or every 25 males, and one urinal for every 15 males. The Ohio law also demands that if buildings are over three stories, toilets be placed on each story. In Ohio all forms of fixtures that do not permit the whole surface to be flushed are prohibited. The Minnesota Board of Health insists that water for washing the hands be provided in indoor toilets. The State Board of Education of New Jersey will not approve plans unless, where running water can be secured, porcelain-bowl closets, and slate, corrugated glass, or porcelain urinals, properly ventilated, are furnished. The floors within 3 feet of closets and urinals are to be of nonabsorbent, waterproof material, and suitable wash bowls must be provided in each toilet room. In Texas all urinals and closets must be wiped with an approved disinfectant once a week. Nebraska alone safeguards against disease by special disinfection; after any contagious disease is discovered in a school, disinfection of indoor closets is to be accomplished by the use of a 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid or 3 per cent solution of liquor formaldehyde, while under the same circumstances outdoor vaults are to be treated by throwing into them milk of lime. In Vermont the plumbing regulations of the State board of health must be satisfied.

5

Light and ventilation of toilets.--Nine of the States have more or less definite rules covering ventilation and light; two of them by statute, two by State education authorities, four by State boards of health, and one by factory inspector. Minnesota and North Dakota demand direct air and light from the outside for all classes of toilets. Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, and New Jersey require that toilets be well lighted and equipped with means of ventilation independent of the system that ventilates the remainder of the building. New York calls for independent ventilation of toilet rooms, and the Vermont Board of Health and the Massachusetts inspector of buildings specify that closets and fixtures must be so located and arranged that no odors can reach any occupied rooms. In Minnesota the vent in the toilet must be placed at or near the ceiling, while in New Jersey a wooden or metal flue 8 inches square must run from the floor through the roof. Massachusetts requires that local vents for each water closet and for each 1' 4" in length of slab urinals shall be not less than 11 square inches, and shall be connected with a duct of combined area, having a rise of 1" to each 1' 0" run to a vent duct provided with mechanical or other approved means for maintaining proper circulation. Ohio with characteristic exactness requires that the seats shall be provided with tight-fitting

1 State Health Laws and Regulations, May 1, 1912, p. 54.

2 Rule of State board of health, School Laws, p. 92.

3 Rule of State board of health, School Laws, p. 120.

Minn. State Health Laws and Regs., May 1, 1912, p. 54; N. Dak. Gen. School Laws, p. 104.

See "Regulations relating to the erection, alteration, and inspection of schoolhouses." Form B, 1914.

covers and a vent pipe shall extend 3 feet through the roof, such pipe to be at least 6 inches square for every square yard or part thereof of vault surface.

Indiana's State board of health has recently brought together a number of points connected with indoor closets, and has gone into them in detail. One of them is special ventilation; another is the prevention of the use of corrosive or absorbent materials in connection with fixtures; another is the provision of lids for seats, and individual stalls from 16 to 20 inches wide for urinals; another is a requirement that urinals be flushed as often as every 15 minutes.

The common towel.-Prohibition of the common towel bids fair to spread over the country with a rapidity equal to the prohibition of the common drinking cup. As in the fight against the common cup, Kansas again led the way with a resolution of the board of health, effective September 1, 1911.1 Seven other States now have regulations abolishing the common towel from schools: Wisconsin, by statute;2 Indiana, Louisiana, Montana,3 Ohio,* and Pennsylvania,5 by authority of the State health officers; and Massachusetts by the State health authority exercised under a specific permissive act of the legislature." The usual method is to abolish the towel from "public places," but sometimes "schools" are particularized.

VI. PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE AND PANIC.

The blanket regulation.-Blanket regulations, or the power to make such regulations that may mean little or much, are found in 10 States. The statutes of New Jersey confer upon municipalities the power to make all needful regulations regarding fire; those of Florida put the responsibility for prescribing adequate stairways and fire escapes upon county boards of public instruction. In Minnesota the State Department of Education shares with the local authorities the right to specify means of fire protection. The usual blanket provision runs almost verbatim in four States: "All halls, doors, stairways, seats, passageways, and aisles, and all lighting and heating apparatus and appliances must be arranged to facilitate egress in case of fire or accident;" but this is not retroactive in any case. In New York, Utah, and Virginia it is enforced by the approval of plans at the hands of State education officers; in North Dakota there is no enforcing authority. The Massachusetts and the Maine statutes contain an

1 Bull. Tex. State Bd. of Health, July, 1911, p. 8.

* Common drinking cups and roller towels, Public Health Bulletin, No. 57, issued by the U. S. Pub. Health Service.

Bull. Dept. Pub. Health, Montana, vol. 6, No. 1.

Rule of Jan. 22, 1913.

Rule of Jan. 3, 1913.

Monthly Bull. State Bd. of Health, Aug., 1912, p. 290; acts of 1912, ch. 59.

80042°-15-5

equivalent clause requiring school buildings to have sufficient means of egress and escape from fire, and the Massachusetts supervisor of plans "may make such further requirements as may be necessary to prevent the spread of fire, or its communication from any steam boiler or heating apparatus therein."

