New Britain herald., 1916-08-18
PROMPT EXPLOSION
 PROBE IS REQUESTED
Insurance Men Forward Request
 to Interstate Commission

New York, Aug. 18.-"Prompt, pub
 lie and open Investigation into the
 causes of the recent Black Tom Is~ | land explosion is asked of the Inter-
 state Commerce Commission in a pe-
 tition forwarded to Washington by the 1 National Board of Fire Underwriters,
 representing a majority of the large l fire insurance companies of the Unit 1 ed States.
 Representations are made to the 1 commission embOdying the underwrit- 1 CTS own inquiry into the disaster, ! which claim that the property dam age is "approximated to exceed $20,- OO,O00' and that great as was the damage done to the property by this casualty the amount of property now subjected to similar hazards through it's proximity to the terminal lines and property of interstate common car riers in the various ports and cities of the United States is infinitely great CT than the amount of property de- stroyed on this occasion.' For these reasOns," continues the underwriters statement, 'the inter- ests of the public require that all the facts concerning the origin and cir cumstances surrounding or contrib uting to the cause of the casualty should be definitely determined to the end that such preventive measures may be taken as will enable your commission and other public bodies to provide suitable regulations for the handling and storage of such articles as will minimize the possibility or prevent the recurrence of a similar disaster"
 After urging the commission to fix the jurisdiction as to the regulation of the importation of munitions be- tween local, state and federal author1- ties, the underwriters ask the com mission to determine the 'primary and contributing causes' of the acci- dent from among the following 'lead- ing causes' which their investigation has brought out:
 By fire on a barge moored at the pier terminal of a common carrier.
 By intentional or sinister act.
 By collision of cars of explosives in connection with the operation of rail- roads.
 As the result of a fire which is re- ported to have been in progress for a period exceeding one hour before the first serious explosion.
 By neglect to make proper effort to eXt1nSu1Sn the f1ro Clther through pr1- vate fire departments or by calling upon public fire departm for that purpose.
 By failure of any duty on the part of persons or corporations in prop erly handling, storing, protecting and transporting such explosives or mu- nitions so being transported in inter state and foreign commerce.
 DotitjOO fnrtbOr- rNnrpSQrtC it believes much of the infor- nation necessary is in the posses sion Of interested partics directly con- cerned which it would be impossible to obtain unless handled through a body with sufficient power to compel the attendance of witnesses and for this reason 1t is eminent1y proper and necessary that there should be a fed eral investigation, which can be car ried on by the commission, since it involves commerce between the diff ferent states of the United States and between the United States and foreign countries"
 The public investigation should bring out the underwriters believe, the kind and amount of explosives on Black Tom, what laws cover their transportation, the contributing and direct causes of the explosion, the ef- feet on fire department operations and the method of handling and storage.