EDITORIAL 



499 



forest-ranger-at-large and furnished 

 with a badge of authority empowing 

 him to arrest without warrant parties 

 violating the fire laws, and to stop all 

 dangerous burnings of slashings. Each 

 patrolman was furnished with a work- 

 ing equipment, was required to report 

 weekly to his chief, and was sent from 

 time to time letters of instruction from 

 his chief. The patrolmen first posted 

 some 9,000 notices. Under the super- 

 vision of patrolmen, many slashings and 

 logging works were burned without 

 damage to green timber. Spark arresters 

 were placed on many locomotives and 

 donkey engines. Close cooperation was 

 maintained between the association and 

 the state fire wardens proper and repre- 

 sentatives of the Forest Service. 



Eleven hundred two fires occurred 

 in the season (July and August), 

 but only 102 of these were large, requir- 

 ing extra help and expense. The total 

 number of acres burned over was 

 18,773. consisting chiefly of slashings 

 and old logging works. Seven hundred 

 forty acres of green timber were 

 burned over, about one-half of which 

 was damaged. Between 600 and 650 

 extra men were employed in fighting 

 the fires. 



The association's work was done at 

 its own expense. To increase its effi- 

 ciency, it desires a liberal state appro- 

 priation for forest fire protection. "The 

 state owns outright timberlands easily 

 worth $20,000,000;" its annual appro- 

 priations heretofore, however, have 

 barely sufficed to pay the salaries and 

 expenses of maintaining a fire-warden 

 in each county. If it would lock its sta- 

 ble door before all its horses are stolen, 

 it should so increase its own fire-prevent- 

 ing and fire-fighting facilities, in connec- 

 tion with those provided by individuals, 

 as to reduce the fire danger on its forests 

 to a level with that existing in well-man- 

 aged cities. 



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The Destruction of Fish 



IN A news note in this issue will be 

 found an editorial from the JVash- 

 ingtoii Post on "Vanishing Food Fish." 

 The point to note is the rapidity with 

 5 



which our fish supply is being destroyed. 

 This work is being done in part by 

 dynamiting, in part by the pollution of 

 streams with city refuse, in part by the 

 pouring out of fish upon irrigated fields 

 to perish, and even more largely by the 

 destruction of the forests which protect 

 the streams in which the fish might oth- 

 erwise flourish. And here, again, as in 

 countless other cases, the need must be 

 met by public activity, state or national. 

 Every day's experience emphasizes the 

 necessity for governmental administra- 

 tive activity. As Herbert Spencer and 

 other philosophic anarchists have fore- 

 seen, government as an agent of repres- 

 sion may, with the progress of civiliza- 

 tion, enlightenment, and self-control, 

 progressively wane, but government as 

 an administrative agent working in the 

 interest of the whole people must indefi- 

 nitely wax if the needs of the nation and 

 the race are to be met. 



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Conservation of Soil Resources 



THE United States Department of 

 Agriculture has prepared a farmers' 

 bulletin (No. 342), discussing, among 

 other things, the conservation of soil 

 resources, which it characterizes as "one 

 of the elemental problems of modern 

 scientific agriculture."' The bulletin 

 notes that agricultural operations in the 

 United States have taken little heed of 

 "the soil inheritance of future genera- 

 tions." Forests have been destroyed, 

 flood waters from torrential rains and 

 melting snows have swept away the soil, 

 leaving bare rocks behind or soil robbed 

 of plant food. Poor cultivation has 

 rivaled deforestation as a soil destroyer. 

 Not only has the soil suffered from ero- 

 sion by rain, but from drifting by winds, 

 "so that at the present time the problem 

 of conserving what is left of the natural 

 resources of the soil is of great eco- 

 nomic significance." 



The agricultural experiment stations 

 have given attention to soil building, and 

 also to scientific conservation of the nat- 

 ural resources of the soil. 



The bulletin considers methods of 

 preventing soil washing, such as em- 



