THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 17 



Oregon timbermen spent approximately $130,000. Figures 

 are not available for Montana and California, but probably 

 the same proportion holds. 



Thorough support by the state is necessary to make private 

 work effective. The men employed must have official authority 

 to enforce the law. The dangerous element does not respect 

 a movement which nominally represents only the property 

 owner. The people in general do not aid it as much as they 

 do one in which they also share. Therefore, it is necessary 

 to have state facilities for cooperating in the organization, 

 authorization and supervision of all forest patrols. 



Libeeal Appropriation a Good Investment 



But to stop here is like attempting to protect a city from 

 fire merely by giving its factory owners the right to main- 

 tain watchmen. We want to provide for the greatest possible 

 advantage to the people through the timber owner's desire to 

 protect his own property, but any forest policy which ends 

 with this is hopelessly weak. We cannot afford to leave any 

 matter of public welfare wholly to the wisdom and philan- 

 thropy of private enterprise. If we expect our paramount 

 interest in forest and water resources to be looked out for 

 properly, we must pay for it just as we do for all other pro- 

 tection we get through organized government. Nor should 

 we forget that the timber owner helps us again in this, for he 

 pays taxes as well as the cost of his private patrol. 



There are also many regions where timber values do not 

 warrant patrol, but where the safety of other property, and of 

 life, demand both patrol and fire fighting. Here the state 

 owes its citizens protection. Moreover, one of the weakest 

 points in our present system everywhere is lack of police 

 authority to apprehend violators of the fire laws. The pri- 

 vate warden cannot successfully arrest or prosecute offenders, 

 and everybody knows it. Most fires start through violation of 

 law. To prevent them the law must be respected, and to ac- 



