The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-10-30
FIRE LOSS IN U. S. BIG;
BILL IS A HALF BILLION
PROPERTY DESTROYED IOPb1,
REACHED THE ENORMOUS
TOTAL OF $522,OOO,oOO.
vS STEADILY GROWING BIGGER

Total Will Be IN 1878.
Mrs OLeary's COW started some
.h;rg when it kicked over the lantern
abont g years ago. The uncompre-
bard;ny brute started the big Chicago
FIRE.
President Coolidge tried to start
something the other day when he call
Il the attention of the country to the
oooalling loss caused by fires every
,,sar in this country. The National
Roard OF Fire Underwriters has been
preaching fire prevention until the
throat of its every member is hoarse.
Comparative Statistics.
The Chicago fire caused property
loss of $zOO,OOO,OOO. But if all the lit
to fires in this country in the course
Of wear were massed into one big
Are the Chicago confagration would
lool like a bonfire alongside it, and
the celebrated blaze in the internal
regions wouldn't be half as spectacu-
I asst wear the American people
burned up property valued at $751;
060 600. And $500 persons also per-
ished in the fires.
The great American peepul are
supposed to be the most efficient peo--
pe on the face of the earth. A lot OF
oeoples in various parts OF the earth
question that, naturally. But nobody,
not even the American people them
selves. questions the fact that the cit1-
zens of Uncle Sam are the most care
less citizens under the sun. 1t wouldn't
be so bad, but the fact seems unde-
niab1e that they are getting more care
less year by year.
Tn 1921 fire losses in this country
totaled $4o5,406,012. Last year they
we're S522000,000, as already pointed
out. There's no telling what they'll be
this year, say those who are interest
ed in fires.
The Biggest Cause.
In 1920 the fire loss was 1882, 654,-
$780, In 1906 the losses by fire totaled
S518,611.200, but that was the year OF
the big San Francisco fire, SO 1t does
not count In 1905 the loss was $165,-
21 $50
starting fires in this country? Mister
Smoker"-the underwriters are agreed
on that. The business man lights his
pipe. hicks the match into a waste
basket, answers the telephone, is call
ed out on business and pretty soon
the alarm rings, the fire engines go
clang-clang down the streets, the hre-
men rescue pretty stenographers by
CARRYING them down the ladders from
the fourth and fifth stories, and the
newspapers get out extra editions.
Careless smokers caused a fire loss
of S50000,000 in this country last
year. This doesn't include the damage
done by careless smokers in the for
ests, fick1ng matches or lighted cigar
and cigarette stubs among a pile OF
dead leaves, and starting blaze that
destroys thousands and thousands OF
dollars worth of timber.
Next Comes Mother.
But mother comes close second to
father in starting fires. Out in the ru-
raj districts mother sometimes fills the
lamp with kerosene while the wick IS
burning-something goes up and the
neighbors organize a bucket brigade.
Or the kitchen fire is slow in starting
in the morning, the kitchen IS chilly,
and mother gets impatient. Just a lit
tie bit of kerosene poured on the tlre
and preStoi the fire roars in mad fury
up the chimney and the neighbors
again come running to the scene to
form a bucket brigade.
Defective chimneys and fiues are
the cause of a lot of fires in this coun-
try. Last year the underwriters esti-
mated that the loss from this cause
totaled S20,000,00O. Stoves, furnaces,
boilers and their pipes started tres
destroying $18,000,O00 worth of prop
Crty. Lightning was responsible for
obstruction aggregating the sum OF
SS0OOOO0 but that couldn't be helped.
It IS about the only cause that can't
be fastened onto man, unless Mrs.
OLearys cow be added and in this
connection it must be remembered
that Mrs. O'Leary placed the lantern
100 close to the hind eXtremities OF
the animal
Cats Start Fires.
About $10000,000 worth of fires
We're started in this country last year
on purpose. Some of these fires were
followed by fire sales while there
wasn't enough left for sale follow
ing others.
The underwriters say that some
merchants have cats trained to upset
lamps il their stores during the night.
Be that as it may, it is the preventable
hres that President Coolidge, in his
PROCLAMATION setting aside week as
IRE Prevention Week referred to;
fre Prevention Week has come and
gone, and here's the point; hot ashes
caused a big fire in northern Pennsyl-
iyaanIa; Mister Smoker" started
blaze in New York; defective Chin
nl,ey was the cause of $4,000 fire IN
me middle west. The instances could
pe multiplied it all happened
since Fire Prevention Week, four
Weeks ago
One prominent New York under
writer said the other day that Presi-
uent Coolidge might have saved his
Energy and refrained from debating
proclamation anent fire prevention
'oT no good was accomplished.
IN ~ years the fire loss in this
y,0ountry has more than trebled. In
wv IT was SOL .078,040. There were
more BUILDINGS and more DrODertV to