Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-02-07
FIRES IN j. 5. Kill
l,449 A YEAR.; COST
sl,50Q,000 A DAY.
Government Report Shows Loss
in 1907 Reached Enormous
Total OF $456,4S5,000.

WASHINGTON, Feb. Fire. levies
upon Americans eacn year an enor-
nous tax aicuiated by United states
sOvernmenL omCiais at almost a mil
non II a haIl dollars q daJ and l,449
ites a year.. AS a result of an Inyes-
tgatlon just concluded by officials of
tue Unlteu States Geological Survey it
has been ascertalneu that cheaper fire.
PROOF materials can be used to advan-
lage IN Construction, that three to six
tlfnes the Necessary amount or ma
terlal is hapituaiiy used in Structural
work IN the United States. that tho
puliolng codes are laxly enforced, that
the nre loss in the United States Is
eight times as much per capita as III
any country in Europe and that the
great fire waste in the United States
is due principally to the predominance
of frame buildings anu to detective
co1strue lion and equipment.
U. $. buildings Worth $500, OOO,
Not one person in a thousand knows
that the United States gov
owns buildings that cost more thar
soJu, uO,UUU and is spenalng 5000 900 q
year Tor new buildings. II will be a
Surprise 70 everyone, too, to lear.l mat
not one cent OF Insurance against loss
D. hre Is carried on these valuable
puildings. Insurance at the ordinary
rate Wo ID cost more thar ha4f a mil
non dollars a year, and the soye, n
ment avo'fs this great tax by con-
structlng buildings that are securSly
hreproot.
10 attain this degree of security from
fire Tor government buildings the gov
elnment has gone to considerable ex-
pense and the results obtained FULLY
repay the outlay. From these tests to
determine the strength n fire resist
ance of building materials it has been
determined that American builders can
with safety use cheaper freproof ma
terials than they do. 1t has been
learned that the difference in cost be-
tween hreproof and inflammable build
ings is less than gene! ally supposed,
and the officials predict that this DIFF
ference will soon become SO small thai
1t will cease to encourage the construc-
ton of fimsy buildings. 1t has been
FOUND that three to six times the
necessary amount of material is habit
ually used by American builders in
structural work. The necessity also is
shown for better building codes in cit
les and especially of a better enforce
rnent of the codes already enacted AZ
the present enormous fire losses are to
be diminished.
1907 Fires S45e,4s5,OOO.
After a careful investigation it has
been determined that the total cost OF
fires in the United States in 1897. cx-
Guiding that of forest fires and the ma
rine losses Tin themselves extensively.
put including excess cost of fire protec-
ton due to bad construction and excess
premiums over insurance paid,
amounted to the enormous sum of over
$4o6, 4S5,O00, a tax on the American peo-
pie. exceee'ng the total value of all the
gold, II copper n petroleum pro-
duced in the United States in that v ar.
The cost of building construction In
1897 in forty-nfne leading cities of the
United States reporting a total popu-
iation of less than 100000 0 amounted
to 1861, O76, 2S6, and the cost of building
construction for the entire country is
c~onservatively estimated at 81, 0O9, 0o0.-
ooo- Thus 1t will be seen that nearly
ohe-nalf OF the value of all the new
buildings constructed within one year
is destroyed by fire. The annual fire
cost is eater thar the value of the
real property and improvements In
ether Maine, West Virginia. Nor h
Carolina. North Dakota, South pa-
kota, Alabama. Louis'ara or Montana.
In addition to this waste of wealth a..
natural resources 1.449 persons werA
killed and 1854 were inj red in fires In
tn United States in 1907.
The actual fire loss in the Uni.ed
states due to the destruction of build
tngs and their contents amoun+ed =.
$2l5,0s4,7 o9 in 1907. This was 1881 loss
per capita. The per CAPITA loss in the
cities of the six leading European u
tries amounted to but SO .ents. Com
parisons ofsthe total cost of fires, which
includes the items already stated. show
that II buildings in the United States
we're as nearly ~fireproof as those IN
Europe the annual fire cost would be
$50 900, 900. instead of s45s.ooo, 600.