THE LAKE STATES FIRE CONFERENCE 



A Working Meeting that Accomplished Results. 



HN ASSEMBLY of national and state forest officers and other officials, 

 railroad, insurance, and lumbermen, from the three great lake states — 

 Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan — made up the conference in Saint 

 Paul December 6th and 7th, for the discussion of the causes and prevention of 

 forest fires in the three states. These men were vitally interested, paid the 

 closest attention, and remained through every session to the end. The work 

 of the conference had been thoroughly considered and planned beforehand, 

 especially in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the gentlemen who attended were 

 fully prepared to go right to the heart of the subject. These facts establish the 

 significance of the meeting. 



Governor Eberhart of Minnesota, who took a deep interest in the con- 

 ference, was especially pleased at the outcome and will make recommendations 

 to the legislature based upon the resolutions. The principal result of the 

 conference, however, is looked for in the effect upon public sentiment. 



The conference was arranged by the Minnesota State Forestry Board and 

 the Minnesota Forestry Association. It was in the minds of the promoters 

 and of all those who took an active part in the proceedings that the time has 

 gone by for generalizations, that the broad principles of forest conservation 

 are admitted, and that it is full time to get down to working details and 

 actual results. Fire prevention stands at the head of the li.st of essentials 

 and the deplorable losses of the past season have placed striking emphasis 

 upon its importance. Here, then, was a point of approach in which foresters, 

 timber-land owners, railroad men, insurance men, and indeed the wholg body 

 of citizens were directly interested and their interests were at one. 



The recommendations embodied in the resolutions are .summed up in a 

 demand for non-partisan forestry commissions in each state, with as full 

 powers as are permissible under the state constitutions. Wisconsin already 

 has a good foundation for this organization, its present board and forester 

 only needing enlarged powers and appropriations. Minnesota, is not so well 

 and consistently organized, but the vast state property involved (Minnesota 

 still has three million acres of state lands), and the consequent wealth of the 

 state, which enjoys freedom from state taxes, make it probable that the state's 

 lawmakers will work out the reorganization successfully. The prospects in 

 Michigan are not so easily estimated, as the state's attitude and public senti- 

 ment are not so well defined. Leading railroad and lumbermen who were 

 present at the conference expressed the opinion that the railroad and lumber 

 interests would not oppose but would support the carrying out of the recom- 

 mendations. 



There were several valuable papers read at the conference, all of them 

 sharing the business-like character of the general proceedings. 



The paper by General C. C. Andrews, forestry commissioner of Minnesota, 

 we print in full. A paper by Henry S. Graves, chief forester of the United 

 States, on "What the Forest Service Does to Prevent Fires," was read by 

 William L. Hall, assistant forester of the United States Forest Service. The 



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