9. Protection Against Fire and Flood.— To persons living in separate houses in the country, the danger of loss by fire is always present, but it is a danger that arises in most instances from the carelessness of the house holder or his family. But when great numbers of houses are crowded together in a city, every man's home is endangered by the carelessness or misfortune of every other man. Nothing can be more terrible than a great conflagration such as the fires that at different times have swept Chicago, Boston, Baltimore and San Francisco. It is probably true that not a large city in the United States would escape such a conflagration for a month, certainly not for a year, if it were unprotected by elaborate fire fighting machinery and facilities and a trained force of fire-fighters. The fire department is the most picturesque of all municipal depart ments. It appeals most to the imagination of the entire community, because city dwellers are more or less conscious all the time that it stands between them and disasters which are ready to spring upon them any unguarded moment. Fire protection is primanly designed for the protection of property values, the accu mulations of invested wealth making up the homes, the offices, the factories and other equip ment, which together constitute the tools of city life. In order that fire protection maybe adequate, the organization of the fire-fighting men and machinery has to be correlated with the right kind of a water supply. Not only must the total supply of water for the city be sufficient to meet all emergencies, but the dis tributing mains must be of such a size and be so correlated and fire hydrants must be so placed that the volume of water potentially necessary for the extinguishment of a large fire shall be available upon the instant at any point where perishable buildings stand. In the smaller towns which cannot afford powerful fire en gines, it is important that the water pressure in the mains should be sufficient to raise streams to the tops of the tallest buildings in the place. In places where powerful fire engines are pro vided, the most important thing is to have a suf ficient supply of water available at every hy drant outlet. The engines will do the rest. In the very greatest cities it is sometimes deemed necessary to install a separate system of water mains designed exclusively for high-pressure fire service. However, the effectiveness of fire protection does not depend altogether upon the supply of water available for extinguishing fires after they get started. It is most neces sary in cities that measures be taken to prevent fires. One of the first of these measures is the establishment of a central zone called the "fire limits,)) within which property owners are not permitted to erect buildings which are easily combustible. This control of structures be comes very drastic in some. of the great cities and extends far beyond the mere question of the materials to be used in construction. It in cludes provisions for the supervision of elec trical wiring and for the approval of the plans for the interior construction of buildings. Fire prevention also requires the prohibition of the storage of combustibles except in approved places and according to approved methods. The fire department, in order to be efficient, must be ready to give almost instantaneous service. For this purpose it is necessary to establish a com plete system of fire signals with fire-alarm boxes scattered through the city. For the pro tection of life in connection with possible fires the city has to see that fire escapes are placed upon all non-fireproof buildings above a cer tain height in which people live or are em ployed. It also has to establish rules in regard to the location and opening of exits in public buildings, in regard to the operation of motion picture shows and in regard to many other things which, if left to themselves, are likely to increase the fire hazard.
While the dangers of fire are constant, many cities are so situated with reference to the nat ural flow of waters that they are in periodic danger of destruction or serious damage from floods. The maximum flood may not come
oftener than once in 50 years, but if it comes and no provision has been made to safeguard the city against it, its ravages may be so great as to more than justify the expenditure of the enormous sums necessary to protect the city against its recurrence. The flood danger does not generally affect cities situated on the sea coasts or on the shore of a large lake. It is in terior cities, wholly or partly built in river val leys, such as Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, Kansas City and New Orleans, that are most likely to be overwhelmed by uncontrolled fresh ets. To guard against flood dangers levees may have to be built, river channels blasted out and straightened, lowlands filled in or natural waters impounded in storage reservoirs. In fact, a city may find itself so situated that by its own unaided effort and expenditures it is wholly impossible to protect itself against flood dangers. It may be most economical and in some cases absolutely necessary, if a city is to be protected at all, for it to secure and exer cise extra-territorial powers, perhaps for the building of dams scores of miles away in the hills.
10. Protection Against Crime and Vice.— The crowding of a great many people together into a single urban community multiplies almost infinitely the number of points of social con tact, every one of which is potentially a temp tation to vice or crime. Both personal inter ests and property interests are constantly clashing in the swirl of city life. All the weak spots in human nature are tried out. Out of these conditions grows the necessity for the po lice department, the magistrates' courts, the juvenile courts and the city prisons.
11. Protection Against Pestilence.— City dwellers are not only subject to cumulative dan gers from the uncontrolled outbreaks of the visible forces of nature, but through their close contacts become an easy prey to the ravages of contagious and infectious diseases, ranging from chicken-pox, measles and mumps through scar let fever, typhoid fever and diphtheria to the most terrible diseases, such as smallpox, tuber culosis, syphilis, cholera, yellow fever, bubonic plague and infantile paralysis. Without the control established through the sanitary code, the sanitariums, the hospital facilities and medi cal attendance furnished by the city, and with out the universal vigilance of an efficient health department in educating the people in hygienic methods of living and in protecting them from the nuisances created by the carelessness of oth ers, a great city would become a mere charnel house. It is indeed the glory of efficient mod ern city government that in many instances it has transformed cities from the deadliest to the safest places of abode for human beings. In certain matters relating to physical health, city governments have overcome the natural disadvantages of city life and have turned them into positive advantages.
12. Protection Against Poverty and Mis fortune.— City life raises the standard of liv ing and also increases the cost of living. Rents for even modest homes mount high. Milk and meat, fruits and vegetables have to be brought from far and pay tribute to a complex dis tributing organization, which means high prices to the ultimate consumers even though the orig inal producers received little for their products. The stress of city life tends to multiply mis fortunes. Those who "lose out* in the game lose more heavily and become more helpless than they do in rural communities. The re sult is that one of the great functions of mu nicipal government is to provide means for succoring the poor, shielding the unfortunate, caring for the aged and giving homeless chil dren a start in life. The •performance of this function requires the maintenance of a multi plicity of public institutions, including hos pitals, lodging houses, children's homes, em ployment agencies, almshouses, etc. Even the employees of the municipality itself have to be protected from helpless poverty in old age by means of municipal pension systems.