The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1917-08-02
FOOD CONSERVATION
AND FIRE WASTE
What The Preservation of
Food Supplies Means
to The j. s.

Anyone with average powers of OBJ
servation who travels at the present
time over any portion of the Pacific
Coast, will note young men clad in the
now familiar khaki uniform, with
rifles over their shoulders, watching the
approaches to every bridge and tunnel
Of any Importance or strategical value.
These troops are on duty day and night
for the purpose Of safeguarding the
Nations railway communications, SO
important in the present crisis. The
same precaution will also be seen at
all prominent shipbuilding and manu-
featuring plants which are working in
the interests Of the United States. All
Of these steps are taken to prevent
any interruption in the campaign of
preparedness in which the country is
engaged in the meeting the stern issues
Of the war.
The guarding Of these various prem.
ises has been brought about through
the National Board of Defense, which
has also under consideration the thor
ough extension of this system of pro.
lection to all warehouses and other
depots where the food supplies of the
country are kept in storage. Many
of these warehouses, however, particu.
larly in the States of Washington, Ore.
gon and Idaho, are situated at isolated
points, and as the National Board and
various State Councils of Defense can.
not perfect plans for the guarding of
these premises, it becomes the patriotic
duty. of every American citizen to lend
his aid and to "do his bit" towards
rendering the food supplies in his
neighborhood immune from danger.
Fire Waste and Fool Supplies.
One of the great problems presented
to the Board of National Defense in
the care and preservation of the food
supplies of the United States is the
fact that the fire waste of this country
is SO greatly in excess of that of any
other nation. Statistics covering 90
year period conclusively show that the
per capita FIRE cost in the United
States is over seven times that of the
nation with which we are at present
engaged in war, and that to every man
woman and child in this country there
10 tax Of $2.51 each year as compared
with a per capita cost of only 35 cents
in Germany. The statement has been
made, and it remains incapable Of sue
cessful contradiction, that if the same
wastage by fire existed in Germany as
in this country, the consequent loss and
destruction of food supplies would have
been so great that Germany long since
would have been compelled to sue for
peace.
With this fact before US, it is easy
to realize that unless we change oui
methods and overcome our habits of
carelessness this great Nation faces
the serious danger of defeat through a
fault which common sense and caution
on the part of each individual citizen
could easily prevent.
Pacific Coast Especially Favored.
Nature has been peculiarly kind tt
those who reside on this Coast. w,
have few adverse weather conditions
to contend with, and all our people live
under such comparatively easy and ia
vorable surroundings as to beget habits
of carelessness and Indifference towards
the ordinary hazards of fire. Under
normal conditions these habits might
be fraught with danger easily ignored
and with few results of vital signif
canoe, but in the present crisis and
need for the preservation of all food
supplies, these same habits of careless
ness and indifference can quickly as
sumo the Importance of a National
catastrophe.
That Federal and State officials are
beginning to realize the magnitude OF
this danger is evidenced by the fact
that in many of the States special
course of education is being given t.
the school children by fire prevention
experts, who point out the dangers re
sulting from the careless handling OF
matches, the accumulation of litter and
| rubbish in Easements, woodhouses, at
tics and storerooms, lack of care in the
use Of coal oil and gasoline, the hang
| - -
the numerous other habits of careless
ness that almost universally prevail in
every household. Even one of the
school superintcndcnts had the need OF
cleanliness forcibly brought to his at
tention by his young daughters who
| had listened to a lecture on fire pre-
vention at the afternoon session of the
school and who took him down into
| their basement and stood watch over
him while he cleaned up the rubbish
which he had carelessly allowed to ac
cumulate, while a perfect wave Of
chimney cleaning swept over one Of tn,
cities of the State caused by state
ment to the school children that theiI
"houses were in danger of catching
FIRE if the chimneys had not been
cleaned within year"
The Farmers Responsibility.
Above practically all other occupa
tions, the eyes of the Nation turn to
wards the farmer, the great producer
of food supplies, and to the farmer and
fruit grower the necessity is urgent
of using every means to protect and
preserve their products. 1t is serious