than they can cope with they have authority to compel 

 assistance which is cheerfully paid by the state. A 

 small start toward such a system has been inaugurated 

 in the State of Minnesota, but to make it really efficient, 

 it demands the service of three hundred men, two hun- 

 dred of whom need not be employed more than seven 

 months in the year, the others employed steadily the 

 year around. The cost in addition to the labor of these 

 men would be the building of one hundred stations con- 

 nected by telephone covering the entire forest 'areas. 

 The cost of such a system for our State is itemized in 

 the following table : 



YEARLY COST AND EQUIPMENT OF AN EFFEC- 

 TIVE FORESTRY DEPARTMENT FOR THE 

 STATE OF MINNESOTA 



Two hundred men @ $90.00 per mo., 7 months 



a year $126,000 



Eighty-five permanent men of the necessary 



grades 150,000 



Field equipment and stations 80,000 



Extra expense fighting exceptional fires 70,000 



$426,000 



SAFEGUARD THE PEOPLE. 



In 1910 1 made the following statement "As the 

 area which is cut over is being increased year after year 

 the danger from forest fires under the present slack 

 system will be greater ; the loss of life must necessarily 

 be greater, the loss of property must necessarily be 

 greater." This statement is amply verified by the re- 



