The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-29
The Par|or Match
Responsible For 12,OOO Fires and 1,2OO Deaths Annually

A
 and 1,2OO Deaths Annually
 The parlor match is responsible for over 12.000 fires annually, for a month ly death toll or over 100 lives, princi- paily women and children; and for an annual property loss of from $15,C00,- 900 to s20.0c0.OO0.'' said Louis s. Anon son, president of the Peoples National Fire Insurance Company of Phlladei- phia, in his address on ''The Criminal Match" before the Insurance Institute at its> monthlp meeting MT. Anon son spoke in substance as follows:
 Tt is astounding that over 12,000 fires are permitted to occur annually in the United States from the parlOr match alone. This should clearly be forbid den- As an American citizen I am anxious to reduce. the criminal waste of life and property in this country by fire: $500, ,OO0. .00O is wiped out an- nualiy in fire losses.
 The loss abroad is but 10 per cent. of that in this country. It is not due to construction. for the construction of buildings abroad is not greatly diff ferent from what it is here. 1t Is not the method of construction that is responsible for the loss, for, if it was, Atlantic City. with it's fiimsy buildings would burn every five minutes, instead of having the smallest fire ratio of any
  1antic City, on account of it's f1imsy construction, cannot get fire insurance enough to permit it to have fires. New York city, on the other hand, has more fires than any other community of it's size in the world It can get all the insurance it needs. One judge in that city recently said that 65 per cent of all fires in that city were crooked. That IS what burns up our country. In Europe fire is regarded as crime against the state. At the pres ent time legislation is pending in six teen states to abolish the .narlor match -the criminal match. . course the match trust is opposed. and why? Be- cause it is afraid of the dollar. So it puts forth the argument that it sup plies what the people want. The req son why the people ask for the parlor match is that they don't know the dangers of it. The parlor match should be 1egislated out of existence. The four great commercial and insurance bodies of the country have all adopt ed resolutions to this end. and I be lieve that insidet of three years the parlor match will be as great a cu- rdoeity in this country as the old luci- fer match. The parlOr match costs annually from. $l5,0O0, 900 to $20;000,00 in property loss. the result of some 1000 to 15,O00 fires, and over 100 lives a month, the greater part of whom are women and children. It is up to us as fire insurance men to educate the public to this danger. If we don't do it. who is going to do it? This Is DOW the only excuse that we have for being in existence
 MT AmOnSOn then gave a number Of Instances of fires caused by the par Tor match, after which he told of the poisonous nature of the match, from 1s containing phosphorus, which the safety match did not contain. He then said:
 speaking of fires in general. twenty six years ago when I first went into the business, the opinion of the under writers was that the only business of the fire insurance companies was the collecting of premiums, and the fires did not figure at all. I don't agree with that view, for think and believe that it is our duty to teach prevention. The fire insurance com panies are the creation of the state. What the state creates it can destroy. Our only excuse for existence to-day is the economical handling of fires, and the teaching of the prevention of fires After all. our first duty is to the public, rather than to the fire in- surance company, for 1t is the public that pays the freight.
 'sThe great good we can do it is to teach 1t that every fire Is caused by the crime of ignorance, the crime of neglect or the crime of dishonesty, or burning for pay. The number of in- cendiary losses is greatly underestf- mated, my opinion. It probably ex- ceede per cent of the total losses. To-day the criminal fire bug is sup ported by public sentiment, but when the public realizes that it pays the losses. rather than the insurance com panies. then will the insurance com pan:es be able to cut the premiums in half.
 .'The insurance companies are not making as much money as people think. The average is but per cent. Ninety per cent. of the fires in the country should not occur. A fire should be and is prima facie evidence of a crime against the state. By proper legislation the losses could be reduced 50 per cent by the prevention of crim- inal fires. 20 per cent. by the proven tion of fires caused by carelessness, and 15 per cent, by the prevention of fires caused by ignorance. The other 10 per cent. is unavoidable and is legitimate
 ..The burglar or pickpocket is a bet ter element to have in the cOmmun- ity than the criminal careless fire bug, for the first does not destroy property, he simply transfers it, while the latter destroys property and Of- tentimes life as we'll. The police should arrive at fire as soon as the f1remen- Every fire department should be vested with police powers and every fire should be thoroughly investigated, and the person responsible punished. The crook, the fool and the criminal 7y careless ought to pay the penalty for their miSdeeds. Hold all these res ponsible and the American public will be saved $i50. COG, 900 a year."
  JACOBY's EASTER SALE
 TO BE BIGGEST IN CAREER