318 REPORT OP THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



the railroads to insist on their taking expensive precautions to prevent fires 

 until the people are sufficiently alive to their ov»rn interests to do their share. 



(c) It is the experience throughout the South that general laws against 

 fires cannot be enforced. The usual county and township officials are not 

 interested in forest protection and do not receive sufficient compensation to 

 secure the enforcement of these laws. In two or three States an attempt has 

 been made to have the forest laws enforced through the State game warden 

 system. This has also failed. A State system of fire wardens such as is in 

 torce in Maryland and many of the Northern and Western States seems the 

 best method for the South. There is no need, for the present at least, to 

 appoint wardens in all townships, but where the percentage of forest land is 

 over 60 per cent there is need for organized fire protection. 



(d) No system of fire protection can be effective without an adequate 

 appropriation. It is the general opinion that this should be made by the 

 State, but it might well be added to by counties, townships and associations 

 of landowners. The proffered assistance of the Federal Government under 

 the Weeks Law would not only be of great assistance but should also be a 

 great incentive towards securing an appropriation. The operations of this 

 Federal law should be continued and extended as much as possible. 



3. Cooperation : It is the general opinion that to make forest fire protection 

 most effective the cooperation of all available forces is necessary. Nearly all 

 correspondents advocate State protection assisted by either the Federal Govern- 

 ment or by associations; where possible, all three of these forces should be 

 utilized, and, in addition, the counties and townships themselves might be brought 

 into the cooperative scheme. Such an arrangement is being worked out in the 

 Northern and Western States, and will subsequently have to be worked out in 

 the South. State protection should come first; Federal cooperation will thus be 

 automatically secured in most of the States ; then, under favorable State laws, the 

 cooperation of associations should be secured. It will not be until all these 

 forces work together and are supported by public opinion that real forest 

 protection will be secured. 



