306 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



the reports then made that more vigorous measures were necessary in certain locali- 

 ties to save the woods from destruction. 



Commissioner Babcock accordingly returned to Albany, where he held a personal 

 consultation with Governor Roosevelt and Col. William J. Morgan, the Comptroller 

 of the State, in which he described the sicuation and pointed out the urgent neces- 

 sity of some assistance on the part of the State. Mr. Babcock explained that in 

 many of the towns there was an evident reluctance on the part of the officials to 

 warn out the necessary number of men to fight fires owing to the heavy expense 

 and consequent taxes which would be assessed upon the town. In some towns, 

 also, where the authorities were willing to do whatever was required, there proved 

 to be a scarcity of men. In other places men refused to go to a fire, alleging 

 that they would not get their pay from the town until after the annual meeting 

 of the board of supervisors, which occurs in December; and that even then they 

 would receive no money, but, instead, an order on the tax collector, which they 

 would have to sell at a discount. The inability of the Superintendent of Forests 

 to organize working parties in each locality on account of these conditions was also 

 explained by Commissioner Babcock, whereupon he was authorized by the Governor 

 and Comptroller, in view of the emergency, to employ men with a promise that 

 they should be paid promptly, and a fund was provided at Albany for this purpose. 



Having made these necessary arrangements for an emergency fund, Commis- 

 sioner Babcock returned to the woods and assumed charge of the fires on the west 

 side, while the Superintendent of Forests went to the east side and looked after 

 matters in Hamilton and Essex counties. 



In the course of the work it became necessary where there was no firewarden on 

 duty, or where the firewarden was unable to obtain help, to hire men and promise 

 them prompt payment. In some places where there was no resident population, 

 Commissioner Babcock found it necessary to hire men in some village, and move 

 these men by railroad to where the fires were burning. 



After the fires had all been extinguished, the firewardens, who had been acting 

 under the orders of the Commissioner, were instructed to send their bills to Albany 

 for payment, which was made from the emergency fund provided by the Governor 

 and Comptroller. For convenience this business, so far as the payments were con- 

 cerned, was transacted through the office of the Forest Preserve Board. After care- 

 ful examination of the various pay-rolls, checks were made payable to the order of 

 each man on the rolls, and mailed to the respective firewardens for distribution. 

 These payments were as follows : 



