The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1916-10-02
BURNING UP MILLIONS
Carelessness Costs Every Man. Wo.
man and Child in the U. S. IS
Year


new bills, and then if you were tt
take the money and go and stand il
the middle Of the main street Of th
city and set fire to the bills, one a
a time, you would find yourself il
the hands of policeman before yo,
could say Jack Robinson.
here is no question about tn,
owncrship Of the money. 1t is your
to do what you please with. You car
spend it foolishly, you can give i
away or you can invest it wisely
But if you burn it up, it is imme
diateiy assumed that you are crazy
or at least temporarily mentally un
balanced, and the public feels thai
it has right to restrain you.
Despite this fact, we go on ser.
cnely from year to year burning ur
our property without taking the
5'iphtest thought, apparently, OF
what We are doing. We erect costly
structures and then sit down and
wait fer them to burn because we
neglect the first principle Of fire
prevention.
Gasoline. which is more deadly
than dynamite, we handle matches
around for the children to play with.
We hang our lace curtains close to
the gas Jet and then leave the win
dow open when we 90 to bed so that
the wind can blow the lace curtain
into the flame
Statistics for the year 1915 show
better than words the reckless way
IN which the American people han
die their property.
There were in 1915 no less than
3,152 individual fires, which in each
instance caused an estimated proper
ty damage Of more than $4,000.
The total fire loss for TIE United
States now averages more than
$3.50. 100000 year. In 1915 it
showed slight drop, but there is no
reason to believe that this is more
than temporary, for the loss thus far
IN 1916 indicate that they will be far
greater when the year is completed
If this S25O.OOG,OOO loss were all,
it would certainly be enough, but
when this is said only less than half
the story is told. Besides the burning
up of property, we spend every year
in this country more than $25O,OOO-
600 for the upkeep Of fire depart
ments, and there is additional waste
in the mere ased size of insurance
premium made necessary by our own
care!essncss.
Figure it out for yourself. There
are 100,000,00O people in the United
States roughly speaking. The an
nual fire tax is $5OO,0OO,OOO.
That means that every man, wom-
an and child spends SIS year more
to live because of our national care
lessness. If the average family con-
sists of seven, it means that every
family bears a burden of $35 a year
because of the fire waste.
Ignorance of the fire danger is
It is willful ignorance,
for in these days there is no reason
why anyone should not know, and
knowing there is no reason why he
should not have at least rudimentary
means Of protecting himself.
Take your own case, for instnce. |
Suppose fire started in your home |
,onight while you were asleep. What
means have you at hand to put the !
ire out? Suppose a fire started this
minute in your home while you are
way. How would it be extinguished
without the help of the city fire de-
'artment? Is there an extinguisher
n your house? In ninety-nine cases
'ut Of every hundred it is safe to
wager that there is not.
Even negative precautions are not
aiken. People permit rubbish to ac-
umulate in piles in their attic, in
losets, in their cellar.
\ pie of papers under the stairs
r In the closet is a first-class fire
isk. These places usually are dark,
nd when they are visited a match
r candle is required. Carelessness
frequently results in the match be-
1g dropped or the candle being left
ehind when the visitors departs. If
IS closet, the door is shut and F,
CON there is a bright little fire
urning there.
If the proposition is one careful.
erson to ninety-nine careless per-
'ns, what right have those ninety
Inc to expect the other persons to
elp them pay their fire protection? !
hould not the careless person be S
'ade for putting out the fire in his '