WHAT SHOULD BE DONE. . 15 
ously. If these things, each one of which will pay now and in the 
future as well, are not done, this nation will ultimately be dependent 
upon public forests. These, if cut absolutely clean, would furnish 
only enough lumber to meet our national need for ten years. At the 
end of that time they would be exhausted. If we are to be saved 
from great suffering for lack of timber, the forests of private owners 
must supply the timber. 
STOPPING FOREST FIRES. 
Forest fires are preventable at a cost slight in itself and insignifi- 
cant compared with the value of the timber they destroy. Experience 
on the National Forests has shown that the way to keep down fires is 
to employ men to watch for them during the fire season. An expendi- 
ture of a few hundred dollars in employing men to patrol during 
the dangerous part of the year is vastly more effective than the ex- 
penditure of many times this sum in the attempt, often futile, to put 
out fires already under headway. 
The cost per acre of protecting the forest from fire varies directly 
with the density of settlement, with local sentiment, with the charac- 
ter of the country and of the forest, with the means of transportation 
and communication, and with the length of the fire season. 
Studies made by the Department of Agriculture and the experience 
of private owners who are protecting their forests from fire show 
that the forests of the southern mountains and of the southern pine 
belt can be effectively patrolled for 2 cents per acre per year. The 
northern forests can be patrolled thoroughly for not more than 4 
cents per acre, and the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast forests 
for 14 cents per acre. These estimates mean, if their owners would 
cooperate effectively, that all forests in private hands in the United 
States can be protected from fire for less than $10,000,000 a year— 
about the cost of one Dreadnought. It also means that at an ex- 
penditure of $10,000,000 a year, a yearly loss in merchantable timber 
much greater would be prevented. This does not count the saving in 
young growth. 
The best methods of fire protection for private owners vary greatly 
with the conditions which fix its cost. But for all regions the fol- 
lowing principles are sound on tracts of some size: 
1. Employ an adequate force whose first duty is to patrol against 
fires. Give them all the tools they need, and mount them if they can 
so work more effectively. In the South and in the Rocky Mountains 
a mounted patrol is best. In many parts of the northern and Pacific 
forests, men can do their best work on foot. 
2. Increase the efficiency of the fire-fighting force and reduce its 
size by building trails for patrol. Telephone lines can be built 
[Cir. 171] 
