have already arranged to follow such a policy, and that others are contemplating similar action. Fire prevention may easily be made the means of stimulating the students' mind and power of expression in a way fully commensurate with the service rendered in this respect by other subjects now in the curriculum. Teachers will find that the subject will arouse a genuine interest in their students and will inculcate in them a real sense of responsibility as well as proper habits of carefulness at the very time when habits are formed. This sense of responsibility and this habit of carefulness, when class after class has been imbued with them, will redound to the great good of the community. Pupils may also be required to apply a fire prevention inspection blank to their homes, the same when filled out to be returned to the teacher. The great value of self-inspection as a developer of habits of carefulness and responsibility need not be emphasized. This suggestion may be applied conveniently in conjunction with the use of some elementary text. In ever so many instances the young inspectors will, when inspecting their own homes along the lines suggested by their course of study, call their elders' attention to many derelictions.5

Necessity for Public Regulation.-Past experience has clearly demonstrated that preventable fires cannot be avoided solely through voluntary action on the part of owners and tenants. The appeal to self-interest has its serious limitations, and fire prevention experts are thus

full of useful advice, are devoted to each of the following essential phases of good housekeeping, namely, matches, lights, stoves and furnaces, cooking and cleaning, disposal of rubbish, containers and caring for kerosene, gasoline, electrical devices, etc., smoking, pyroxylin plastic, safety rules for holidays, and "the first five minutes.''

All the foregoing educational suggestions were recommended for introduction in the school system of Pennsylvania by the Fire Prevention and Insurance Committee of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

recommending the imposition of positive requirements. Among the leading recommendations of this character are the following:

(1) General adoption of a law creating the office of fire marshal, and investing him with definite duties and powers relating to the making and enforcement of regulations governing (1) the manufacture, sale and storage of very hazardous articles, (2) the proper repair of dangerous structures, (3) the installation of proper fire extinguishing and fire alarm apparatus in certain cases, (4) the removal of rubbish and dangerous materials, and (5) the investigation and reporting of the origin and circumstances surrounding fires.

(2) General adoption and enforcement of good building ordinances providing for the proper construction and maintenance of buildings, and their periodical inspection by some designated official vested with power to enforce his recommendations.

(3) Adoption of laws or ordinances providing for the licensing of occupancies, and the granting of permits for the use of extra hazardous materials and processes.

(4) The compulsory introduction of automatic sprinklers in the basement of manufacturing, mercantile and storage buildings of large size, as well as in public schools and apartment houses, unless the basement ceiling is of concrete or similar non-combustible material with no openings between the basement and other floors. Similarly, it is recommended that ordinances be passed in our leading cities requiring full sprinkler protection throughout a building if extra hazardous conditions exist.

(5) Utilization of various public departments for service in preventing fires. Thus a fire department's personnel may be used to inspect the buildings within its particular jurisdiction. Such inspections will not only reveal conditions that should be corrected, but will educate the fire

fighters in all the physical details of the buildings which they may be called upon to protect. Again, the personnel of the police department may be used to inspect all homes with respect to rubbish and other similar matters vital to fire prevention.

(6) The application of a graduated scale of fines upon the responsible parties-increasing as the number of offenses increases-for fires caused by gross carelessness. This practice is in general use in many foreign countries and has proved very effective. The public welfare with respect to the prevention of loss of both property and life justifies the application of this method as a fair and reasonable restraining influence.

Individual liability to neighbors for damage caused by fires due to gross carelessness would also prove exceedingly effective as a cure for present conditions. Although the common law provides for such liability, there has been little effort in the United States, except with regard to certain corporations like railroad companies, to enforce personal responsibility for fire damage to others. In certain European countries personal liability for damage from fire occasioned by negligence is imposed by statute law. In the United States, however, the idea has not progressed beyond the hearty endorsement of the nation's leading fire prevention experts. A person whose unnecessary fire has damaged a neighbor's property has done an unneighborly act. The rule of imposing legal liability should certainly prove very educative. While the idea of imposing personal responsibility may seem too revolutionary for adoption at this time, the suggestion is worthy of careful thought.

CHAPTER XXI✔

STATE SUPERVISION AND REGULATION

Full Supervisory Control Over Insurance Possessed by the Several States.-Beginning with the famous case of Paul vs. Virginia, 1 decided in 1868, the United States Supreme Court has again and again asserted the doctrine "that there is no doubt of the power of the state (using that term as contrasted with the Federal Government) to prohibit foreign insurance companies from doing business within its limits. The state can impose such conditions as it pleases upon the doing of any business by these companies within its borders, and unless the conditions be complied with the prohibition may be absolute."

In

Because of its broad jurisdiction over all foreign relations, the United States government, in theory at least, possesses the power to exclude or expel alien corporations from all parts of the country; likewise to admit them without regard to the regulation of the states. actual practice, however, an alien insurance corporation wishing to do business in the United States first seeks admission to a certain state. By complying with its laws it establishes therein its headquarters for American business; and then, if business warrants, seeks admission

'Paul vs. Va., 8 Wall., 168 (1868). Also see Liverpool Co. vs. Mass., 10 Wall., 566; Hooper vs. Cal., 155 U. S., 684; N. Y. Life Ins. Co. vs. Cravens, 178 U. S., 389 and Nutting vs. Mass., 183 U. S., 553. The Supreme Court has decided that insurance may not be regarded as an "article of commerce. It, therefore, follows that insurance does not come within the control of the Federal Government, and is relegated to the legislative and supervisory powers of the several States.

to other states. Indeed, to such an extent has the jurisdiction of the several states over alien insurance companies been recognized that the Executive Department of the United States has not seen fit, in the absence of a treaty stipulation covering the subject, to consider a complaint of unjust discrimination lodged by an alien company against a state, and has expressed the view that the regulation of insurance corporations by federal treaty would not be sanctioned by the representatives of the states.

Acting in accordance with the numerous decisions of the United States Supreme Court, the several states and territories of the United States, including the District of Columbia, have each assumed full supervisory powers over all alien, foreign and domestic corporations transacting an insurance business within their borders. In all except eight of the states and territories this control has been entrusted to a supervisory officer, known as the Superintendent or Commissioner of Insurance, who, in nearly all cases, is appointed by the Governor, and is placed in charge of a separate department of the state. government. In a number of states the responsibility of supervising insurance companies is still attached to some other Department of Government. Thus, in three states, at the close of 1921, supervisory control was exercised by the State Treasurer, in two by the Secretary of State, and in three by the State Comptroller or Auditor.

Powers of the Insurance Commissioner.-Although the legislatures and courts of the several states, as we have scen, play a prominent part in the enactment and interpretation of insurance legislation, the actual supervision of the companies and the enforcement of the laws is performed by the insurance commissioners. These officials, to say the least, are vested with extraordinary powers