were placed side by side on lots of sixty-five foot frontage, they would line both sides of a street from New York to Chicago. The fire loss in America costs us each year five dollars for every man, woman, and child in our population. And practically all of this loss is preventable. This annual The terrible results of fire are shown by the destruction of this expensive equipment. destruction by fire costs just about half the total cost of running the schools of this country each year. But these figures fail to tell the whole story. Every year fire takes 15,000 lives, and most of the victims are women and children. Our fire loss has increased while that of Great Britain has decreased. The fire loss in Great Britain was eighty-two cents a person in 1921 as compared with a per capita loss of $4.60 in the United States. In 1922 the total fire loss in the United States was more than one third of the total amount spent on education, and in 1923 our fire loss was almost one half of the total spent on education. comparison is pictured in the chart below. This Causes of Fire. While some fires arise from causes impossible to trace, yet the outstanding cause for fire is carelessness. Under this may be mentioned carelessness in building, resulting in defective flues or chimneys; improp FIRE LOSSES COMPARED WITH COST OF EDUCATION Nearly half as much money is wasted by fire as the total cost of education. erly installed stoves or furnaces; poor wiring; carelessness with kerosene and gasoline, and with matches and lighted cigarettes; and carelessness with accumulated rubbish. All these are causes for fire which might be prevented if each person tried. On the next page you will find a table showing the amount of fire losses in the United States in 1923. You will notice that these are grouped under strictly preventable causes, and partly preventable causes. The greatest loss under strictly preventable causes is from fires caused by matches and smoking. Estimates place the number of matches struck every day at almost eight hundred million, so the possibilities for fire started by carelessness in the use of matches are many. Unthinking smokers probably constitute the chief offenders. In certain buildings smoking is prohibited absolutely as one means of preventing fires. Defective chimneys and flues are strictly preventable and rank second in the causing of fires. Too many chimneys and flues are improperly built. Chimneys should be built solidly from base to cap and lined throughout with fire-clay tile to prevent the escape of sparks. Every chimney serving a furnace in which the fuel is bituminous coal, or a fireplace where wood is burned, should be cleaned of soot at least once a year. Stoves, furnaces, boilers and their pipes also kept near the top of the list in 1922 and 1923. Most of the fires attributed to this cause could have been avoided by the proper shield STRICTLY PREVENTABLE CAUSES MATCHES-SMOKING $36,000,000 DEFECTIVE CHIMNEYS AND FLUES $26,000,000 PETROLEUM AND ITS PRODUCTS $14,000,000 HOT ASHES AND COALS, OPEN FIRES $7,000,000 GAS, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL $5,000,000 OPEN LIGHTS $4,000,000 A large portion of the losses could easily be prevented by reasonable care. ing of adjacent wood construction, and by proper installation of pipe joints. Much damage is caused by fires starting from sparks on roofs. Wooden shingle roofs are easy targets for embers from chimneys and from near-by fires. Fireproof roofingwhich looks as well and costs no more-can now be had and builders are urged to use this roofing in construction. Petroleum and its products have been the cause of many strictly preventable fires. Gasoline and other by-products of petroleum are widely used, and it is natural to expect that their use would cause many fires. But just because another; they broaden our outlook on life by teaching the industries and resources of the different parts of the world; they teach the processes by which laws are made, the purpose and value of laws, and how the laws are interpreted and enforced. Through the school the junior citizen is made ready for the responsibilities and the advantages of the senior citizen in the greater world of tomorrow. THE CAMPUS OF WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY Founded in 1749, this famous old institution of learning at Lexington, Virginia, was endowed by George Washington and rose to great importance under the presidency of General Robert E. Lee. It is the Alma Mater of many hundreds of men from all over the nation who hold positions of great influence and power. Good School Spirit. The boys and girls in a school make the school. The local city and county Boards of Education may buy the books, hire the teachers, and erect the buildings, but they can go little further. The teachers may spend hours in the classrooms helping the pupils to master certain topics, or may enliven the recreation period with organized play, but teachers alone cannot make the school. The boys and girls coming to that school must themselves establish the standards of that school. "Fair play" must come first here, as in the games on the playground. Love of the building itself, and its associations, and pride in its appearance are found in the best schools. Respect for the rights of the other boys and girls who are in the school is necessary if young people are to develop the habits essential to good citizenship. Obedience to rules and regulations, whether made by the pupils, the teacher, or the principal, builds up a high standard of school character. Moreover, in the good school one will find an enthusiastic loyalty to all that the school represents. This is the spirit that wins games for the school, both at home and abroad. It is this loyalty that establishes a fine school spirit toward work and play, and makes the school a place where good fellowship prevails. In such a school the youth of today becomes the worthy adult citizen of tomorrow. TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION 1. Find the names of three prominent junior high schools in this country and report to your class what they are trying to do to make school interesting for their boys and girls. 2. Take home three of your textbooks and ask your parents whether these books are an improvement over those they used. 3. Do you expect to go to college? If so, where? Why do you select this particular college? 4. Do you think that the United States would improve the schools if they took charge of all of them? Or do you think each state knows its own problems best? Defend your opinion. 5. Do you know any people who have attended an Americanization class? How has it helped them? 6. What are the laws of your state concerning school attendance? When may you get "working papers"? When may you leave school without them? From the table on page 110, rank your state with other states in this regard. 7. It is said that our public schools develop a democratic spirit among the American people. In what financial way are you dependent upon the parents of your schoolmates for your education? |