PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE.

PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE.

“What shall be done to stay the ravages of fire in this country” is a question that is forcing itself more and more upon the public and is being discussed more widely every day. Scarcely a week passes that we are not called upon to chronicle the destruction by fire of some small village, or the raging of a conflagration in some of our cities. To cure an evil it is necessary to know its cause, and THE JOURNAL has repeatedly urged that every community should have some duly appointed person to investigate the cause of every fire, to make known the facts that the public might be warned [for the future. The old adage that " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” was never better applied than to the subject of fire. It is encouraging to note that in various states this subject is attracting the attention of public officers. In Massachusetts, as we mentioned last week, all town and city officers are required to report all fires to the Insurance Commissioner, and he in turn reports the same to the Legislature. Thus each year Massachusetts officially furnishes a complete report of the number of fires that occur, the causes that led to them, so far as can be ascertained, and the amouut of loss by each. These statistics are valuable, as they show to the public and the law-making power, the fearful devastation that is being wrought by this unruly servant of man, and are also suggestive of the means to be employed to prevent their repetition.

The Insurance Superintendent ot Kansas, Mr. Orrin T. Welch, in his tenth annual report just issued, devotes several pages to the subject of “ Fighting Fire.” He concurs with THE JOURNAL in recommending a thorough official investigation as to the cause of every fire, and claims that its advantages would be, first: An exposure of the rascally acts of those who set fires for malice or gain, and make such practices not only odious but dangerous, and, as rascals are cowards, they would less frequently apply the torch. Second: It would familiarize the people with the causes which produce fire, and a desire for security would prompt them to remove or counteract such on their own premises; third: It would materially lessen to the insured the cost of indemnity against loss by fire.