232 * -VGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 1924. 



(The statement rofcrred to follows:) 

 Cooperative expcndiluns in fire protection under the Weeks law, fiscal year 1922. 



RESULTS KECEIVED FUO.M COOPERATION WITH LOCAL AGENCIES. 



Colonel Greeley. This activity, I believe, is a splendid demon- 

 stration of wliat can ])e accomplished through cooperation with local 

 agencies with comj)ai'atively small Federal outlavs. When this work 

 was started in 1912 the expenditures of all the States for forest pro- 

 tection did not exceed 8350,000 a year. In the 11 yeai-s during which 

 this work lias l)een conducted, and to a considerable extent as a result 

 of Federal cooperation, State expenditures for fire protection have 

 increased nearly si.xfold, and tlie private expenditures for fire pro- 

 tecti»)n iiave increased at least threefold. The States cooperating 

 with tlic FedcM-al Government have increased from 11 in 1012 to 2() 

 in 1022. That means that in these 11 years 15 States which had no 

 forest protection system liave organized one and have qualified for 

 cooperation by establishing wliat, in the judgment of the Forest 

 Service, is a reasonably ellicient system for protecting their forest 

 lands. The acreage which is jircttectcnl has increased from about 

 (il.OOO.OOO acres in 1012 to about KiO.OOO.OOO acres in 1922. 



Aside from the increase in expeiiditin-es and acreage, this cooper- 

 ation has resulted in s(»me striking betterments in the forest laws of 

 the States. We inaUe a good deal of oui' insj)ection under this law. 

 We have experienced and competent men who inspect the protective 

 Work of «>ach of the coopeiating States everv year. The inspector 

 does a great deal more than simjily check up the elliciency with which 

 the Federal <-ontribution is Ix-ing expeiuled. He tal<es the good 

 HUgge.stions and good methotls devel(»ped liy one State to the next 



