Evening star., 1926-01-24
Stevens School Fire
Laid to Sweepings

go resulted in a report on which The
Star in its
Stevens School Fire issue Of Jan
Laid to sweepings. "a, - =, r,ented ,, IH.g
as follows:
"Inspector rIownan has made
report i'm regard ~ the condition "f
the stevens School building IT the
cause Of the fire there. He does not
concur in the opinion expressed by
The Star that The fire was r"mmuni-
Gated directly to the Charred wood
work by the heating appara tus. but
builds up tho theory that The inflar-
mable sweepincs Of rne schonlroom
floor had been deposited upon the ton
of the IA dating surface under the
floor: that by the intense heat these
sweepings had become Very Comhus-
tihle; that at some time in tho past. 0r
perhaps recently. match or matches
had been swept in upon this Comhus-
tihle material. that coming in contact
with this heating surface. this mat"h
or matches had been i-nited, aud that
a tine southeast corner of the hot air
chamber. Immediately under the floor
or joists, the deposits had been 50
great as to make heat sufficient to
melt the solder or tin Gf the lining.
causing opportunity for draft and set
ting fire to the joists and floors. This
theory seems TO ne DdSeu OH dlllleSl ~
many suppositions as the cooks
baked baby. which involved a suppo-
sititious marriage. a supposititious
baby. that baby boy baby. that boy
baby horn with an uncomfortable
mania for creeping into hot ovens.
ending il The supposititious cindery
cata strophe. However, Mr.. Plow-
mans theory may he correct. He is
an architect Of standing and it would
l.. =. ,s,,sxN
Supt. Cook and Trustee Johnson, who
are men of intelligence.
"If this is the true explanation of
the fire. il serves To show that school
room sweeps as we'll as architects
and builders. must he diligently Locked
after. But there would seem TO he
something radically wrong about the
construction of 4 school building
where il is possible for matches and
the comhustihle gatherings of the
schoolroOm floor to he swept into the
hot air chamber
Spasms Of economy in Government
appropriation were experienced 80
years go as now One of the most
remarka hle proposals
horizontal on record is noted IN
p,dr6+;,, The Star of January
Mr.. White of Kentucky has in
troduced bill to reduce the salaries
Of Federal officers 90 per cent where
they exceed $500 per year. Let US
see how such a measure would work.
II would take from the salary Of a
81 500 employe $500, leaving his aC-
tual compensation but s1,2S0. and
from the salary of an $1,000 employe
$3.50. thus reducing his pay to 81
-
ploye receiving only 1900 per year
would fare considerably better than
the occupants of positions nominally
paying 81 500 and 81 500 per annum.
hut virtually only $3.50 and 81 400.
Can this be the intention of the author
of the bill?''
In view of the recent experience nf
Cen. Smedlev Eutler of the Marine
Corps in his thwarted attempt to
clean mp the city of
revival IN Philadelphia, the
Philadelphia. following stlp VIZ IN, in The
1875. will be of interest:
We see by the Philadelphia Star
that Mr.. Moody considers the revival
in that city the most successful he has
vet been instrumental in effectinS Il
has now lasted eight weeks During
the third and fourth weeks there was
falling off In the attendance. Curl
osity was measurably sated. and II
the work had taken no real hold upon
the religious feelings of the people the
audiences would have continued to iii
minish. On the contrary. they soon
began to increase in numbers ana
fervor. until the great building was
again inadequate to hold the thronys
1t is estimated that not less than a00,-
600 people had attended the services
This is very encouraging and salts
factory. so far, and we shall watch
with no little interest to see il this
great awakening shall result in salu
tary fruits. When election time comes
around we shall have an opportunity
TO judge of tho matter. Philadelphia
has sad name for cheating on election
day. and if the labors of Moody and
Sankey make reform in this par
ticul ar they will have effected great
work"