Show unnecessary WASTE for the first six months of this year the direct fire loss in america totaled which marked a small advance over the same period in 1937 the indirect loss is many times as great if that is figured in to get a true picture the total loss for the year will probably be in the neighborhood of a billion dollars that money has been destroyed completely there is nothing left of it and at least 80 per cent of the destruction was unnecessary it was the result of carelessness ignorance or criminality somebody took a chance somebody forgot something som ething and fire resulted and lives and dollars went up in smoke that billion dollars would employ a million men at salaries of a thousand dollars a year it would build miles of highway at a cost of a mile it would build homes costing each it would buy consider ably more than a million motor cars it would supply 10 million people with worth of clothes each it would pay for college educations for several hundred thousand young people it is things such as these that fire destroys and that is the proper way to value our fire waste fire deprives men of jobs and opportunities it takes away tax revenue and leaves ashes and debris in their place the fight against fire is every citizens fight it is in every citizens interest whether he owns a piece of tangible property or not and it deserves and must have every citizens active support |