344 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



courses conducted at the laboratory and in other ways. A special 

 effort is made to give help tO' teachers in introducing more forestry 

 into their educational work, but the opportunities along this line are 

 enormously beyond the equipment of the service. 



A large obligation rests upon the service to educate the public in 

 forest protection, since two of the largest expenditures of the service 

 are to prevent forest fires on the national forests and, in cooperation 

 with States, on private and State forest lands. ^Vliile organized 

 systems for the suppression of fire will always have to be maintained, 

 a major part of the task of bringing about adequate protection is 

 educational; and merely organizing to put out fires without en- 

 deavoring to obtain the cordial cooperation of the public for their 

 prevention and control would be an undertaking of hopeless futility. 



The field force of the Forest Service has thrown itself into the 

 task of public education in forestry with ardor, intelligence, and 

 striking success. To them, of course, the matter comes home in a. 

 most practical way ; without the interest of the public in their work, 

 a fair understanding of its direct value, and a disposition to cooper- 

 ate, the task of successful administration and protection would be 

 well-nigh impossible. Down to the forest rangers, and by no means 

 least on the part of the rangers, the forest force has become a power- 

 ful agency for spreading the gospel of protection among the public 

 and for making known the nature and purposes of the public enter- 

 prise in forestry. The results have been of very great value. Use of 

 the national forests is increasing by leaps and bounds, but the fire 

 hazard does not correspondingly increase — if anything, it gives evi- 

 dence of growing less. 



The interest of the forest personnel in fire prevention through 

 education has reached the point where a demand is coming from the 

 men for material that they can use in talks before schools, small meet- 

 ings, commercial and civic bodies, and the like. Lantern and motion- 

 picture equipment is being asked for from the field at a rate decidedly 

 beyond the capacity of the service to supply. Indeed, there are 

 almost unlimited possibilities for the use of educational material, 

 through all sorts of agencies, if an adequate supply were available. 

 The educational work of the service should be much more amply pro- 

 vided for than it ever has been. It is capable of making very great 

 returns on the outlay. 



