126 THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE. 
For the ordinary commercial building, where brick walls and 
wooden joists would ordinarily be used, I am of the opinion that 
the use of reenforced concrete would be the safest and most practica- 
ble solution in a place like San Francisco. Where reenforced con- 
crete is used throughout, whether the building is very tall or not, 
great care should be taken with the design and execution of the con- 
nections between the columns and the members of the floor system. 
There should be heavy knee braces for the connection of all girders 
and beams, and, wherever possible, portal bracing in the shape of 
reenforced-concrete arches should be introduced. Of course the 
amount of this work that needs to be done depends on the circum- 
stances in each individual case, such as the height of the building, 
its horizontal area, the kind of material, the dead weight in the 
upper stories, etc. 
The opposition of the bricklayers' union and similar organizations 
has hitherto prevented the use of reenforced concrete in San Fran- 
cisco for all parts of buildings. This action of the labor unions has 
probably cost the city a good deal, and, should it be continued, will 
cost a great deal more in the future. 
From the effect on the fortifications, and on monolithic and massive 
concrete structures elsewhere, as indicated by the details taken from 
the report of Professors Marx and Wing, it seems justifiable to con- 
clude that a solid monolithic concrete structure of any sort is secure 
against serious damage in any earthquake country, unless it should 
happen to lie across the line of the slip; in that case the damage 
might be fatal, or it might not, depending altogether on the amount 
of the slip and the intensity of the forces that accompanied it. 
It would seem that earth dams of ample size and with good founda- 
tions are also secure against fatal damage unless they are traversed 
by the slip. Even in the latter case the damage would appear to be 
not always fatal ; that it would never be fatal, however, would be a 
rash assertion to make. It is unsafe to say that any sort of structure 
could be built so that geologic faulting could occur immediately 
underneath it without doing serious damage. As a matter of fact, 
however, most structures in an earthquake country would not lie on 
the line of a fault, and it seems quite certain that in such cases 
well-constructed earth dams and solid monolithic masses of concrete, 
whether large or small, would escape serious injury. 
THE MINIMIZING OF FIRE LOSSES. 
A study of the results of the Baltimore and San Francisco fires, 
especially in connection with the statements of adjusted losses at 
Baltimore, readily discloses the following facts : 
In the first place, the contents of the fireproof buildings Avere a 
total loss. In many buildings the contents might probably be worth 
