THE HOLOCAUST IN MINNESOTA 



655 



States which have been so prominent in forwarding "civic 

 righteousness" are not always those which have shown the most 

 common sense in protecting the lives and property of their 

 citizens. 



The forests of Michigan and Wisconsin were ruthlessly de- 

 bauched in one of the greatest economic blunders in our history. 

 Not only was the good timber taken, but no efforts were made 

 at afforestation Timber which was not needed was destroyed 

 and material for conflagration accumulated. A wise policy 

 would have left today in those States stands of timber which 

 would be reservoirs for all future time. We have sowed with 

 the sack and not with the hand, and have paid the penalty of 

 our folly. 



Under the heading "Northwest Forest Fire A National 

 Calamity," the Pittsburgh Press sounds a warning against care- 

 lessness with fire in the woods : 



While forest fires are a constant source of costly waste and 

 danger in this country it is not often that they reach such sen- 

 sational proportions as the one that has just swept large parts 

 of the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota with a loss of from 

 1,000 to 1,250 lives and a property loss of somewhere in the 

 neighborhood of $75,000,000, of which $25,000,000 is covered by 

 insurance. The wiping out of so many lives, the irreparable 

 destruction of so much valuable timber, and the infliction of so 

 heavy a blow on the insurance companies, make the affair a 

 genuine national calamity. 



There is a theory that the fire was of incendiary origin. In 

 a state of war, on the heels of so many exposures of German 

 spy activities, it was to be expected that the theory of incen- 

 diarism would be held in many quarters. But it is needless to 

 resort to such an assumption. Sheer carelessness has caused 

 hundreds of other extensive forest fires, and it is an entirely 

 sufficient, and moreover an entirely probable, explanation of this 

 one. 



The hunting season is on, and hunters who neglect to extin- 

 guish thoroughly their camp fires are by no means a rarity. 

 The fact is that their frequent if not habitual carelessness in 

 this regard necessitates the organization of regular forces of 

 forest rangers, whose whole time is employed in patroling the 

 great timber sections to keep fires under control. 



A single camp fire carelessly left smoldering may have caused 

 this great fire in the northwest with its awful toll of life and 

 property. 



Indeed, a single cigar stump tossed thoughtlessly into a clump 

 of undergrowth may have kindled it. 



There was a time when the people of the west used to deal 

 with carelessness of this sort as they dealt with horse thieves. 

 Could you blame them? 



Emphasing the seriousness of this loss of timber, so vitally 

 necessary in the winning of the war, the Springfield, Ohio, 

 Sun says : 



We learn with apprehension of the serious conflagrations in 

 the forests of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, for at this 

 crucial time in the history of the entire world, when the war 

 hinges upon America's ability to bridge the Atlantic with ships, 

 such forest fires are particularly disastrous and the loss of 

 timber therefrom will mean a serious handicap to the nation, 

 more particularly its ship building program. 



The fires have wrought havoc in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 

 killing many, making thousands homeless and completely an- 

 nihilating scores of hamlets and villages. 



The United States cannot afford to have such devastating 

 forest fires. It has been estimated that about one-fourth of the 

 area of the United States, or 550,000,000 acres, is in forests and 

 it is also authoritatively stated that the present rate of cutting 

 timber exceeds the annual growth of the forests, thus reducing 

 the amount of standing timber. And as the rate of cutting tim- 

 ber has been tremendously increased lately due to the demands 

 for lumber for ships, cantonments and for overseas uses, it can 

 easily be seen just how serious the present fires may be, for 

 in a few days' time the flames can destroy more timber than is 

 cut for use in an entire year. Already the loss has run into the 

 millions of dollars. 



No explanation is given of the forest fire that blotted out 

 twelve towns in Minnesota, destroyed hundreds of prospersous 

 farms, and cost the lives of 1,000 persons, says the Chicago, 

 Illinois, Journal. 



Probably to those familiar with the region, the conditions 

 which permit such a disaster are commonplace ; but certainly 

 they are not commonplace to the outside world. How a country 



can be so thickly forested as to permit the unbroken sweep of 

 the flames, and yet so thickly settled as to be dotted by a dozen 

 towns and thousands of homesteads is a puzzling problem when 

 viewed from a distance. 



