently Opaque to obscure tue
vision of the better house to- be ouiit on
the ruins of this one in few years. Inc
merchant looks forward to a progress
from smaller to larger buildings as
matter of course And the man VINO
builds houses to rent does it as quickly
and as cheaply as possible
In this phase of American life is 10
be found one. grain of comfort with re-
spect to losses by fire-many OF the
buildings burned would soon be razeo
anyhow to make room for others.
Loss In Rural Districts.
Statistics show that rural communities,
on account of poor construction and no
fire protection. suffer most from fire
loss. That portion of the country wnere
timber IS abundant suffers more than
the sections where the timber is ex-
hausted, or where there never was much
wood
Small cities suffer more in comparison
than do large cities, largely on account