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Show WOULD YOU TRY TO EXTINGUISH A MATCH IN GASOLINE? It is a well-known fact that a flaming match can sometimes some-times be extinguished by plunging it in gasoline but few of us would try the trick. In most cases, the gasoline fumes above the liquid would explode and obsequies might be said for the match-holder. It is likewise true that, no matter how careless we may be in regard to fire hazards, there is still a good chance we might not sustain a fire. And millions of us willfully run, the risk. Inasmuch as there is only one chance in a hundred hun-dred or so of our property being destroyed, we let hazards continue or increase. When we do that we belong in exactly the same category as one who tries to extinguish a match in gasoline. The difference is simply one of degree, not of classification. In the last year for which complete statistics are available, avail-able, chance-taking with fire caused an economic loss of over $400,000,000 and, of vastly greater importance, a loss of life of around 10,000. Because we were careless with matches, $29,000,000 of property went up in smoke. Because we let stoves, furnaces and boilers deteriorate to a dangerous condition, $18,000,000 was destroyed. Because we misused one of the most valuable of man's servants, electricity, elec-tricity, $15,000,000 was reduced to ashes. And so it goes, throughout a long list of hazards. These figures tell only the least of the story. They represent only direct loss. Indirect loss, such as unemployment, unemploy-ment, loss of business, destruction of taxable property, and so on, amounts to several times as much. Fire waste is a black mark on the record of American civilization. More than eighty per cent of fires are preventable prevent-able they occur because someone is careless or ignorant because, figuratively speaking, someone tries to put out a match in gasoline. |