growth, the difference in rate of growth due to burn- 

 ings during the next five years may be expected to 

 be further accentuated. 



Forest Fires Caused by Smokers 



Our lumber needs and our carelessness with fire 

 have stripped our forests in advance of our agricultur- 

 al development. It is now up to us to put the re- 

 sulting idle land to work. 



As a basis for securing, if possible, co-operation of 

 tobacco users in the reduction of losses from forest 

 fires, the Forest Service of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture is preparing to gather informa- 

 tion as to the extent to which fires in the woods are 

 due to smokers. 



"We have been gathering statistics for a number 

 of years as to the causes of forest fires," said Acting 

 Forester Sherman today in outlining the plan, ;< but 

 these statistics have not shown under a separate head- 

 ing fires known to have their origin in tobacco smok- 

 ing. All fires started by hunters and fishermen, for 

 example, are commonly classed as campers' fires; 

 those started by loggers, to lumbermen; and so on. 

 From now on our men in the field making reports will 

 be asked to indicate, so far as they are able, how many 

 fires are started by smokers. Undoubtedly the gen- 

 eral use of cigarettes has tended to make the task of 

 forest protection more difficult. In the days when 

 woodsmen and manual laborers usually smoked pipes 

 the danger from smoking was relatively small. 



"A burning cigarette end seems such a small matter 



23 



