No. 4.] FORESTRY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 55 



in carrying out the duties Avith which your Board is charged. 

 I confess it is somewhat astonisiiing to a New Yorker to learn 

 that a Y^ankee Legislature expects something out of noth- 

 ing, — a result without an expenditure. Do your Yankee 

 business men act on such expectations? 



Lot me assure you that this forestry (juestion is now in a 

 condition when it must be taken out of the dilettante toying 

 which it has so far mostly experienced ; it is a pure, bald 

 business proposition, which must be handled in a business 

 way. Until the State recognizes this fact, and deals with 

 the question seriously, all your efforts can only be lame and 

 half effective. 



There are four directions in which the State's interest in 

 the forestry question can take sha})e : protection of forest 

 property, fostering educational agencies, aid to citizens and 

 corporations, and forest management on its own account. 

 In all four directions your Statehas already done something, 

 — made a beginning; hence it is onl}^ necessary to inquire 

 where and why the results have not been satisfactory, and 

 to suggest new lines of progi'ess in the same direction. 



Police Functions. 



The first obligation which is recognized by everybody as 

 the foremost duty of the State with reference to any prop- 

 erty is its adequate protection. In this respect the question 

 as to the efficiency of existing protection arises probably 

 only with regard to fires. Y^our laws for the punishment of 

 wanton or willful or careless injury committed on the forest 

 property of another are, as far as I can see, ample. Unfor- 

 tunatel}^, it is in many if not most cases impossible to appre- 

 hend the culprit ; moreover, forest property is not, like 

 most other property, restorable except by time, and that in 

 a long time, and it is also peculiarly hazardous as far as fire 

 danger is concerned ; it is in these respects different from 

 other properties. Hence these extraordinary difficulties 

 require special provision to prevent the occurrence and 

 to check the progress of forest fires. 



Y^our legislation recognizes this, and, following the lead 

 of New York, like several other. States, has introduced the 



