House and Garden 
Njetat 
« 
Figure 3 
to render the saving of life or property very 
difficult, and in many cases impossible. Even 
where there is no loss of life, the loss of per¬ 
sonal property, and reverenced heirlooms, to 
which clings the association of several genera¬ 
tions, is most unfortunate and irreparable, as 
they can never be replaced. 
This fact should he sufficient 
to impress upon the thinking 
class of people the desirability 
of providing against destruc¬ 
tion in their homes by fire. 
While it is true that the 
causes of fires in dwellings are 
few, in comparison with those 
in the many other buildings 
not used for domestic pur¬ 
poses, they are sufficient in 
number and so difficult to 
guard against as readily to 
warrant the erection of a 
structure as little liable to 
ignition and destruction by 
fire as possible. 
Among some of the readily 
traceable sources of fire in 
dwellings are lightning, crossed 
electric wires, defective fix¬ 
tures, imperfectly constructed 
heating apparatus, mice nib¬ 
bling matches or insulation, 
spontaneous combustion, and 
carelessness of servants. 
A potent fact operating to 
militate against a better class 
of construction is that when 
urban and suburban houses 
are built, their construction is 
left largely to the operative 
builder and land speculator or 
promoter. The standard set 
by these builders 
has always been 
such as would 
make a quick 
return of money 
for a minimum 
expenditure. Fur¬ 
ther, the lack of 
employment of ex¬ 
pert scientific skill 
tends to medi¬ 
ocrity. Even 
where trained architects have been called in 
to assist in the development of a project, 
precedent and the desire to meet competition 
have kept the construction in the narrow 
grooves laid down by custom. 
It will be my endeavor in what follows to 
T 54 
