PRESENT FOREST PROBLEMS OF MASSACHUSETTS 



By ALLEN CHAMBERLAIN. 



fiORESTRY in Massachusetts was developing in a most encouraging 

 manner until the advent of the legislature of 1911, when it became to 

 a considerable extent the plaything of politics, and it is more than sus- 

 pected that the element of personal animosity has contributed to the obstacles 

 thrown in the path of further advancement. Two years ago, at the behest 

 of the governor, the work of suppressing the gypsy and brown-tail moths, those 

 terrible forest pests against which the state has so long been fighting, was 

 added to the forester's labors. To enforce the law requiring the suppression 

 of these insects, and to spend the state's contribution of money to this end 

 with efifectiveness and without arousing local jealousies, is a difficult task. 

 Nowhere in the service of the state is the force of political pressure felt more 

 persistently than in this work. Through that office nearly a million dollars is 

 expended annually, and while only about one-third of this comes directly from 

 the treasury of the state, it must all be applied under the general direction of 

 the state's director. It is not easy to provide for the spending of such an 

 amount of money in public work, and to guard against waste and dishonesty, 

 and it is equally diflScult to administer the somewhat drastic law behind the 

 work without at times treading upon the toes of high political influence. It 

 was an unfortunate day for forestry in Massachusetts when this moth cam- 

 paign was saddled upon the forester's office. 



Throughout the present session of the legislature the office has been the 

 subject of attack, chiefly on account of the moth work, charges being made 

 which were entirely unsupported by reliable evidence, and which fell flat after 

 a thorough investigation of the department had been made by an investigator 

 appointed by the governor, who is himself not friendly to the work. As a 

 result of the pulling and hauling incident to this conflict the several forestry 

 bills all fell by the wayside, deserted even by the members of the committee 

 on agriculture. Only one measure, an amendment to the forest fire laws, 

 succeeded in passing, and that came through in a sadly riddled state. This 

 was in spite of the concerted efforts of the Massachusetts Forestry Asso- 

 ciation and the Boston Chamber of Commerce, both of which labored ener- 

 getically through special committees in support of several bills. 



Not in many years has Massachusetts been subjected to so terrible a fire 

 scourge as has fallen to her lot the past spring. By the middle of May the 

 losses were easily twice as great as for the entire twelve months of 1910. And 

 yet during the height of this fire season, when the papers were daily reporting 

 fires from all parts of the state, ranging from a few hundred acres in extent 

 np to ten thousand acres, the legislature rejected, almost without debate, a 

 bill calling for $10,000 and authority to establish a state fire warden. This 

 bill was supported by the Massachusetts Forestry Association, by the Boston 

 Chamber of Commerce, by woodland owners and timber operators, and it was 

 presented and backed by members of the legislature in every way qualified to 

 command the attention of their fellows. Strangely enough it was the members 

 of the committee on agriculture who rallied to its defeat, running into the lobbies 

 even to summon votes to insure their end. When the farmers of Massachusetts 



389 



