THE FOREST HOLOCAUST 



How the Press of the Country Comments on the Recent Forest Fires- 

 A Symposium on the Destruction of Our Standing Timber 



RECENT issues of Conservation 

 have had much to say in re- 

 gard to the wholesale destruc- 

 tion of forests and the appalling 

 losses brought by fires through- 

 out the entire country. Following is 

 a symposium, gleaned from the col- 

 umns of the daily press, on this sub- 

 ject. There is little to be added to the 

 expressions herein contained ; but, for 

 the information of those of our readers 

 who may have thought that Conserva- 

 tion has been unduly exercised over 

 the matter of losses by forest fires, we 

 have taken the trouble to get together 

 these extracts. They are enlightening, 

 if for no other reason than that they 

 show clearly the ever-widening senti- 

 ment in favor of safeguarding the for- 

 ests ; but, besides this, they show un- 

 mistakably that this magazine is not 

 alone in recognizing the danger that 

 threatens our timber supply. 



FERTILITY OF SOIL BURNED OUT 



In an article in the Pioneer Press, of 

 St. Paul, Thomas Shaw recently called 

 attention to the vast loss to agriculture 

 caused by the series of forest fires that 

 swept northern Minnesota and urged 

 the need of better protection of the for- 

 ests, as advocated by the American 

 Civic Association. Mr. Shaw wrote : 



"The real loss is far greater than any 

 estimate shows, based upon the amount 

 of timber consumed and the value of 

 the property of the settler and the 

 houses and improvements of villages 

 and towns. The greatest loss, proba- 

 bly, is one that is never taken into ac- 

 count — the loss of young tress and the 

 loss in humus. 



"After one of these terrible confla- 

 grations has swept over a timber slash- 

 ing not a living thing of vegetation is 

 left. Nature has to begin again the 

 work for furnishing protection for the 

 naked earth ; years must elapse before 

 the traces of the dreary desolation are 

 hidden. The farmer who returns to 

 rebuild his home upon the ashes is with- 

 out material for building or fencing, 

 and soon he is without material for liv- 

 ing, except what he buys. 



"But the loss of humus is a far 

 greater loss. The vegetable matter so 

 abundant on the surface of the soil in 

 a new country is devoured by the 

 flames. The top soil with all that it 

 contains is turned into ashes. For two 

 or three years good crops may follow 

 because of the abundance of ashes lying 

 over the soil, but the stimulating effect 

 of these is soon lost. The area thus 

 burned over will not recover what it 

 lost by such a conflagration in a score 

 of years, or in a period much longer." 



NEED NATIONAL FIRE DEPARTMENT 



There is a general demand for the 

 establishment of a national fire depart- 

 ment which, in a systematic and effi- 

 cient way, shall keep guard over the 

 forests. With losses aggregating tens 

 of millions of dollars in the amount of 

 lumber destroyed, with scores of per- 

 sons burned to death, with hundreds 

 made homeless and with all the serious 

 damage to the soil, this is a grave ques- 

 tion, but there ought be no hesitancy in 

 getting to work. 



"What this country needs is a na- 

 tional fire department," urges the San 

 Francisco Globe. "Recent reports of 



