Evening star., 1923-10-13
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL y. COLLINS

reports adds to this fire waste the
cost OF maintaining fire departments
which is as much more. This means
$50 q year to the average family"
Even that does not include the cost
OF fire insurance, which is added to
every article sold. 1t is added to the
cost of clothes, food and rentals. So
whether one Is a direct sufferer from
fire in his own home, fire adds to his
cost of living. And three-fourths OF
the fires could be avoided by care and
cleanliness Of the premises.
or all the forest fires in 1921, camp
ers caused 1919 per cent--7.6aS fires.
Railroads caused 5.515 fires-14.3 per
cent. Brush burning ran away with
1855. or 11.3 per cent.
We are burning up twice as much
timber as we are using in lumber
and yet statisticians tell us that we
are using and destroying four times
as much timber annually as nature il
replacing by growth, and that prac-
tically all forests VIII be gone In
twenty-five years unless there be ac-
complished a radical change in fre
prevention and reforestation.
why are Americans SO given to
fires? We are the greatest fire suf-
ferers in the world, except our neigh
bors to the north. We always have
been, and we are growing worse. In
1918 our per capita fire loss was s3.36i
in 1921 1t was $4.56; in 1922, s4.75; in
the fiscal year 1923, over s5.
Maybe Washingtonians are fairly
| good as compared with their neigh
! bors. The per capita loss in Wash
lRv,er rt0y, In, nj
at Delaware. with per capita loss
! Of S13.SS-the worst in America
while the Districts per capita is the
lowest except Vermont, with its S1.9l
as follows: France, 49 cents; Eng
land, SO; Germany. 28; Italy, 25; Aus
tria, 25; Switzerland. 13, and Hol-
land, IL.
| 1t Is not alone the man VINO starts
the fires accidentally or incendiarily
who has occasion to collect insurance.
Fires spread and whole blocks are
| Is then much commiserated with. for
everybody knows he feels bad about
his neighbors' losses on top of his
own.
But did anybody ever hear of the
starter Of the fire which swept over
wh0le plOckS Senolng cneck TO eaCn
| of the losers? II a man with run
away automobile rams his neighbor's g
car he pays for the damage. He rec
| ognizes his responsibility. II a man
| cause a fire loss to another, whether
| Intentionally, carelessly or unavoida-
| bly,. he is responsible for all such
| loss. according to common law. but 1t
| has been most uncommon in America
| to enforce that law. In Europe the
burden of defense lies upon the man
| on whose premises the fire starts, IL
| It damage a neighbor.
X
President Coolidge, In issuing his
annual proclamation calling for the
observance OF Fire day october 8, the
| anniversary Of the Chicago confiagra-
| tion, pointed solemnly to the annual
| loss of $1,000 lives. as well as more
| than half a billion dollars, in pre-
ventable fires.
The United States Chamber of Com
merce is undertaking systematically
| to inspire local chambers of COM
merce throughout the country to
! compete against each other in lower
| ing the fire records of their respective
cities. Most surprising results have
already been achieved, in one city re-
| ducing fire loss 4S per cent.
| Copyright. 1928. by Paul V. Coilins)