against any outside interference, and the en- 

 forcement of the law, whether by the State or 

 the county, is only top often looked upon in 

 tnis light. This prejudice hinders the en- 

 forcement of the law and lends aid to the 

 evil-doer, even where the good people never 

 intend that it should. 



9. The business of these districts encour- 

 ages fires. The lumbering leaves debris; the 

 settler clears land and builds roads. In addi- 

 tion the settler of the cut-over landh often 

 burns them to get better feed for his stock. 

 All these operations lead to fire and much of 

 this, however reckness and careless the peo- 

 ple, is excused on the ground of helping to im- 

 prove the country. 



10. There is still much travel necessary and 

 much of this necessitates camping out. This 

 gives color of excuse to all camp fires. 



11. Hunting, gunning, fishing and other 

 forms of trespass are matters of custom and 

 their regulation is resented however necessary 

 to good fire protection. 



12. In danger years the fires start and burn 

 easily and are uncommonly severe, i. e., they 

 destroy everything by creating a much greater 

 heat than is ordinarily the case. After the 

 fi r es h^ve swept the open country they enter 

 the swamp and other forests and thus become 

 all the more destructive. During such seasons 

 as that of 1908 the country is literally dotted 

 by fires; there are hundreds, probably thou- 

 sands, of them. Soon the smoke becomes 

 dense and then real trouble begins. Now it is 

 no longer possible to see fires at any distance. 

 A man may travel all day and all day it seems 

 as if he is just entering a fire, and if he turns 

 as if he just left a large fire behind. ^Under 

 such conditions it is well nigh impossible to 

 find the guilty man. This coward of cowards 



11 





