Tidbit o' Economic History: Private Fire Departments

I snapped this photo of placard over the front door of a house in Seville, Spain, because it records a state of affairs that has largely been forgotten: a time when public goods that people in developed countries take for granted, like the availability of a fire department to come to your aid when your home is ablaze, did not exist. Used to be that if you wanted emergency assistance, you had to join a kind of club with private membership fees. It worked like this: you ponied up the membership fee, the club gave you a plaque to put over your front door, and then if fire swept through the neighborhood, the club dispatched help, but they *only* assisted paying members. So if you didn't have that plaque over your door, the fire rescue teams would pass you right on by. It would not be uncommon to find that your house burned down while the one next door--if it had that club membership plaque alerting the fire rescue team to stop there--would be saved. Some would call it savage and inhumane. Since the Reagan 80s, others have called it just desserts: if you don't have the smarts or the money to insure yourself, then you must bear the consequences of not taking "personal responsibility."