166 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The other important field of work concerns the best employment 

 of the technical knowledge and equipment of the Forest Service for 

 the furtherance of war preparations involving the use of forest 

 products. The opportunities in this field have proved increasingly 

 numerous and important. The demands of the Arni}^, the Navy, and 

 the war industries for assistance have been far beyond the capacity 

 of the Forest Service to meet. In order to come as near as possible 

 to meeting them, every available man has been taken from other 

 work. All lines of investigation not concerned with war problems 

 have been halted. The resources thus made available have been 

 augmented by funds obtained from the War and Navy Depart- 

 ments. The entire energies of the Forest Service are now de- 

 voted to prosecuting the National Forest enterprise, as an essential 

 war-time activity, and to aiding in the most advantageous employ- 

 ment of the country's forest resources generally for the winning of 

 the war. 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



RECEIPTS AND OPERATING EXPENSES. 



The receipts from the National Forests in the fiscal year 1918 

 totaled $3,574,930.07, an increase over 1917 of $117,901.66.^ 



While the grazing business produced an increase over 1017 of 

 $176,027.18, the timber business showed a falling off of $58,965.79. 

 In both cases war conditions were primarily responsible. For the 

 sake of greater production of meat, hides, and wool the number of 

 live stock permitted to graze on the forests was raised to the 

 highest limit consistent with safety. On the other hand, the receipts 

 from National Forest timber fell off because of the labor and trans- 

 portation difficulties which confronted the operators in the North- 

 west, where the sales are heaviest. 



The operating expenses of the National Forests have been for 

 several years practically stationary at approximately $4,000,000. 

 These include only the cost of maintaining the regular protective 

 system. Emergency fire conditions are met, if they arise, first by 

 the use of the special emergency appropriation of $150,000 and then, 

 if this is not sufficient, by seeking deficiency appropriations from 

 Congress. In the last eight years it has been necessary to seek from 

 Congress four deficiency .appropriations, aggregating $2,081,543, 

 while in three of the remaining four years the $150,000 emergency 

 item carried in the regular appropriations was supplemented by a 

 second emergency fund which made available $1,000,000 in 1912 and 

 $200,000 in 1913 and 1914. The total emergency expenditures for 

 protection in these eight years have been nearly $3,800,000. 



It is becoming very plain that the present methods of protecting 

 the great bodies of heavy timber in the most inaccessible regions 

 should be modified. Not enough is spent on. the regular protective 

 system, and in consequence large emergency expenditures become 

 necessary. To the cost of fighting the fires must be added the prop- 

 erty losses which they inflict. The receipts from the forests are now 

 not far below the operating expenses, and but for the disturbed con- 

 ditions due to the war would unquestionably exceed them. With 

 enlarged provision for maintaining the regular protective system 

 the emergency expenditures to put out serious fires could be reduced 



