FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. l8l 



Outside the counties named above, there was but one patrolman to 

 a county, and he was really rather a superintendent than a patrolman, 

 his success in preventing destruction resting not so much on his own ability 

 to cope with forest fire, as his influence in his region, and his ability to 

 interest, organize and get work out of other men. This system was exactly 

 what was had in the Catskills and it appears to have worked well there. 

 An adjunct that would be of great service, if it could be afforded the men, 

 is a light, hard- tired automobile. 



The present system is thus seen to be an elastic one and it is almost sur- 

 prising in looking back on the season's work, to note what a variety of 

 organization was in force and with apparent good result. Town super- 

 visors, it may be said, vary greatly in their value to our service. Chosen 

 normally for their business capacity, they are not always men equipped in 

 any way for service like this. Many of them rendered excellent assistance 

 during the season. On others, small reliance could be placed. The size 

 of the patrol district was, of course, governed thereby, and by the possi- 

 bility of finding well located and reliable special patrols. The features of 

 the country, and its condition as related to forest fires, had also to be 

 considered, the whole being a problem of detail which was mainly left to 

 the superintendents of fires. The elasticity allowed is decidedly one of the 

 good features of the present law, considered from the point of view both of 

 efficiency and cost. 



In general, good satisfaction is felt with the way the men handled 

 their fires. They got to them early as a rule, worked vigorously, and best 

 of all they stayed by them until they were totally out. No record is in 

 mind of a case this season where a regular patrolman of this Department, 

 with a fire under his control, neglected it and let it get away again. This 

 is a novel experience. It speaks well for the men and their comprehension 

 of their duties. It commends also the system of regular, steady pay for a 

 sufficient force. If men are being paid for their full time by a solvent 

 employer, no questions of small economies in time or money arise to take 

 away from efficiency. 



Some little originality also is observable among the methods used by 

 the men. P. J. Cunningham, for instance, at Long Lake on August 15th 

 checked a very threatening fire on State land by using dynamite to blow 



