Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-09
so MILLION F|RELOSS
IN !. S. LAST YEAR
Smokers Responsible for 5.724,-
900 of Prcvcntable Losses
by Flame.

New York. Jan. 9.-Csrelcss smokers
and users of matches were responsible for
SIS. 724. $50 Of the total loe.s of SEQ 4S8, ,054
worth of property by "preventable fires"
in the United Statea during 1918. accord
ing To members Of the Ere Marhals'
Association Of North America who are
holding q two-days' conference here with
the National Board Of Fire Underwriters
beginning today
Figures showing that the United States
leads the world in property destruction
by fire were given IN the opening session,
the damage per capita beng stated as
| 81. 10 annually in this country ~ com
pared with 10 cents in France, 33 cents
in England % cents IN Germany. 25
cents in italy and Austria, ID cents IN
| Switzerland and cents IN Holland.
ARSON TRUST Busy
Homer Rntledge, Of Lansing, Michigan.
| fire marshal of that State, discussed IT he
| Arson Trust" and showed how lncendiaries
had burned -, 12i, sic worth OF property
| in one year during the war, exclusive oi
the many other millions destroyed IN
| directly by explosions.
Ole O Roe. Of Dies Moines, hre marshal
| of Iowa in an address on Pyroinans,.
said education was ono of the most ei-
| fcient means Of combating thus EVIL.
| +. II. Morgaridge OF New York, for-
nerlv assistant fire marshal of Indiana
| said most flrebugs were adolescent boys
| and pirls. He advocated proper home
and school training
Deepite the fact that The United State
| was at war and that enemy agents were
active, twenty States reported sligt
| decrease in the number Of eases Of arson
| While it was announced as fact, thai
in the first nine months after Anerlcs
| drew the sword s43 900, 600 worth Of Wal
| industries went up IN smoke, n only ter
per cent Of these cascs was there ever
suspicion of spy-vork.
caRyIEssNEss WORST YIRyBUo
nCsreIe<~ne-~" wae dr-ipnsted as th'
biggest frebug If all One grain elevate
fire alone DESTROYED enough wheat u
make years supply Of bread for 1DO,W'
soldiers
| Following a reference TO the Morgan
N. J.. disaster in which nearly one hun
dred lives were lost and 500. 900 900 dam
age done delegate. spoke of the worl
| accomplished the past year by the flr
prevention section of the War Ipdustrle
| Board
| This bureau, ii was stated. had IN
spected more han 900 large plans val
ued at over $4,000 OOO, 900 and in
large percentage Of cases the safety
recommendations Of It's volunteer dollar
| a-year engineers we're carried out.
| II uas stated that fire prevention meth
ods adopted for the sixteen large army car
tonments throughout the United State
had proved most effective although the<
camps consisted Of wooden building
Hazards were reduced To the minimum
by proper vatchulness, water protnrtior
isolation, conduting. and enforcement
regulations in regard 70 smoking and tn
use OF matches and lights.
SCRAPS or PAPER IAPERILLED NEW Y0RE
H. c. Brearly one Of the speaker
said New York City was IN lmmlnen
peril of a great conflagratlon when o
November Z, after the erroneous rrpor
Of the German surrender, storm {
paper was thrown from the windows {
business buildings Lttenng the streets 20
| depth OF several inches and many nle
OF ticker tape covering telegraph an
telephone wires constituted IRE hazar
; of the nth power
Fire Chief kenlon Of New York Cit
declared that if a serious blaze had star
ed al that time, or on November IL, foJ
e,avs later when the scenes Of pandemor
iun were repeated, all New York migt
have been laid in ashes. The fire d.
partments would have been crippled ais
he said by the crowds of traffic congo
ton in the streets
: As one Of the delegates expressed !
Thus was invited the greatest loss
; life and property. perhaps, in America
history