Fighting Fires and Thieves 197 



for a reward. The constables are often fairly 

 zealous in enforcing the law against tramps and non- 

 residents, but rarely so against the settlers, who 

 may be the worst offenders, but on whom, as voters, 

 the constable is dependent for re-election. Besides, 

 the constable will be able to obtain evidence in but 

 a very few cases of negligent firing, especially as in 

 the thinly settled forest regions his district often 

 embraces a very large territory. Some States have 

 within the last few years authorized the local au- 

 thorities in their discretion to prohibit the setting 

 of fires for clearing and other purposes during the 

 driest and most dangerous season of the year. If 

 the local officials took care to avail themselves of 

 such authority it ought to help materially to reduce 

 the number of destructive fires, but, unfortunately, 

 such prohibitory measures are rarely adopted. The 

 local authorities are often either too unintelligent 

 to appreciate their necessity or afraid of running 

 counter to the wishes of influential voters. Some- 

 times the setting of fires for " burning brush " is not 

 permitted at all except with the license and under 

 the supervision of some official. This is an excel- 

 lent plan, but suffers from the same danger of not 

 being enforced in a community where public opin- 

 ion is apathetic or hostile with regard to such 

 precautions. 



While all these legal provisions are good as far 

 as they go, the only effective means of forest-fire 

 police lies in the direction of a system of specially 

 appointed fire wardens, subject to due supervision 



