Bisbee daily review., 1918-11-02
FIRE PREVENTION
 MUST BE AIM OF
 PEOPLE HERE TODAY
GOVERNMENT AND FIRE INSUR. ANcE COMPANIES ALIKE FIND IT MOST IMPORTANT TO SAFE GUARD PROP PERTY FROM FLAMES BY PRECAUTIONS

The importance attached to proper observance of today Saturday, No Vember 2 as Fire Prevention Day" is emphasized by the following mat ter enclosed in a letter to Jacob Erickson, mayor of Bisbee, together with a proclamation of Governor Hunt, setting the date for Observ- 2nce:
 The conservation Of property is important at al times, but it is now a vital necessity. Every call of patriotism, every demand of high cit izenship emphasizes the duty of the individual property owner and house holder to spare no pains in safeguard ing against fire hazards and in striv- ing to reduce the excessive and large ly unnecessary fire waste of the na- tion."
 The president has said:
 'PTeventable fire is more than a private misfortune. It is public dereliction. At a time like this of emergency and of manifest necessity for the conservation CT national re- sources, 1t is more than ever mat ter df deep and pressing consequence lEdt every iucdllS ShUulu bG NeA-~A to prevent this evil"
 Will you not urge upon the people of your city the necessity for mak- ing q general cleanup, by the freeing of all premises from rubbish of every description and the removal of all inflammable substances from cellars, closets, attics, store rooms and places infrequently visited, where fires might originate.
 Here are some figures that should open our eyes: In 1913. the year be- fore the outbreak of the war, the average fire loss for each man, woman and child in France was 49 cents; in England it was 8 cents, in Germany 2S cents, in Austria 25 cents, in Italy, 25 cents, in Switzer- land 15 cents, in Holland only Il cents. In the United States for the same year the direct loss was S2.10- and the indirect loss was far higher Our record was, therefore, more than four times as bad as that of France, and nearly 20 times as bad as that of Holland.
 Vienna and Chicago are cities of about the same size. Vienna had fire losses for the year 1913 of S303, ,20O Chicago's were $5,513,237, or more than IS times as great. New York city's fire losses were about four and one-half times as large as those of London. A similar comparison might be made with many other cities. Can we be proud of such figures?
 "Of course, there are more wooden fr, This is a condition which will take many years to change. But the most serious cause of fires could be re- moved at once if all the people would assist. This cause is found in one word-carelessness.
 "The Nation Board of Fire Under writers makes a study of hundreds of thousands of fires, and has prepared tables which show that in 1916, 2S.9 per cent of all American fires came from strictly preventable causes, while AIS per cent more partly pre- ventable, and 23.3 per cent came from unknown causes, which probably were largely preventable.
 Tt must then be admitted that the United States, with all its advantages, is a nation of careless people. Care lessness is not a thing to be proud of; it is a great national sin. It shows itself in many habits of reck- lessness, wastefulness and untidiness. It burns our towns, it leads people to risk their lives at railroad crossings and other places of danger; Ht takes chances with health; it is shown in all dirty streets, filtered backwards and untidy homes.
 If a foreign army should land upon our shores, it could not wreak more dstruotion than this. If such an army l. should come and any American were ! found to be giving it aid, he would be called a traitor to his country. Every i patriot would rise against such foe. !