Relief has been rushed to the stricken district from St Paul 

 and Minneapolis, and probably the call for help will be sent 

 widely through the land. If so, it should meet a generous 

 answer. We have learned to give, these days, and there is more 

 than one field in which we can apply the lesson. 



Referring to the cause and responsibility for the fire, the 

 Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minnesota, says : 



The obvious and businesslike way of laying bare the entire 

 situation in connection with the forest fires has been taken 

 by Governor Burnquist. A commission of nine business men in 

 whom the public has confidence will conduct the probe and the 

 results will be laid before the coming session of the legislature 

 as a basis of procedure to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy 

 This course will meet general approval. There is little doubt 

 that the commission will determine that an inadequate patrol 

 as the result of legislative shortsightedness, is primarily re- 

 sponsible for the spread and extent of the fires. This will tell 

 the legislature nothing that has not been told its predecessors 

 with force and eloquence, but with the catastrophe fresh in 

 mind and under pressure of an aroused public opinion there is 

 reason to hope the folly of the past will not be repeated. If it 

 is, we may be assured the catastrophe also will be repeated 

 sooner or later. 



Reviewing the situation in a broad and comprehensive man- 

 ner, the Christian Science Monitor, in a forceful editorial headed 

 "The Woodland Catastrophe" says : 



It is a striking and far from pleasant commentary on the 

 times that, while the United States is reaching out in all direc- 

 tions for man-power, raw material, and financial means neces- 

 sary to the maintenance of war activities at the highest pitch, 

 only passing notice is given by the press and the public to a 

 disaster in Northern Wisconsin and in Minnesota which has 

 resulted in the devastation of five counties, with the destruction 

 of more than 800 lives and a property loss of approximately 

 $100,000,000. ' 



The war and the tremendous questions growing out of the 

 war accounts in a large measure, of course, for the seeming 

 indifference of the nation to this catastrophe. Moreover, Wis- 

 consin and Minnesota, having made provision for possible 

 occurrences of this kind, by creating large emergency funds, are 

 not crowding either the wires or the mails with appeals for 

 outside help. Liberal aid has been extended to the survivors ; 

 the work of providing food, clothing, and shelter for thousands 

 of families made homeless was begun even before the smoke of 

 the forest fires had disappeared; Wisconsin and Minnesota are 

 not unloading their troubles on the rest of the republic, and so 

 the rest of the public apparently regards the calamity as merely 

 a passing circumstance, and proceeds to forget it. 



There is some excuse for this in the fact that forest fires, and 

 terrible forest fires, are not rare in the United States. But 

 there is lurking danger in this excuse. Carelessness is not new 

 to the United States. Fires, sinkings, and even explosions, were 

 not rare in the United States before the war, and this very 

 fact enabled conspirators and incendiaries to carry on their 

 work with comparative safety from prosecution after the war 

 began. Even now, when a vessel sinks at its dock, or confla- 

 grations occur in forests from which timber is being drawn for 

 the Government, and situated close to shipbuilding yards, there 

 is always the ready presumption of common carelessness. So 

 it is in the present case; while the origin of the forest fire is 

 admittedly "mysterious," and the rapidity of its spread "unac- 

 countable," yet it is quite easy for some people to find an expla- 

 nation for the one in the negligence of campers, and for the 

 other in the high winds. 



Similar excuses were offered in connection with outrages 

 committed by the I. W. W. in the Pacific Northwest. Not an 

 atrocity perpetrated by German agents or German sympathizers 

 in the United States since the war began has lacked an "expla- 

 nation" on grounds calculated to quiet suspicion or forestall 

 investigation. 



Certain phases of the Wisconsin and Minnesota forest fires 

 demand the attention of the state and federal governments. This 

 tragedy in the woods of the old Northwest should not be ac- 

 cepted as a matter of course. The "accident" theory with 

 reference to disasters which affect the nation's war industries 

 is worn threadbare, and the cause of such "accidents" should 

 be sought and found at any cost of time, labor and money. 



The period through which the country is passing is one in 

 which vigilance should be intensified rather than relaxed. 



