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Show Fire Department For Hire At last it is beginning to dawn upon us that the man whose carelessness and stinginess permits his building to catch fire and burn, incidently causing loss to any number of innocent bystanders, j is a pest and should be treated as such. 1 As has been urged in these pages more j than once, we should copy the long-estab- lished practice in Great Britain and on the Continent, and in pose a penalty on the man whose building has a fire, instead in-stead of rewarding him with fat fire-i fire-i insurance policies, wich put an actual ! premium on the largest possible loss and damage by fire and water. On the other side, when the fire department is caled,; the man with a fire pavj a good round su n for the services of the firemen ard equipment. Instead of a thrill at being the basic cause of a brilliant bril-liant setting for a moving picture, with . brightly pamted ladder trucks and re-j re-j splendent steamers, and a few score of i the bravest, 1n motor trucks, dashing j to ahe rescue, there is consternation at the prospective bills, for the mure that come the bigger the charge will be. Where a good part of the prospective insurance money is consumed in ad- vance by the bill the fire department ; will collect for their professional visit, ; a fire loses much of its chirm. A city : levies charges for the water it supplies , for domestic purposes, and whv not for water pumped to put out fires? The fact is, a score of things are charged I for by cities which are not a fraction J as logical as to charge for the use of the fire department. j New York and Boston have already announced their tariff charges for fire i serviceof one steamer up other c:ti"s should promptly do the same. A very ! large percentage of fire would never I have occurred if some one had used ; reasonable care, and nothing will stim- ulate greater care so much so much as having to pay for what is now free as air.-H. H. Windsor in the October Popular Mechanics Magazine. |