272 JOURNAI, OF FORESTRY 



2. A central actuarial bureau should be established, to receive all 

 fire reports, correlate and compile them, and to work out standard 

 classifications of risks and maintain up-to-date standard ratings for 

 the various risk classes. The fire records collected by various agencies 

 during the past few years, even though incomplete, ofifer a basis on 

 which to start. This bureau should be analogous to the Actuarial 

 Bureau of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, which works out 

 classifications and ratings for other forms of fire insurance. It should 

 be established by concerted action of the various interested agencies, 

 including associations of timber owners, associations of farmers, State 

 forestry departments, and the Federal Government, in which case all 

 parties would share the costs, or it should be established and supported 

 by the Federal Govemmtent. 



3. In order to establish conditions which will make nation-wide forest 

 insurance practicable at low rates, the individual States should enact 

 and enforce efi'ective laws against forest fires, including the require- 

 ment of at least certain minimum standards of fire protection, such 

 as disposal of slash where necessary, elimination of other hazards, regu- 

 lation of the use of fire which might endanger forests, and establish- 

 ment of organizations for fire detection and suppression. The cost of 

 such measures may fairly be divided between the private owners and 

 the public, including the National Government as well as that of the 

 individual State, since the maintenance of forests in productive con- 

 dition is of great national concern. It is easy to see that with the 

 insurance organization successfully functioning, and with due allow- 

 ance for protection standards when fixing premium rates as between 

 different localities or States, the desirability of maintaining efficient 

 standards will be evident to all forest owners concerned. 



By IVhom Should Forest Insurance Be Carried On? 



The question then arises as to the organization of the insuring body 

 itself. Should it be handled by private corporations working for profit, 

 by mutual inter-insurance societies of forest owners operating at cost, 

 or by some public agency ? Several points should be considered in this 

 connection. In the first place, a successful forest insurance organiza- 

 tion must for the sake of safety cover a very large territory, in order 

 that the risks may be distributed over a wide variety of forest and 

 climatic condtiions. Only in this way will it be possible to avoid the 

 danger of bankruptcy because of great conflagration. One State, or 



