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Show EIGHTY PER CENT OP FIRES UNNECESSARY It has been said that the greatest tragedy of fire lies in the fact that it is unnecessary. More than eighty per cent of all fires, large and small, are due to someone's oversight a little care, a little thought, perhaps the spending of a little money, would have prevented them. Fires, would not be so serious if it were entirely an individual matter if the person who allowed al-lowed his property to burn because be-cause he permitted hazards to exist uncorrected paid the bill. But we all pay every member Of the community, is assessed, directly or indirectly, lor a share of the cost. We pay it in depressed de-pressed business if a factory is destroyed men are put out of work. We pay it in higher taxes a fire that eliminates property prop-erty from the tax rolls makes it necessary to increase taxes on all other property to make up for the loss. We pay it in higher insurance rates over a period of years, the rate charged for insurance protection is based upon up-on the amount of loss in the community. The direct fire bill in this country is around $400,000,000 a year at present, and in some years it has passed the half-billion half-billion mark. The indirect loss is several times as great observers ob-servers say it runs close to two billions. That money comes out Of the pocketbooks of the American Ameri-can people, and whether your property suffered a fire or not doesn't let you out of paying it. Fire prevention is easy care and thought are the main essentials. es-sentials. And every fire that is prevented means actual money saved to you. |