FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 373 



Under an individual patrol system there will be many gaps where no pro- 

 tection is given. From the start, patrol associations have assumed the care of 

 all of the land within their exterior boundaries, unless the individual owner of 

 some property had on his own patrolmen. If owners refuse to pay their share, 

 they get their lands looked after free, and at the expense of the other owners. 

 Few people care to be put in this position and generally join the patrol or put on 

 a man of their own. An owner may be willing to let some particular company 

 look after his property and refuse to reimburse the company for its work. But 

 when practically all of the owners in a county join together few individuals care 

 to have it said, and known by this large aggregation of holders that he accepts 

 something for nothing. 



The summarized advantages of co-operative patrol are: 



1. It makes for better public sentiment, and as an organization, owners 

 of property can request legislation and State assistance which could not be 

 extended to individual owners. 



2. It centralizes responsibility, and does away with delays in fire fight- 

 ing resulting from differences of opinions as to responsibility. 



3. It makes possible closer supervision of wardens, for with a con- 

 siderable number in the field the services of an absolutely responsible high- 

 grade head man can be retained. 



4. It does away with duplication of effort and systematizes the work, 

 thus cutting down expenses and at the same time increasing efficiency. 



5. It makes co-operation with the Government and State easier and 

 more effective, because of the fact that all owners who are members of a 

 patrol association are a unit for co-operative purposes. It also makes it 

 possible for the Government and States to extend help which could not be 

 given to individuals because of the possibility that charges of favoritism or 

 discrimination would be made. 



6. In trail and telephone construction, purchase of tools, maintenance 

 of tool caches and pack trains, boats and other equipment, and establishing 

 and equipping of lookout points, the needs of the whole territory can be 

 served cheaper and better than if each owner had to individually furnish all 

 of these things for his own particular benefit. 



7. By paying all costs for patrol, fire fighting and equipment from one 

 genera! fund raised on acreage assessments, no individual is liable to heavy 

 expense in any one year, even though a serious iire occurs on his land, and 

 this acts, in a measure, as mutual insurance. 



8. By systematically soliciting membership, both large and small owners 

 can usually be induced to join a patrol association, and thereby strengthen 

 the work of protection both morally and financially. Under a system of 

 individual patrols, small owners in many cases fail to stand their just share 

 of expense. 



The following expressions of men eminently fitted to judge of the relative 

 merits of patrol systems are of interest: 



Geo. S. Long, Tacoma, Washington, 

 President, Washington Forest Fire Association. 



"A man may look after his little tract of one, two, or three hundred 

 acres successfully up to a certain point. The trouble is that two miles, five 

 miles, ten miles, or fifty miles away a fire may start and wipe him out. 



