Title: Legislation Concerning the Use of Cement in New York City

Author(s): R.P. Miller

Publication: Journal Proceedings

Volume: 2

Issue: 1

Appears on pages(s): 186-197

Keywords: none

DOI: 10.14359/16404

Date: 1/1/1906

Abstract:
The prime function of a building law is the protection of the general public against the dangers resulting from: 1st. Bad construction, 2nd. Hazardous surroundings, 3rd. Defective equipment, 4th. Inadequate means of escape, 5th. Unsanitary conditions. The enforcement of such law is included in the police powers of the state or municipal governement. The third, fourth and fifth of the dangers above specified may be entirely dismisses from consideration in this paper. They related to the supplying of proper fire-fighting appliances in structures and the affording of good and sufficient means of escape from fire or panic to the occupants of buildings, and securing healthful surroundings for them. They apply equally to all kinds of constructions, irrespective of the materials used. The other two dangers, bad construction and hazardous surroundings, do very materially concern the question under discussion. . . It is the object of this paper to consider what these requirements are, so far as they apply to the use of cement, and especially from the standpoint of one who has been called upon to administer the law for a period antedating the present phenomenal growth in the cement industries.