FORESTRY. 163 



property after they have culled the timber. la many instances it is very 

 questionable whether that could be done. Of course, these men want the 

 dollar and they want it now. They do not care for the dollar a hundred 

 years hence, and, as I have stated before, it will take a hundred years to 

 grow a white pine tree that will be lit for lumber. 



Therefore, the man who now begins to plant and preserve white pine 

 will have to wait for his money return a hundred years. That is not a 

 matter of interest to the lumbermen, but it is a matter of interest to the 

 community, for the community has an interest in the future condition 

 of our forest areas. While it may not be expected from the lumbermen 

 that they will curtail their present profits for the benefit of the future 

 community, we can in some degree make common cause. Perhaps, we can 

 help the lumbermen to make their business more profitable and at the 

 same time guard the interests of the community in forest conditions: 

 and this is a point that I want you as an association especially to take to . 

 heart— that it is for you to interest the lumbermen of your state in this 

 subject. They are the owners mostly of this forest property and have the 

 right to do with it what they please, as far as its utilization goes, yet you 

 as citizens have an interest in seeing that their mismanagement does not 

 reflect disastrously upon other conditions, and you ought to interefere,but 

 only indirectly, by making it possible for the lumbermen to transact their 

 business better, and also by showing them how they can do it as profitably 

 while doing it better. 



Now, the greatest trouble we have arises from forest fires. Until 

 we can get rid of this scourge, there is no use of talking of better 

 methods of lumbering. You may carry on lumbering operations 

 as carefully as you please, yet when fire gets into the camp again and 

 is not checked, it is bound sooner or later to make a waste of the forest, 

 preventing useful reproduction. 'Therefore, the first care we should take is 

 to find means to prevent the spread of fires. As I stated, the loss by fire of 

 logged timber and other property— valuable property— amounts to be- 

 tween twenty-five and fifty million dollars per year Is it not worth while 

 to spend a few million dollars to prevent this annual loss? I believe it 

 would be. Now the question has been often discussed and everybody has 

 agreed that this is a thing that ought to be done. Can it be done? We 

 have the example of the state of Maine and the province of Ontario, of 

 successful beginnings in this direction. The Maine law was enacted in 

 1891 and has been in operation for one year very satisfactorily. The fire com- 

 missioner now reports the results and also the necessary amendments to the 

 law. There is one feature that is most necessary in fire legislation, 

 namely, to provide the machinery for the enforcement of the law. We 

 have more laws on the statute book that are not obeyed than we have laws 

 that are in force. 



This was, at least to some extent, recognized in the Maine law, and a 

 responsible officer, whose duty it is to organize a service and enforce the 

 regulations of the law, is one of its best features. In addition to that law 

 of the state of Maine, we might take a lesson from the Canadians in the 

 province of Ontario. Upon the advice of the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion some years ago, while holding a session in Montreal, they enacted a 

 fire law by which the government employed fire patrols during the dan- 

 gerous season, the men being recommended for the position by the lum- 

 bermen, the lumbermen paying one-half of the expense and the govern- 



