Thi t.rtal appropriation for tho r.tire Department 

 of A/7 1 culture lut voar was a little less thai: ^17,000,000. 

 ThM trr l.h* Forest Service, to which the managownt and 

 prct- 3tJ n f all our j-uMic forests are committed, fee leee 

 tr.an 3f>,OCO,000. The fire lone for one yoar at that tiFo 

 woulc* r<iy the pr9er.t running expenses of the Forest Service 

 tor ten years. 



A careful atujy of the fire problem tlion ohowed 

 plainly the truth of tho old adage that "Everybody's business 

 jae r.oh.dy's Vusinous", and thuo it oa*nn to paas that fireo 

 wr^ seldom fought until private property or human lives were 

 endangered. Nor was it wholly a matter of indifference on 



part r>f t.ho people who would naturally hr.vo heon noat 

 interested in extinguishing firea, for r?any of them occurred 

 beyon<1 the reach of settlements. It la not nec^neary for mo 

 tc tell this audicnco *>hat much of the 190 nillion acres of 

 territory oor^rod hy our ITational Forestn io beyond the 



tch of settlements, and ^ould be wholly unprotected if Uncle 

 Sm did not provide the r*ans of protection. 



Lightning strikes vchoro it happens, and raanv campers 

 and mountain travelers, without survelllanoe, grow caroleso 

 in iiiverse ratio to the distance they get beyond the confines 

 r>f habitations. V,'ith muoh of our territory, then, only under 

 an r- tTic ion t and syatenatlo patrol during the danger season, 

 could it be hoped to detect and extinguish fires in their 

 inception. The old adage of "a stitoh In time aavea nine" 

 nver had truer significance than In the doteotion ai.d 

 suppression of forest 



I an reaindod Juct h^re of an anuoin,? fire report 



which came to ray attention some time ago. H certaiA F.'rest 



fxc r reported a fir**, on the regular form used for tljese 



">rts. One of tlio thinH called for la the actual or pro- 

 bas le oause of the fire and >-hat action should bo taken 

 against the of fonder, if apprehondad. In this case lightning 

 was the offender; ir. othor words, the cause was not rithin 

 the scope cf human calculation and was what IP ordinarily 

 termed, in common parlance, an r aot of God." The report was 

 endorse-!: "No action roconmended." 



I want to icaks this broad et.atenont: The Forest 

 Service is aiming toward at solute protection fror. forest fires. 

 3o far *hls has not been accomplished, but absolute protect. ion 

 is the goal towarJ vrhijh the Cervico is striving,. It ij tJ-^e 

 watchword, the "ehiLbol^th" in our rational Forest oarriiiiBtra- 



Of course, fire is used by the Service to clear up 

 dobris left in saw milling and oth^r opnrations, but thin is 

 done when the danger to remaining forest f,rov/t.h la 011 



