The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-03-08
PLAIN TALK ON
INCENDIAR!SM
Bostl(s Expert Says We Play
- With Fire
LOSS is $4,000 AN HOUR
In Address In Philadelphia Urging
Protective System He Says We In
vite confIaarations.

Philadelphia. March S.-Franklin H.
| Wentworth, of Boston, secretary OF the
| National Fire Protective association.
and possibly the greatest Of American
authorities in his field, went hot foot
after the high building craze in an
address to a representative gathering
in the mayors reception room.
Mr.. Wentworth characterized Amer
lea as nation that is forever playing
with fire, inviting CONGREGATIONS and
| paying for them with the extrava.
gance Of sailor on shore leave, a
nation that never has made intelligent
use of its fire departments, and that
is burning property at loss OF the
rate of $4,000 an hour from one years
end to the other, without thinking
seriously about it.
New York, said Mr.. Wentworth, is
no longer city. 1t is disease. 1t is
a community that is constantly court
ing the greatest holocaust in history.
Its craze for high buildings has inf1u-
enced other cities, and so the day has
come when an agitation for limited
building height is found to be entirely
too late.
Some of the figures presented were
even more eloquent than the distin
guished engineer himself. The fire loss
in the United States, with the ex
pense of upkeep of fire departments,
represents an annual per capita tax
of Sc. The fire loss in Chicago las,
year was $5,000.000. In Berlin it was
$175,o00. Chicago's fire depar .ment
costs 100000 to maintain; that in
Berlin costs 100000.
The per capita tax on the European
continent for the upkeep of fire de-
partments is SO cents. In the United
States it is So, and the expense from
fire loss just about doubles this figure.
One 100000 fire, said Mr.. Went
worth, would shock Europe. Here, ii
we haven't a few of them a day we
feel that something serious is the mat
ter. The fault lies in too much indi-
vidualism, which has resulted, he said,
in reprehensible personal habits. In
Germany and France, the man who
has a fire in his house must explain
to the police, and if the fire gets be-
yond his control, he must pay his
neighbors' damage. Here it is very
different.
Mr.. Wentworth said that the so
called fire-proof buildings have never
proved fire-proof in conflagration, be-
cause they are left with unprotected
windows. This is one of the important
points he suggested. Windows must
be protected SO that they will resist a
wall of fire; the single roof must be
abandoned and replaced, and the pop
ulation must learn to be more careful
in it's general housekeeping and to en-
act laws that will make the man with
a fire person for police investigation
and possible prosecution.
He commended the action Of Phila
delphia, which is leading the country
in organizing its fire department for
preventive work, as well as to fight
fires after they occur, and said that
therein lies chiefly the remedy for the
amazing conditions which always
have been tolerated in this country.
Representatives of almost every i'm
portant civic and trade body were at
the meeting, and Mayor BlanllenburgI
introduced Mr.. wentworth, who spoke
under the direction of the Philadelphia
Chapter of the American Institute OF
Architects.