Birmingham Fire Escape Upholding the validity of a fire escape ordinance in force in the city of Birmingham, as against a claim that it gave the municipal fire board arbitrary discretion in requiring fire escapes, the Alabania Supreme Court recently said in the case of Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Co. vs. Kyser (82 Southern Reporter, 151): "Upon a reconstruction of the ordinance, the Court concludes that it does not give the fire board an arbitrary discretion in requiring or exempting buildings from fire escapes. The ordinance provides for certain kinds of fire escapes on all buildings over two stories high, except fire-proof buildings or those which at the time had adequate escapes in case of fire. In other words, it deals with three classesbuildings over two stories high which have no adequate fire escapes, fire-proof buildings, and buildings which already have adequate fire escapes, the last two being dealt with as exceptions from the ordinance; and the status upon which they are to be excepted is fixed by the ordinance itself, and the fire board is simply authorized to ascertain the status so fixed and to enforce the said ordinance. The board has no authority to exempt or discriminate in favor of or against buildings of general class dealt with in the ordinance; that is, all buildings over two stories high not being fire-proof or then having fire escapes. It is simply the duty of the board to ascertain fireproof buildings and to also determine whether or not others already have adequate fire escapes, and to so certify, and to compel fire escapes upon all buildings over two stories high that are not exempt by the terms of the ordinance; that is, which are not fire-proof and which do not already have adequate fire escapes. An arbitrary discretion is one which discriminates between those of the same class or similarly situated, and the ordinance in question does not authorize the fire board to discriminate between buildings of the same class, but merely requires it to ascertain and determine which ones belong to the respective classes as fixed and defined by the ordinance. We, therefore, hold that the ordinance in question is not void, but should be upheld." Abutters' Rights in Streets The owner of the fee of land used by a city for street purposes has the right to use the subsurface in front of his property, so long as he does not interfere with the rights of the municipality below the surface for sewers, and pipes for water, gas, or other Subject to proper purposes. reasonable municipal regulations, he is entitled to make openings in the sidewalk to give access to the area beneath. But he is bound to so construct and cover the opening that it shall at all times be as safe for the use of the public as if it did not exist, and public travel over the same be not unreasonably interfered with. The city is empowered to require the abutting owner to procure a permit before making an opening in the sidewalk, and to see that proper safeguards are thrown about the work, and that in its progress the right of the public to use the sidewalk is not unreasonably interfered with. The city also has a right to regulate how excavations in the subsurface of a street shall be made by the abutter, and how trapdoors or other appliances shall be constructed. But it may not arbitrarily refuse to grant a permit, nor, under the guise of regulation, place an additional burden upon him, or make regulations that would in effect deprive him of his rights in the subsurface. (Florida Supreme Court, S. H. Kress & Co. vs. City of Miami, 82 Southern Reporter, 775.) An Invalid Health Ordinance An ordinance of the city of Pensacola reading as follows has been declared by the Florida Supreme Court to be invalid as being unreasonable and arbitrary in its terms: "That every house and building located within the limits of the city of Pensacola in which people live, or where they congregate or assemble, or any kind of business is carried on, shall be provided with a sanitary privy that shall be connected with a sewer as provided by existing ordinances," etc. The main ground of the Court's objection is that "common experience teaches that there are buildings in cities where people congregate or assemble or transact business in which privies are not appropriate, or perhaps not permissible, in the interest of the public health and general welfare. This ordinance makes no exceptions, but is absolute and comprehensive in its provisions. Even if it is competent for the city to require the construction and maintenance of privies in all houses in which people live, and in other houses in which people assemble or conduct business where the public health and welfare will be thereby conserved, it is manifestly not within the power of the city to require a privy to be constructed and maintained in all the classes of houses named in the ordinance, except where such a utility is appropriate or permissible to serve the public health and general welfare." (Cary vs. Ellis, 82 Southern Reporter, 781.) Suppose it was your girl? NOT long ago there was a fire in a business college in the heart of the business district of a Pennsylvania city. Five hundred girls escaped; but Three were injured Seven were overcome by smoke Five hundred mothers are now afraid to trust their daughters in such a building. Are you allowing that sweet young daughter of yours, or the son who will soon be able to help Dad in his business, to spend their long school hours in a building that looks all right, but is no more than a deadly fire trap? All over the country, in large cities and little villages, thousands upon thousands of boys and girls go to school in just such dangerous buildings. Now, since children are compelled by law to go to school, common humanity demands that their lives be safeguarded against fire. Fire drills?