General construction.-New Jersey, Connecticut, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Ohio have taken up the general construction of buildings with a view to fire prevention. In the first-named State this has been done through the State building code of the State board of education, which has the power to hold up all plans by nonapproval; in Connecticut, Ohio, and Pennsylvania it is covered by the statutes; in Indiana by the State board of health. The rule in New Jersey is that two-story buildings of over four classrooms must have their outer walls of hard-burned brick, stone, or concrete, an incombustible roof, fireproof walls and fireproof floors to corridors; buildings of three or more stories must be of fireproof construction, i. e., wood may be used only for doors, windows, window frames, roof rafters, trusses, trim, and finished floors. No Connecticut schoolhouse for pupils below the high school may contain over two stories above the basement; for high-school pupils it may extend three stories above the basement, if fireproof, but all nonfireproof buildings of over seven classrooms must have their outer walls and walls separating schoolrooms from corridors built of fireproof material. Indiana limits the height of all schools to two stories above the basement. In Pennsylvania districts of over 500,000 inhabitants, all schools of two or more stories must be of fireproof construction; in other districts this requirement applies only to buildings of over two stories.

Ohio, again, is much more detailed and somewhat more strict. Schools of three stories-the maximum permitted-must be fireproof. This allows wood only for floors, doors, windows, and the usual trim of the interior of rooms. The specified height of the stories, 15 feet from floor to ceiling, makes it impossible, even with a basement, for children to be much more than 40 feet above the ground. Frame structures are permitted only for single-story buildings, without basements, with their floors not over 4 feet above the grade line, provided also that they are not within 30 feet of the lot line or any other structure and not within 200 feet of the city fire limits. Thus it happens that many schools of one story and most of those of two stories fall under the third type of construction, which is denominated composite. This is the same as the fireproof except for the use of wood as columns, girders, beams, and roof trusses. But if a composite building is erected in connection with one of fireproof construction, the two shall be separated by fireproof walls, and all communicating openings guarded by fireproof doors. Both fireproof walls and fireproof doors are fully standardized by law. No room accommodating over 100

persons shall be located above the second story in a fireproof building, nor above the first story in a composite building.

Special construction.-Furnace room and heating apparatus are most often mentioned under the head of special construction. Furnace, boiler, and fuel rooms in Indiana schools must be of fireproof construction; the furnace, if located in the basement, shall have a fireproof floor above it, but may never be situated immediately beneath any lobby, corridor, stairway, or exit. According to the Kansas law, furnaces are to be covered on top with asbestos or masonry, and ceilings above furnaces are to be covered with asbestos. The furnace itself shall not be within 18 inches of woodwork. Ohio allows the furnace, hot-water heating boiler, low-pressure steam boiler, and fuel supply to be within the school building if they are inclosed in a thoroughly fireproof heater room, but no boiler or furnace may be located under "any lobby, exit, stairway, or corridor." The New Jersey State Board of Education will approve no plans unless they show boiler and furnace rooms inclosed by fireproof walls, floors, and ceiling, and all openings closed by self-closing fire doors. The State schoolhouse commission of Utah goes further still, and withholds approval if the furnace or heating apparatus is placed in the basement or immediately under the building. Connecticut is more liberal, requiring only in schools of over seven rooms, not fireproof, that all wooden construction about heating apparatus shall be well protected by fireproof material.

Approval of plans in New Jersey includes several other precautions in special construction. Ceilings in buildings over one story shall be of sheet metal or plastered on metal lath. All waste paper chutes shall be of fireproof material. Chimneys may not be started upon any floor or wood beams. They shall be lined with cast iron, clay, or terra cotta pipe throughout, or, in the case of large flues, with fire brick 15 feet above the smoke inlet. All timber must be framed 2 inches clear of the brick of chimneys. Ventilating flues or ducts must not touch any wood construction. Steam or hotwater pipes, if protected by a metallic shield, shall be 1 inch from wood construction, otherwise 2 inches away. In Minnesota, whenever furnace heat is in use, the hot-air flue leading from the furnace to the schoolroom is built of brick or of heavy galvanized iron covered with asbestos. In Indiana, chimneys must extend from the ground to a point 4 feet above the highest part of the roof, and the outside walls shall not be less than 8 inches thick. North Dakota and Massachusetts have an identical law to the effect (1) that in new buildings no wooden flues or air ducts may be used for heating or ventilating purposes, and (2) that no pipe for conveying hot air or steam shall come within 1 inch of woodwork unless suitably protected by incombustible material.

Corridors and inner stairways.-The story of abundant facilities for escape from burning buildings, blocked and worthless in the hour of need, has been told so often that five States have definitely tried to forestall disaster from such a cause. The laws are similar: Stairs and other passages leading to exits shall be unobstructed (Colorado); passageways shall be unobstructed (Indiana); aisles and passageways leading to means of egress must be kept open (Massachusetts, Rhode Island); no passageway shall be less in width than the stairway or exit to which it leads (Ohio). Corridors, stairways, and toilets shall be well lighted artifically, and said artificial lights shall be kept burning when the building is occupied after dark (Ohio). Main corridors shall be at least 11 feet wide, and in buildings of more than eight rooms at least 13 feet wide (Indiana). These provisions are statutory except those of Indiana, which are the decree of the State board of health.

1 Explanation of symbols:

1. Regulating authority: Statutory (legislative enactments)-L. Judicial (decisions in common or statute law)-J. Administrative (rules of State departments of education, health, etc.)-X.

2. Enforcing authority: Educational: State A. County-B. Town-C. District-D. Health: State -A'. County-B'. Local-C. Fire or factory inspectors, etc.: State-A". Local=C".

3. Character of regulation: Mandatory=m. Permissive-p. Encouraged by financial aid=e.

4. Extent of application: State wide-a. Outside certain classes of cities-b. Consolidated districts only-c. Rural districts only=d.