THE ASH HEAP OF 1884.

THE ASH HEAP OF 1884.

习惯迅速,商业小羊letin, on Tuesday, printed a summary of the fires that occurred in December, and comments on the losses for the year. There were 244 fires in December wherein the loss by each was $10,000 or more. The aggregate loss caused by these 244 fires was $9,300,000. Estimating the losses by smaller fires and such as have had no record at $1,700,coo (and this is an inside estimate), we have $11,000,000 as the reasonable total of fire losses in the United States and Canada during the single month of December. Up to the end of November we computed the fire waste of this country and Canada during 1884 to be $101,000,000. Adding December’s $11,000,000, we have $ 112,000,000 as the monstrous and needless aggregate of property turned into ashes last year, simply and only because propertyowners were too careless (or criminal) to prevent by vigilance this destruction of their own and the nation’s wealth. There were 106 fires in December where the reported loss was between $10,000 and $20,000; fortyfive between $20,000 and $30,000 ; thirty-three between $30,000 and $50,000; thirty-two between $50,000 and $75,000; six between $75,000 and $100,000; seventeen between $100,000 and $200,000; and five of over $200,000.

A retrospect of the year’s fire loss shows that it has been the worst year of statistical record, excepting only 1871 and 1872, when Chicago and Boston sent 100 insurance companies into sudden graves. Up to January, 1884, the average annual fire waste in the United States and Canada, according to The Chronicle’s fire tables, was $86,500,000 for the nine years 1875-1883. But now we have for 1884 the'enormous figure of $112,000,000 sacrificed as a burnt offering to that popular idol, individual carelessness. How long the nation can or will endure this needless strain is a question for the average citizen and propertyowner to answer for himself. The record of large fires ($100,000 or over) in 1884 is as follows, month by month :