Excerpt from Electricity as a Fire Hazard We cannot but believe that the losses from fire, legitimately traceable to electric currents, have been due to the ignorance rather than the negligence of those in charge of such plants, and that, if the true limitations of conductors carrying currents were better known, electrical fires would become a thing of the past. That electricity can be distributed safely is admitted even by the fire underwriters, but it took them a long time to make up their minds to the fact. While the fire underwriters may be looked upon in some quarters as enemies to electric lighting, we believe that all well-informed and right-thinking members of the electrical community are in accord with their efforts to secure proper electric installation; and, while the insurance regulations may err on the side of safety, the public, after all, benefit thereby in the long run. As Mr. Jenks shows, the apparent excessive factor of safety called for by the underwriters' rules is demanded by reason of the fact that in many cases conductors are, after a time, called upon for service far in excess of that for which they were originally designed - and this without any attempt at fraud or deception. It is too much to hope that complete immunity from electrical fires can be obtained, even under the best system of rules; but, when the early and defective installations are finally remodeled, it is safe to say that an electrical fire will be a rare occurrence. What is really now needed is that the various rules governing electrical installations should be brought to the point of harmony and uniformity. In some respects they now disagree and conflict, but there should be no trouble in making them support each other alike in letter and spirit. Such uniform rules would sound the death knell of bad work. The "World's Fair" of last year was responsible for many congresses and social gatherings of various orders being held in the far-famed city of the West. It was only fitting, therefore, that the insurance underwriters of the States, amongst others, should assemble in congress within the precincts of the great show, and thus happily combine pleasure with business. It was also no doubt right and proper that in the midst of their festivities, like the Egyptians of old, they should be reminded of more serious matters, and, perhaps, as a shocker, nothing more suitable could have been paraded than that well-worn skeleton - the "electrical fire hazard." For, rightly or wrongly, the fire underwriter does largely attribute his heavy losses of late years in the States to the electrical fiend. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.