The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1918-02-21
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR
FIRES

More and more the conviction is
being forced upon the m .nds Of those
who have given the matter serious
thought that the one remedy for the
immense and-in spite of our mod
ern perfection in attacking the fire
il-ever-increas:ng loss by Ere, is
to be found in adequate laws fixing
the responsibility where it belongs
upon the person whose carelessress,
neglect or parsimOniOusness has
caused fire This has long been the
practice in most of the countries OF
Europe, and one has only to compare
the annual fire losses of nations hay.
ing such statutes upon Their books
with that of this country to prove
their success in reducing the lass,
1t is safe to say that none of then,
has the unenviable distinction Of
waste of six billion dollars in the
comparatively short period Of thirty
Ave years-the amount chaTgeabae to
fire losses in the United States. In
France and Belgium, under The Code
Napoleon, every person 10 reapsnsi-
BILE and liable for damage through
any act of negligence OF his. and
MuSL udh0 SOOu uAo AO0o ouotoIucN
by any one else through suck ne
elect. The presumption is, Unless
the owner or tenant of building can
prove otherwise, that the fire has
been caused by his neglect, and he is
held responsible for the damage oaus-
ed by it The law is much the same
in Germany, and is possibly even
more strictly enforced. These facts
are graphically brought out in an in
structive paper published in this is
sue by H. e. Wood, ex-mayor OF Jol
let, Ill, and his arguments in favor
of the enactment of more stringent
regulations fixing the responsibility
for fire losses, so many of which are
absolutely needless and preventable,
are presented in clear and coacise
manner. 1t is time, Mr., Wood ar
CUES, to change our attitude toward
the one who has a preventable Are.
1--WE have been taught" he says, ITO
sympathize with persons having a
fire We, as community have
grudgingly paid our immense ilsur-
ance taxes, knowing that it was a.
tax; passed laws regulating ilsur-
ance companies; expended large sums
of money on fire and water depart
ments; begged our property owners
to clean their chimneys and make
them safe, to make changes in cleo
trio wiring and other fire hazards,
until at last the burden has become
So great that we must go to the heart
of the matter, change our psychology
toward fire loss and give our FIRE
ma1shals necessary powers and re-
sponsibilit.es. There is no remedy
so potent and no law so educative as
that which places the blame for the
injury which others receive through
one persons negligence or greed,
and forces him to compensate those
injured by his acts of omission or
commission. The common Law is at
the basia of all law in the State Of
Illinois. l believe that in properly
established case of negligence by
any property owner or Tenant On &C.
count of which fire starts and in
jures any other property owner or ten
nant without negligence on his part,
courts would hold the negligence &C.
tiOnable and would assess damages
against the culprit This is 4 new
application of an old doctrine. It has
never been applied in Illinois except
to railroads.. Suits Of this kind have
not been started because public opin-
ion has always sympathized with
fires and fire losses, and the soft
salve for that sympathy has been the
payment of losses by the insurance
companies. These losses have grown
, to be substantial tax on, all proper
ty, and this tax can never be effect
ually stopped until responsibility is
placed where it belongs, upon the
man whose negligence is responsible
for the Frustrating, and he is compel
led to pay damages to every person
. injured thereby."-Fire and Water
Engineering.