The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1911-10-12
PREVENIIUN
Of FIRE WASTE
THE PROBLEM
SPEECH OF Ex-cHIEF CROKER
OF NEW YORK CITY AT
>. CHICAGO WILL INTEREST
MANY.
MAKE BUILDINGS SAFE
Law Should Not Allow Wood To Be
Used IN Structures At ALL Says
Experienced Fire
Fighter.
MAKE BUILDINGS SAFE

The Governors OF Illinois, Indiana
and caio have proclaimed October
9th a. Fire Prevention Day. The
speech on the reduction of fire
waste" delivered by former Fire
Chief Croker of New York City. be-
fore tie International Municipal Con
gress and Exposition at Chicago, on
Friday evening. September Doth. will
be of interest to many in connection
with the observance of this day.
Throughout these years | was
steadily and irresistibly led to the
conclusion that. while fre-fghtine
and fre-extinguishing crganizat on,
of cur great modern cities had
reached a high state of efficiency
and were keeping well abreast of the
demands made upon them. our citi-
zens. as rule. paid too little at
tention to the vital matter of fire
prevention. of which | have always
been a consistent advocate
| VIII not make my remarks salts
teal. The figures are staggering as
this indicates. The enormous fire
waste of the United States varies
from two hundred million to four
hundred million dollars annually.
and the vastly greater indirect losses
that result, seriously affect cur
economic and civic progress. The
loss of lives by fire is one that can
not be realized save by those un-
fOrtunates whose relatives and
friends have been lost In many de-
plorable calamities. To be poetical.
it IS nothing more than the - Slaugh
ter of the Innocents.'
This utter destruction of more
than a quarter of a billion of dol
lars in property in addition to the
lives inealcurable in money value. is
not an act of God nor one of the In
evitable chances of industry and
commerce. -
All that Is necessary is to apply
the test of comparison with othe.
countries of like civilization. In
round numbers, the per capita fir
loss In the United States has been
from - to 81 against SO cents in
the p-'ne'pal European countries.
One of the conditions In these c0un-
tries t at operates TO effect lesser
loss than here is the larger use of
non-combustible materials due to the
high cost of wood. Another reason
is the intangible influence of their
older civilization, which males these
people more. carefp, of small savings
in all their affairs and generally
more careful and generally more
cautious than we have yet become.
But allowing for these fundament-
al differences between the countries
compared, it Is yet apparent that the
fire loss In the United States. which
is between seven and eight times
that of the greatest European eoun-
try, is outrageously and crininally
greater than it should be. 1t has
been my observation that the large
majority cf fires arise from prevent
able causes. In fact every fire OF
consequence Is preventable.
Tie subject of FIRE prevention is
vastly more important than that OF
fire-fehting. When one -confagrai;or
has been checked or prevented you
have accomplished little. Ths
chances for repetition tomorrow are
seQnallv as.g1eat.
ssszfswe are to better conditions yor
muas&stige that g fireproof" is no
s.firepreaf - =. as, it is understood to
A6as szEhs literal definition remains
but r.any' crimes have been commit
ted In its name. ! know of no more
abused word. / am sincere in the
conviction that the government
should make it heavily punishabl:
ofense to apply the term to any
ehing but an absolutely fireprooi
Duliding -
4bsre IS put one principle to fire
proof construction, be it either
homes, hotels, Office buildings, thea.
tres, apartments, battleships, railway
cars or what To have ,freproof
buildings architects and owners must
throw aside precedent and eliminate
the use of combustible and semi
combustible materials in their con-
strnction.
If / had my way about it would
not permit piece of wood, even
the size CT lead pencil, to be used
in the construction or finish of any
building in the United States exceed
ing ground area of 25x50 feet or
three stories in height. If there was
still an absolute necessity for its use,
If it could not be replaced with
steel, as it has been in many modern