The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-20


 This information. classified and pub lished. and so thoroughly distributed that 1t would reach every home. for the education of it's inmates, would be a godsend to our country.
 | Creatures of Education
 We are all creatures of education. 1 Life with all it's trials and Vicissi- | tudes, it's pleasures and it's sorrows, Is
 hut schol teaching mankind by daily l experiences From the experience we
 heve learned that many fires, like many | diseases, are preventive. We should
 no longer fail to heed this instruction,
 nor continue to indulge in this eA- travagant waste.
 The physicians of our progressive cities are actively engaged in inaug- urating new methods for staying the | ravages of preventive diseases. Tuber-
 culosis typhoid, smallpox, pellagra,
 cholera, yellow fever and numerous | other fatal maladies, which once ray
 aged our cities and rural districts with 1 death and desolation, are now being 1 restrained by wise measures of pre- yention.
 Teach Business Men
 | scientific physicians are studying l causes of diseases and introducing better l hygienic methods. We are taught that l the mosquito and the fly carry the germs
 of certain diseases. and the breeding 1 places of the pests must be destroyed. We
 are being educated to the necessity or 1 joining in the warfare against these germ
 laden creatures that leave pestilence in | their wake. The bacteria in milk that has for ages destroyed the lives of inno- l cent, helpless children are being elimi- mated from the food Of the child by means l of scientific education. In short, the | physicians of America are minimizing the danger of preventive diseases by ,educa- | ton, and we who are interested in re- ] ducing the fire waste of this country must not be. less progressive We cannot | with safety continue to rely upon larger fire departments, more modern equip ment, greater speed in reaching the dan ger point increased water pressure, to prevent the spread of the fire after 1t has started But we must adopt tho wiser policy of educating our citizens 10 so plan and build and safeguard as to | prevent the fire originating.
 "Agitation means education, and by agi- tation we can create a public sentim ans | that will sustain us in any reasonable | demand Our newspapers and magazines 1 will gladly take up the fight, and our representatives in Congress can be brought in hearty sympathy with our cause, if we will show them that their effort is worth while and that we are
 
 depletion of our wealth.
 Ignorance of the law is no excuse for it's violation. hence it is that many of our citizens pay high penalty for their ignorance when brought before the courts for infractions Of which they had no knowledge. So it is with the man who IS ignorant of the causes that create fire; he is highly penalized by the loss of his property, and given wise lesson only by a sad experience. Teach our business men that while self preservation may be the first, it is not the only law by which he must be governed His insurance policy should not act as a shield to respon- abilities It should be considered q reflection on his business ability for 1t to become necessary that he be warned by the fire inspector to re- move accumulations of rubbish and debris from his premises He should understand that he not only enriches himself by protecting his own prop erty, but that he actually adds to his | own wealth in protecting the property of his nelghbor. because every species of property that is subject to taxation. 1 when destroyed by fire places neces
 sarily higher tax upon .roperty that ! is not destroyed. This annual tax IS a burden on all property, imposed for | the purpose of carry.ng on the gov l day, the more property there is to be taxed the lighter the tax; the less property there is to be taxed, the 1 heavier the tax And so it is not only a duty. but an act of self preservation to prevent the destruction of our neighbours property by fire.
 Our agricultural colleges in the south invite husbands and wives sons and daughters of the homes in our rural districts to spend six or eight weeks in attendance on summer school to hear lectures upon scientific l agriculture and horticulture dairy
 farming. cheese and butter making, domestic science. the chemistry of cooking, sanitary conditions of the home the art of housekeeping. and everything that pertains to the well | fare of the home except the protec | tion of that home from fire.
 l "Thero is no branch of learning properly taught in the schools of the
 nation thal- would yield better results
 rocting our ingenuity in preventing
 fires. rather than eXpending so much energy in extinguishing them.
 By creating juvenile Audubon so- cieties throughout our country we
 have made long strides in preventing
 the useless slaughter and extermina
 ton of many species of our bird and II The influence of the child in the homo could be- made powerful factor in fire prevention if the children in our schools | were made thoroughly conversant witt | the danger of combustion and spontaneous
 ignition of animal and vegetable oils. ni
 the highly explosive and deadly qualities of gasoline and acetylene; were taught tc
 avoid placing radiators and steam pipes
 in contact with woodwork, the dangei of the wooden shingle as a roof, and va
 rious other causes too numerous to men.
 tion that tend to swell our list of pro
 ventable fires. that should be understood II by every person, regardless of his voca
 ton in life.
 I've inaugurate and maintain fire drill, in %our schools that our children ma,
 walk orderly from the building on ar : alarm of fire; we devise and erect ingeni- ous fire escapes. to shoot the child safei, from the window to the ground, and it is
 of equal importance to educate the chlt from it's infancy to prevent the fire orig
 mating
 "Our people must I've brought face tc face with facts: we must be educated tc
 the necessity of curing the evil that is causing such frghtful and useless loss ot life and property. Such disasters Il ; the
 burning of the Slooum of Helgate in New York harbor, tte froquois theatre in Chi
 cago. the Newark factory fire, the Coll
 haywood, Ohio, school horror. should cease to occur on American soil. There should
 be no hell on earth erected by the hand
 of man to burn the living to death. Mama