The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-08-07
NECESSITY FOR ENACTMENT
AND STRICT ENFORCEM ENT
OF BUILDING LAWS.
by III. 4. NicNiastcr. Insurance Com
missioner.

raised sl50.O0O with which to build
an Exchange. or Chamber of Com
merce. as we would call II. and the
town authorities invited Mr.. John
kuskin, that great authority on ar
chitecture and other forms Of fine
arts. but withal clear sighted phil
osopher. to come and tell them at a
public meeting what kind OF build
ing they should erect.
In part, Mr.. Ruskin said:
My good Yorkshire friends. you
have asked me down here among
your hills that / might talk to you
about this Exchange you are going
TO build: but earnestly and seriously
asking you to pardon me. am going
to do nothing of the kind. l cannot
talk. or at least can say very little.
about this Exchange. l must talk of
quite other things. though not unwil-
hngly: l could not deserve your par
don. IL when you invited me to speak
on one subject, i wilfully spoke on
another. But cannot speak. to pur-
pose. OF anything Of which I do not
care. and most simply and SORROW
fully have to tell you In the outset,
that i do not care about this Ex-
change Of yours"
Now pardon me for telling you
frankly. you cannot have good archi-
lecture merely by asking peoples ad-
vice on occasion. All good architec-
ture Is the expression of national life
and character. and 1t is produced ty
prevalent and eager national taste
or desire for beauty"
Taste Is not only a part and an in
dex OF morality; II is the only NOR
For II resolutely. people do what
Is right. In time they come to like do
ing 1t. But they are only In a right
moral state when they have come to
like doing II. and as long as they do
not like II they are still In a vicious
state
What We like determines what We
are. and Is the sign Of what we are;
and to teach taste is inevitably to
form character. AS / was thinking
over this, in walking up Fleet Street
the other day. my eye caught the IT,
tie OF book open in a bookseller )
window. IL was "On the necessity
OF the diffusion OF taste among all
classes All thought to myself
my classifying friend. when you have
diffused your taste where will your
classes be? The man who likes what
you like belongs to the same class as
you. think" So spoke Mr.. Ruskin.
How true are all these words. How
very true. especially, are the last
words quoted, in this great Republic
whore the individual fixes the plane
on which ne stands and the class "a
which ne belongs.
make no apology for quoting at
such length from Mr.. Eusl,iu for me
has said what I wish 90 say SO much
hcttcr than 8 can say g. that fe,i as
n ] should now cease and content my
SELF by sayins that Mr. i,u.kiu nm.
givcn fully th. 1li sufficient rct.sop
for The "NcccssiN ui Enactment
and sirlc Eufarc.m.a. OF nurdinq
Laws"
From tac sphore ~ philosophy ]
Will de.ccod ,o the ground Of facts
THE FIRE LOSS.
Tho o,urus Of taxahle values ir
the office of the Comptroller General
Of south Caroline show thar th.
wcalth OF the people 90 this state
was increased ia 1917 over 1850 ly
about sS.oOO.OOOO. Ia mat same ycal
there WIS burned up by FIRE. proIcrty
- the valu, of about $2.50O 600
Think of IT, nay friends In wear
the state climbs up four steps out OF
the well OF poverty and then. duo to
bad bulldins laws, or failure 10 pun
ish arson or To- hold accountable
those by whose carcclssness the prop
erty of others has been destroyed. We
burn up one Of the steps.
We hear with more or less Interest
that the fire loss In Europe is abou,
33 cents per capita, and IN our own
state. on the same basis, including
the cost of fire extinguishmcnt il i.
about 81. six times as much. We eX-
cuse ourselves by saying that the con
ditions are different. Yes. conditions
are different There. there Is a clear
er and better conception of human
life and the purpose of human lie
a fuller appreciation that when hu-
man energy and human brains are