-Yes. Fire escapes? Of course! But if the flames spread so quickly as to cut off windows and stairways, all the fire drills and fire escapes in the world will not bring back one of the pitiful little victims of official negligence. Fire never does the expected thing. The only thing to do is to stop the first tiny flicker of flame. With Grinnell Automatic Sprinklers if a fire be kept right where it starts and be extinguished starts in a basement, or anywhere else, it will quickly. When the fire starts the water starts. Men have protected some five billion dollars of their business property from fire by the use of automatic sprinklers. Meanwhile our wonderful humanitarian institutions and our fine schools continue to burn, criminally jeopardizing thousands of lives. GRINNELL AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEM If you feel too indifferent to send for a free booklet telling what to do, what right have you to blame others when a horrible calamity occurs in your town? Think of your schools and write today, now, for this intensely interesting booklet. Address General Fire Extinguisher Com pany, 283 West Exchange Street, Providence, R. L When the fire starts the water starts News and Ideas for Commercial and Civic Organizations Advertising-Educational Cam paign Produces Houses in Huntington in Huntington, Ind.- Home-building Huntington has been stirred into activity during the last two years solely by means of a well-planned advertising campaign. The statistics show that more new houses were built in Huntington during 1918, in proportion to the population, than in any other city in Indiana, which is a strong testimonial to the effectiveness of the advertising. The campaign was managed by the Huntington Community Development Club, which was formed last year by the progressive builders, supply dealers and lumbermen of the city. It also included in its membership hardware merchants, plumbers, electrical contractors, sheet-metal contractors, furnace dealers, furniture dealers, in fact, representatives from practically every branch of the home-building industry. The Club was regularly organized with a president, a secretary and a treasurer, and an advertising committee. The members were asked to subscribe small amounts, not more than $25 nor less than $10, toward a fund to be used in educating the people to the necessity for building homes at once in order to relieve the appalling shortage. Full-page ads were run in the two daily papers for several weeks. The advertisements referred simply to general building conditions and did not advertise any particular commodity. This year the Club was reorganized and the same methods were employed. A number of other firms and individuals were added to the membership list, such as real estate dealers, building contractors, cement contractors, carpenters and masons. This time the services of an advertising expert were employed, and he got up a set of sixteen attractive advertisements, the majority of them in story form, which were used one at a time as the most prominent feature of one page of the daily paper. Number two of the series is reproduced herewith. 49 Years of Paying Rent That's what the average 49 years of paying rent on And when you build your Just subtract your present Community Development Club ONE OF THE ADVERTISEMENTS USED IN THE HUNTINGTON HOME-BUILDING CAMPAIGN In addition to the greatly increased activity in the building of homes, the city is to have a modern $250,000 hotel. The story of how the hotel was acquired and how its construction will result in the erection of one hundred houses in addition to those already planned, is interesting. One of the well-to-do citizens owned one hundred vacant city lots. The Commercial Association, which is a live organization, proposed to him that if he would finance the building of a $250,000 hotel, the Commercial Association would sell the city lots and secure pledges from How Are Other Chambers of Commerce; SOLVING THE HOUSING PROBLEM? For the purpose of creating added interest and confidence in the financing of projects tending to alleviate the pressing need for added housing facilities in industrial communities of America, there is being prepared an analytical report of the activities in this connection of Chambers of Commerce throughout the country. The Secretaries of Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade are asked to co-operate in this survey by answering the following questionnaire. To those who indicate their interest by sending in such replies a copy of the complete report will be forwarded. 1. Is there a housing shortage in your community? (a) Is it a shortage of industrial housing caused by increase of 2. Has the Chamber of Commerce (or Board of Trade) a Housing 3. Has a local Housing Corporation been formed? 4. Is the Chamber of Commerce active toward the production of houses and have industrial housing operations been carried out through its activity? 5. How is your Chamber of Commerce raising money for the provision of additional housing? WE (a) By popular subscription? (b) By subscriptions from influential citizens? 