because it is hard for me to conceive of the Federal 

 government assuming and exercising police functions 

 of our States dealing with the many phases of forest 

 fires; and without such police powers no effort to 

 control the forest fire problem will be successful. 



At the same time fire prevention is not an end in 

 itself. It is a means for the reforestation and safety 

 of timber lands; and reforestation is the real ob- 

 jective which must never be lost sight of. We must 

 have the kind of fire protection that will actually re- 

 stock cut-over lands and establish growing forests, 

 as far as keeping out fire will do so. Success will 

 be measured by the acres of growing forests which 

 are actually established; and just as rapidly as the 

 fire hazard is brought under reasonable control in 

 this or that forest region, the steps in addition to 

 keeping out fire which are necessary to put growing 

 trees upon the land must be brought into play to the 

 fullest extent that they are equitable to the forest 

 owner. We must get before us this picture of refor- 

 estation as a whole ; and we must work for its realiza- 

 tion as a whole just as rapidly as each successive 

 step can in the light of equity and common sense be 

 taken. It is for this reason that I am opposed to 

 limiting Federal legislation and plans for Federal 

 co-operation to fire protection alone. Rather would 

 I put before the nation as a whole, as one agency, 

 and the people of each State, as a second agency, 

 the goal of complete reforestation of lands not needed 

 for other purposes with woods of economic value, and 

 work toward that complete goal, step by step, as 

 rapidly as we can. 



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