LUMBERMEN AND FOREST LEGISLATION 35 



years, coupled with a heavy loss of life, that the people will not be denied. 

 There is only one way open to them — the law. New laws and amendments to 

 existing laws are proposed on every hand. Some of them single out the lum- 

 berman as the scapegoat, a few place the burden upon the railroads. The 

 records of Forester GriflBth, of Wisconsin, show that CO per cent of all the fires 

 in the five years preceding 1910 were set by homesteaders, 15 per cent by rail- 

 loads, and 25 per cent by campers, careless hunters and others, including the 

 lumbermen. It seems probable that the number of fires for which the lumber 

 companies are directly responsible are not many. Few people respect the 

 forests as they should. Some abuse the railroads for setting fires and then 

 throw lighted cigars and cigarettes from car windows in dry seasons. There 

 is altogether too much carelessness. Fire is a terrible scourge. It is not to 

 be played with. 



The experience and training of average lumbermen should enable them to 

 be the best judges of what is practical legislation for the protection of foi-ests 

 from fire, while the people in general are not well informed on these matters. 



Few outside the lumbermen and forests understand the difiiculty of en- 

 acting laws that really will help the situation. Many laws that have been 

 passed in the various states in recent years have made matters worse instead 

 of better. Some laws actually have set a premium on setting fires by provid- 

 ing such high daily wages for fire fighting that fires were set to get the money. 

 New York was compelled to change her laws to stop that practice. Several 

 other states will soon follow her lead. 



The so-called self-dumping-ashpan law, passed by our national Congress 

 a few years ago, has proved to be a source of many railroad fires. 



The Minnesota law passed at the last session of the legislature that pro- 

 vided for the burning of the slashings left by the lumbermen has proved to 

 be impractical, in fact, very dangerous. An attempt to burn slashings by a 

 large operator during the last season resulted in the burning of 200,000,000 

 feet of white pine. 



Men have said in public that the lumbermen should not be allowed to 

 make any slashings. While such a demand is ridiculous it is no more so than 

 a general slash-burning law would be. Advocates of such a law surely do not 

 realize what they propo.se to make the lumbermen do. They have not stopped 

 to think that very few people own solid blocks of timber, that there may be 

 neighbors who are completely surrounded by slashings. The days when slash- 

 ings of that kind, in most timber, could be fired without damage to the ad- 

 joining stumpage would be few and far between. In fact, at no time during 

 the summer months is it safe to set large fires, for when once started they 

 creep into the roots and moss and smolder for weeks, so that a high wind may 

 fan them to a blaze at any time. These ground fires have been known to last 

 from midsummer until snowfall, and even through the winter. Some will 

 suggest waiting until winter to burn cutover land. The early part of the 

 winter finds the fuel too wet and later the snow is too deep, in many parts of 

 tlie lake states. In mixed timber there are many small trees and defective 

 mature trees left after logging. In a few localities the immature trees may 

 become valuable timber stands if allowed to grow. Nearly all the timber 

 remaining is valuable for wood and is the chief source of the settlers' income 

 during the first few years they occupy their farms. My own personal experi- 

 ence leads me to believe that this valuable remainder cannot be saved where 

 slashings are burned. 



In the hemlock forests the bark must be peeled in June, July and August, 

 and often a year's supply of logs is cut then. Long before winter comes those 

 slashings are as dry and dangerous as any. Where the hemlock and hard- 

 wood timber stands thick upon the ground a great deal of small timber will 