6. Are first mortgage loans being obtained locally? individuals? 7. If you are building or have built houses (a) Are you sellng or renting them? associations, industries or (b) Are houses scattered or in concentrated developments? 8. Are local industries actively co-operating in solving your housing problem? 9. Are you interested in outside financial assistance? E are very much interested to know what success your Chamber of Commerce Committee, local Housing Corporation or other housing activity has had in the design, building and disposing of houses for workmen. Have the houses met with favor on the part of the public? IN many localities we find that the high cost of construction is holding back housing activities and in others that the houses which have been designed did not meet the definite needs of the community. MANIFESTLY some means of overcoming these difficulties must be found and to do so individual experience must be correlated with recent advance in the science of industrial housing and finance. business men to build a home on each lot, to be either sold or rented to workmen or citizens desiring moderate-priced homes. He accepted the proposition. The business men were called together, and in fifty-five minutes pledges for the purchase of the one hundred vacant lots at prices ranging from $400 to $1,000 had been secured, the lots to be selected by drawing numbers. Agreements were secured from other individuals and business concerns to build houses on the lots. The builders are living up to their agreements, and it is expected that by the time the hotel is under construction, the houses will all be completed. The hotel, when finished, will be one of the finest in the Middle West. The Community Development Club is naturally proud of the results of its efforts. It will be glad to supply to any one desiring them copies of the sixteen advertisements referred to free of charge, and matrices at fifty cents each. J. M. MORRISON, Secretary, Huntington Community Development Club. tions for men of small means who would require extensions of credit that could not be provided by any other local agency. This proposal was accepted, and the members of the Housing Committee of the Board of Trade placed $50,000 worth of stock among local citizens, to be used as a rotating fund and kept separate from the other assets of the new corporation. If a man having $500 wishes to build a house costing $4,000, the limit of his credit thru a trust company or money-lending agency would be $2,500, leaving a deficiency of $1,000. No machinery was provided to advance this amount upon second-mortgage security. The rotating fund referred to will carry paper of this character, and the new corporation will have the benefit of the sale of all materials used in the construction. No advantage will be taken in the price, and the purchaser will pay one per cent per month on the purchase price of the property. This will provide for an initial program of fifty to seventy-five houses under a plan of monthly payments, and as The Plan for Financing House Castle New Castle, Pa.- The shortage of houses in New Castle necessitated the organization of a movement to provide relief. A plan has been worked out in this city on a substantial basis, which may be of interest to other communities in which the house building facilities are inadequate. A committee, with E. W. Beadel as chairman, was appointed by the Board of Trade last year to investigate the housing conditions and to submit recommendations for relieving the acute shortage that existed. This committee arranged for a conference with representative real estate dealers, contractors and material men who were familiar with the situation. The committee made a general survey, which demonstrated the need of approximately 300 houses. It developed that three lumber companies in the city were contemplating a merger, with a capital of $150,000. Each of these companies had confined its operations to the sale of materials. Our committee prevailed upon the management to add a house financing department and to increase the operating capital to $200,000, using $50,000 as a rotating fund to finance building opera additional houses will be built. Any contractor in the city who will purchase his materials from the company can have the benefit of accommodations thru the rotating fund. He may bring to the company's office a second mortgage, negotiated upon the plan stipulated, and receive cash. The experience of local builders who have taken second-mortgage security to encourage the building of homes upon this plan shows a clean slate against loss during the last four or five years. Two other local building companies, cooperating with the committee, drew up plans for the construction of one hundred houses of a substantial character, to be built upon a uniform specification by crews doing specified portions of the construction work on each building. For example, one crew will do all the foundation work, another will follow with the superstructure, a third with the roofing, a fourth with the flooring, a fifth with the interior finishing, and a sixth with the plastering, etc. Plans of a similar character will be made next year and the year following to provide additional housing facilities. This system has produced a very high efficiency and a correspondingly low construction cost on each structure. |