AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILU ^VH. 213 



as the reduction of our annual Iohh to one-toutli of 1 jmt vful of the 

 area uiuler protrctiuii. hrfnrr we ran rc'j^'anl our lirr ha/.ard as uiulrr 

 ct)nlrol. liif (lanuit^f durin;; tin* past two years has heen <«»inpar- 

 ativ»«ly small, it was ahout $21 J. MOO last year and alwiut $:i22.(MM» 

 in the summer of 11)22. 



The feature of our firi- [iioicction that disturbs tuv mo^i i> our 

 einerj^eney «'.\pi'iuiiliires and the fact that we are slill on a «h'h<"ien<*y 

 basis in meetinp tln'se «Mner»;eneies, In the summer of 19*21 wo had 

 to spend So.'iJi.OOO in emer«;ency expenditures for (ire fi^htinj; and 

 we had to «;o to Conjjress for a deiicieiuv appropriation. During 

 the summer just close<l we had to e.xjH'nd .?.').i!»,00() for emcrjjency 

 fire fijjhtinj; and must a^ain j^o to the Comnjittec on Approriria- 

 tions for a deliciency. As nearly as my own jud<;ment is »|»|f to 

 size up tiic situation, these two summers are what we must c\()cct 

 as a reijular thin*;, and if we fare better than that in any |)articular 

 year it will l»e hecause of exeeptionallv favorable climatic condi- 

 tions. As far as the organization of the Forest Service fjoes, we liave 

 ^ot to take the l'.>21 and the l'.>22 sejisons as normal. That meaus 

 that we must still remain far too larj^ely upon the emergency basis 

 in handling; our fire suppre.ssion. 



Last vear we *;ot "S per cent of the tires and this year SO per cent 

 of the tires when they were still one-man size, i. e.. when the patrol- 

 man gjot there soon enough to put the fire out unaided. But the 

 20 or 22 per cent of the hres that got away because they were too 

 big when the patrolman got there, which means in the majority of 

 cases tiuit we have too few patrolmen, caused these excessive ex- 

 penditures. 



It is impossible to e.xpect the Forest Service to keep down the num- 

 ber of fires with()ut large emergencv expenditures uidess we can put 

 a more intensive patrol on all the forests. The emergencv exp«'ndi- 

 tures can not be wholly eliminated but they can be greatly reduced 

 by a more aderpiate protective orrjanization. I want the committee 

 to understand the situation which still confronts us in this respect 

 and which forces us to return to Congress year after year for deficiency 

 appropriations. That does affect one of the changes in the statutory 

 roll and I will speak of it when T come to it. 



SALARIES. 



On the statutory roll 2'.> phu-es have been dropped altogether and 

 three other clerical positions transferred to the ('ivil Service Com- 

 mission, making a net reduction in the statutory roll as compared 

 with the current year of $21,720. On the other hand, we have trans- 

 ferred to the statutory roll from various miscellatieous rolls 1!) cleriral 

 po.sitions. In every case, creating a net reduction in the lump sum 

 concerned except in one item where a special increase has been recom- 

 mended. Those W) positicms represent an addition of .SJT.TOO tj> the 

 statutorv roll, leaving a net increase in the roll itself of S').1)S0. 

 Comparing the appropriations as a whole and <'onsidering the reduc- 

 tions in the miscellaneous items, we have cut the total estimate 

 $21,720, by the :V2 positions droppe<l from the roll or transferri-o vo 

 the Civil Service Commission. 



