Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-10-03
F;;re!
4 m ORE than the cost Of constructing the
MI Panama Canal, more than the an

n r ORE than the cost Of constructing the
INf Panama Canal, more than the an
nuaI maintenance bill of the United
States postal service, more than all the
salaries of all the school teachers and
superintendent within the nations bounds
was the amount of the American fire loss for
the year 1921-fOur hundred and e15hty-tiVe
million dollars!
To this astounding record no citizen dare
be Indifferent for every one is involved when
it comes to paying the score. RATES collect
ed by fire insurance companies says an au-
thority in that important realm of service,
must always include all the losses;" and he
reckons that this year some twenty million
dollars thus will be paid by the rank and file
because Of fires in 1921. Every act of care
lessness, therefore, and every bit OF negH-
gence from which fire may spring Is
wrong against the common veal, menace
which the public should resent. Likewise
every effort to eliminate these costly hazards
and prevent the tremendous waste should
have the public's most earnest cooperation.
Four hundred and eighty-five million dol
lars, vast sum though it is, represents but a
fraction of the total and ultimate fire loss
of the past twelvemonth. It includes only
the value, and the partial value at that, OF
the property destroyed. Think or the
economic loss, the loss of contracts, Of trade,
Of working forces and clientele, all Of which
swells beyond calculation. Think, more
over, of the pitiable and ofttimes tragic hui
man losses-the homes destroyed, the lives
blotted out. Fifteen thousand persons were
killed in fires during 1921, and sixteen thou
sand were injured. More than siXty-five per
cent of the total number of American fiji es
occur in dwellings, upwards of eight hundred
homes being afire for every working day OF
the year. Surely, If by any manner of means
this appalling state Of affairs can be RENE
died, all fright-m1ndee people will lend their
utmost aid.
The means, as a fact, are simple and
plenteous and, if duly applied, will prove
abundantly effective They will suggest
themselves to whosover ponders the careful
ly ascertained fact that eighty-seven per cent
of the country's fire loss is Chargeable to
carelessness, together with lack OF knoWl-
edge touching common hazards. According
to figures furnished The Journal by the At
lanta Board Of Fire Underwriters, who have
them from the highest authorities, the cost
carelessness in handling matches, cigars,
cigarettes and the like exceeds twenty-five
and one-half million dollars year. Care
lessness in the construction and upkeep OF
flues and chimneys costs fifteen million
year. Carelessness in possible sources or
spontaneous combustion costs fifteen million
a year. Carelessness in the use OF gasoline
for cleaning and of coal oil and other inflam-
mables for starting fires cost seven hundred
and sixty-nine human lives in the past year.
Is carelessness worth while?
It appears further, from the official rec
ords, that lack of care in the use Of the cleo
trio flatiron is accountable Tor nearly lorty-
seven per cent of all Tres resulting from neg
ligence in the matter of electricity; that
open lights destroy 4our millions OF property
annually, and heating devices fifteen million
seven hundred thousand; while loss OF
eight million four hundred thousand comes
from sparks on single roofs.
The uppermost question during Fire Pre-
yention Week, upon which Atlanta and Geor-
gia, along with the country at large, are en-
tering, is how to prevent these grievous
losses, how guard against these besetting
perils, how eradicate that vice of careless
ness for which the innocent, as we'll as the
guilty are paying so dear? Through articles
in the press and special programs in the
schools and through divers other channels
the question will be treated in ample detail.
But after all, the effective answer must come
from the individual citizen and the indivld-
raj home, endeavoring constantly to avoid
an prevent the causes Of fire, chief of which
ia Care1eSSneSS.