THE UNITED STATES FOREST RESERVES. 463 



The cost of a permanent forest organization for the protection 

 and utilization of the forests on the reserves is estimated by the Na- 

 tional Forestry Commission at $250,000 per annum for the first 

 five years. With a greater demand for forest supplies the annual 

 expense will increase, but under any businesslike management the 

 revenue from the sale of forest products will largely exceed the 

 expense, yielding a handsome surplus to the Government. " When 

 it is remembered that several million dollars' worth of timber are 

 taken every year from the public domain without any rcompense to 

 the Government, it would appear to be a wise and economical policy 

 to spend annually a few hundred thousand dollars on an organiza- 

 tion which would prevent such unnecessary drains on the wealth of 

 the nation; it must be remembered also that an efficient forest ad- 

 ministration would be able to prevent many forest fires on the public 

 domain, and that it is not an unusual occurrence for a single fire to 

 destroy in a few days material worth more in actual money than 

 this forest administration would cost in years, while the indirect 

 loss to the country in impaired water flow is incalculable. The ex- 

 penditure, therefore, of $250,000 a year in furnishing the means 

 for protecting the forests on the public domain would appear to be 

 justified by every consideration of common sense and economy." 

 (Report of National Forestry Commission, p. 26.) 



The experience of British India and Canada proves conclusively 

 that Government control of the forests can be made profitable both 

 to the Government and to the people using the forest products. 



Protection against Fire. The Ontario system provides for fire 

 rangers, who are authorized to employ assistants to help suppress 

 fires, and they are directed to notify the department if the fires are 

 dangerous. The expense incurred in maintaining the forest staff and 

 suppressing fires is shared between the Crown Lands Department 

 and the owners of the licenses to cut timber. During the summer 

 of 1895, ninety-three fires were reported, most of which were put out, 

 the total loss by fire being only $41,600. This was effected by the 

 employment of one hundred and fourteen men for a few months, at a 

 total cost of $26,253. 



The districts of upper and lower Ottawa during the summer of 

 1895, when it was unusually dry, experienced no serious conflagra- 

 tions. No fewer than fifty-six incipient fires, however, were extin- 

 guished by the fire rangers, any one of which might have assumed 

 serious proportions and caused heavy loss. The total loss in the dis- 

 trict amounted to between five hundred and one thousand dollars. 



In other districts in Quebec numerous small fires are extinguished 

 every year by the forest rangers, which action prevents the destruc- 

 tion of thousands of acres of forests. 



