CHIEF FIRE WARDEN. 31 



He has authority to mass the whole fire warden force 

 of the state at any necessary point of danger. He is 

 intrusted with the expenditure of the emergency fund of 

 $5,000 in a dangerous season. An officer with this 

 authority should not be a cheap man. 



This officer appoints fire wardens in unorganized ter- 

 ritory. He instructs the local fire wardens as to their 

 duties. He must inspire them with interest to perform 

 their duties faithfully. The principal object of the law 

 is prevention — to have precautions taken against fires; 

 and the local fire wardens, during the dangerous sea- 

 sons, must be kept on the alert to guard against fires; 

 otherwise the system would have very little value. The 

 supervising officer is just as responsible for the efficiency 

 of the fire warden service as a colonel is responsible for 

 the behavior of his regiment in action. 



RESULTS. 



Since the Minnesota fire warden system went into 

 effect there have been forest fires in each of our neigh- 

 boring states, Michigan, Wisconsin and South Dakota, 

 that have done damage exceeding a million dollars. Of 

 course there have been some fires in this state, but there 

 have been no such fires as occurred in the above men- 

 tioned states. There is a hundred million dollars worth 

 of forest still standing in Minnesota which has not been 

 injured by fire, and besides, many thousand acres of 

 young and growing forest which have not been injured 

 by fire. These facts speak for themselves. Still, the 

 service is not as effective as it ought to be made, for it 

 is a work of educating the public living in the vicinity 

 of woods to the exercise of proper care. 



Fire Warden System Strengthened by the Last 



Legislature. 



The legislature which has just closed strengthened 

 the fire warden law of 1895 by the following twelve 



