PRELIMINARY REPORT. 



HARBISBUEG, PA., January 1, 1897. 

 HON. THOMAS J. EDGE, Secretary of Agriculture : 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following statement of the 

 work done in the Division of Forestry, and to suggest some measures 

 which appear to be of sufficient importance to merit careful consider- 

 ation. 



The brief paper upon forest fires which appeared in the last annual 

 report was merely preliminary to a more full consideration of the 

 subject. Upon this the division is now engaged, and it is hoped, 

 when all the facts are ready for the public, that it will lead to a more 

 general attempt to discover and bring to justice those who are guilty 

 of starting these fires. 



There are, however, certain points upon which immediate legisla- 

 tion shoulcj be had. For example, under the Act of June 2, 1870 (P. 

 L., 1316), it is declared to be the duty of the county commissioners- 

 to appoint persons, under oath, to ferret out and bring to punishment 

 all persons who wilfully, or otherwise, cause the burning of timber 

 lands and to take measures to have such fires extinguished, where 

 it can be done. The expenses are to be paid out of the county 

 treasury, the unseated land tax to be the first applied to such ex- 

 penses. 



This law has been practically inoperative for more than a quarter 

 of a century. It was not because the law was deemed unnecessary 

 by the citizens, but because, first, there was no clause compelling! 

 the county commissioners to appoint detectives to ferret out the of- 

 fenders; and second, because if they had done so the county would 

 have been required to pay for the services. 



The time has come when public opinion demands that the law 

 shall be compulsory upon the county commissioners, and further- 

 more, it is no longer doubted that the State has as much to gain 

 in preventing forest fires as tne counties have, and that, therefore, 

 the Commonwealth should share in the cost as well as in the 

 benefits. 



At present, Lehigh is the only county in the State which complies 

 ^vith the law, so far as we are informed. Three or four counties offer 

 rewards for detection of incendiaries, and the remainder appear to 

 wholly ignore the act. 



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