THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 13 



Almost nothing is being done to make it do so. As the re- 

 sult of the same popular neglect, this annual loss of nearly 

 twenty-eight millions of dollars is added to that of forty 

 millions caused by destruction of merchantable timber by fire, 

 and the injury to tax revenue, water supply and countless de- 

 pendent industries still remain to be reckoned. And to this 

 sacrifice of wealth we add that of scores of human lives, in- 

 credible suffering, and the wiping out of homes and villages 

 by forest fires. 



Plain Words For Our Present Policy 



Let us draw a parallel: If riot or invasion should sweep 

 our Pacific coast states, killing unprotected settlers, plunder- 

 ing banks and treasuries of $40,000,000 of the people's sav- 

 ings and business capital, and by destroying the producing 

 power of commercial enterprise reduce the community's in- 

 come by twenty-eight millions more, the catastrophe would 

 startle the world. 



If this stupendous disaster should threaten to recur the 

 following year and every year thereafter indefinitely, annually 

 taking $67,000,000 from the earnings of the people, diminish- 

 ing their invested wealth and paralyzing their industries, the 

 situation would be unbearable. It would dominate the minds 

 of men, women and children. All else would be forgotten in 

 their preparation for defense. 



Forest fire destruction is a danger in every way as real and 

 immediate as riot or invasion, equally measurable in losses 

 to us today and more far reaching in effect upon future pros- 

 perity. Although less sensational, it demands no less prompt 

 action. 



The Action We Must Take 



The foregoing facts prove that our present forest policy 

 is unprofitable to the state and its citizens. What, then, is 

 the remedy? 



At first thought it may seem that the responsibility for this 



