Fire-Proof Buildings.

Fire-Proof Buildings.

在去年夏天在内部部门的灾难性火灾之后，一名三个委员会被任命为华盛顿的公共建筑物，并报告“每个上述建筑物的状况，以及对火灾的安全，以及是否有的话，如果有的话，其中哪一个可能被认为是防火。“本报告中的两三个提取物凝聚在拯救空间，将为在保存公共文件的任何内部竖立的防火建筑物中传达一些想法。财政库的大部分地面是雕刻和印刷局占据的，材料的本质主要增加了火灾责任。在制造本国货币时使用和所需的各种化学品和熔炉。在地下室，还有一个木匠的商店和一个内阁商店，其中保持了大量的木材和其他可燃材料。该楼层还有一个用于家具，垃圾等的大型储藏室，不断积累，所有这些都是可燃性的。伟大的信誉肯定是由于Bill的财政部大楼的患者。Th / W已采取一流的NOTHI'-'第二审计员有一个分支机构，在“痒是大量有价值的文件”中。这栋建筑的后卫用作木匠商店。 The Adjutant General’s department hires portions of seven buildings of ordinary' construction ; two without any lathing or plastering on the ceiling, and one without any water. Valuable papers are stored in these buildings. The same remarks will apply to the Quartermaster General’s office and the Paymaster General’s. The valuable library of the Naval Observatory is without any ordinary protection. The Post-office building is fire-proof up to the attic story. The Patent-office building, in which the fire originated last summer, is fire-proof up to the roof. The Government printing office, in which are several hundred persons, has wooden beams, floors, stairs and sheathing, if we except one small fire-proof room, used for the storage of plates. The facilities for obtaining water are limited. The report concludes by saying : “ The great danger is to be found in the structural character of buildings. We are of the opinion that only fire-proof materials, and fire-proof methods of construction should be permitted in important structures, now being, or hereafter to be, built for public use.”

Are we any better off in New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Chicago ? Where are the records of the titles of real estate, etc., kept in our principal cities, the loss of which might make a pauper of a prince ? Hundreds of important documents are pigeonholed in the desk of some careless official, and liable at any moment to be burnt or stolen. Janitors of public buildings are not all angels. Important papers connected with the city of New York have frequently been missing, and many a trial has been postponed indefinitely because a certain piece of paper could not be produced in court. Any one can form an opinion as to the value placed upon real estate titles, or documents of any kind, by looking at the way in which they are handled, and where tliey are deposited by certain officials in many of our court houses. No care is taken of them in the building, and no care is taken of the building in which they are. It seems almost incredible that in this country, with a population of 40,000,000, none can be found with brains enough to construct, or to insist upon the construction of, a fire-proof building in every county where records and titles of real estate may be safe from fire and thieves. Americans, as a rule, are not destitute of feeling, but they do not always remember that “ evil is wrought by want ol thought as well as want of heart.” Ever and anon we read that some court house has been burnt and all the records destroyed. The inconvenience and embarrassment caused by such a calamity, may be imagined but cannot be described. It cannot be supposed that we are unwilling to pay for what is much needed. As Americans we are profuse in our expenditure. New York paid $15,000,000 for an unfinished court house without a fire-proof room.