50 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Every good citizen wishes to promote the welfare of the new settler who 

 in good faith tries to make a home in the forest wilderness. The state in 

 some localities has not yet done its duty towards such settlers nor promoted 

 its own best interest in the matter of main roads. There is an almost over- 

 powering temptation for many settlera whose land is incumbered with brush 

 to set it on tire in very dry weather. The yielding to such a temptation, how- 

 ever, has caused many bad forest fires. Many a poor settler has lost all his 

 hay by the over-confidence 3r negligence of a neighbor in the use of fire in di-y 

 weather. But there must be a change; and I recommend a provision of law 

 that from April 15th to November 15th no one shall set fire to brush, stumps 

 or meadows in the forest regions without first making a firebreak of bare 

 earth a rod wide between the place of fire and the property of another, nor 

 without fii'st obtaining the consent of the town board. 



The 20 rangers employed from June 1st to September 1st proved in most 

 instances useful. They were successful in securing quite a number of prose- 

 cutions and convictions for violation of the forest fire laws. It is seldom a 

 local warden is willing to prosecute a fellow townsman. There are 700 town- 

 ships in which ranger or patrol service could be useful in very dry weather. 

 If one ranger had charge of only ten townships it would require 100 rangers. 

 The expense of adequate patrol and ranger service will be about |100,000 a 

 year. If we could find a George Washington in every township who would 

 be willing to servt as fire warden or patrol, the problem of forest fires would 

 be solved. Your ideal man who has the energy, courage, and honesty to make 

 a thoroughly efficient ranger or patrol is not so easily found. It requires 

 very good pay to secure the services of such a man. Of course all appoint- 

 ments in the forestry service shonld be solely for fitness and without regard 

 to party adherence. 



As town supervisors are frequently chanjj;ed I believe it would be an im- 

 provement of our present system to appoint permanently in each town, as fast 

 as we can find a suitable man, one warden or patrol to take the place of the 

 three supervisors and town clerk, who now are ex-officio fire wardens. If we 

 could find such a man in each town, then would arise the question of wages. 

 If he paid his own expenses it would be necessary to pay him three dollans a 

 day. Watching against fires in dangerous weather and enforcing the slash- 

 ings law in winter might require sixty or more daj's of his time. A really 

 valuable man for such duty would prefer to stick to his farm. 



The forest fire laws will not be respected unless enforced. The state 

 cannot keep a watchman over every heedless person in the forest regions. 

 Examples must be made of those who violate the law so that others will be 

 restrained from negligence in the use of fire. While there have been praise- 

 worthy exceptions, as a rule the county attorneys have proved of but little 

 help in prosecutions under the forest fire laws. The incapacity of local magis- 

 trates is an obstacle in securing convictions. The advantage of penalties being 

 under |100 is in having speedy trials before local magistrates. If the penalty 

 were above flOO the case would have to go into the district court and be 

 attended with considerable delay. The present appropriation for prosecutions 

 is $2,000 a year. But it is not enough for any one of ten counties that could 

 be mentioned. There should be an appropriation of at least |25,000 a year 

 for prosecutions. We must pay respectable men for promptly looking up 

 evidence and capable attorneys for conducting prosecutions. 



If the legislation indicated prevails it will require considerable additional 

 office force to attend to correspondence and supervision incident to the ranger, 

 patrol and warden service, watching that a thousand different firms or individ- 

 uals live up to the slashings law, that 2,000 miles of railroad are patrolled and 

 prosecutions instituted and carried on with energy against violators of the 

 law. The forestry commissioner's office must be strongly reinforced, and not 

 with cheap men. 



