FOREWORD XV 
by these meetings and I feel sure that they have gone back to their 
districts better equipped for their duties. 
It is particularly fortunate for the department that we have 
been able, with slight exception, to keep the same Chief Wardens 
commissioned year after year. Under the direction of the Forest 
Commissioner, they are the main stay of the Department, and each 
year of experience they gain in the handling of men in actual fire 
fighting and the prevention of fire, in tactful intercourse with the 
public in their respective districts, and in the methods of preven- 
tion and suppression of forest fires, renders them progressively 
more valuable to the service. 
While treating of the personnel of the Department I will ex- 
plain the exception noted above, relating to the Maine Forestry Dis- 
trict Law, and this exception has to do with the limited wage al- 
lowed the Chief Wardens and the men under them. The law par- 
ticularly states the following rates of compensation: For Chief 
Wardens three dollars per day with allowance for expense of 
travel and subsistence; for deputy wardens two dollars per day 
and expenses; for patrolmen and other assistants and for fire 
fighters twenty cents an hour—which amounts to two dollars per 
day for a ten hour day. \ 
The forestry district law was enacted in 1909, and at that time 
the rates of compensation specified perhaps constituted a fair 
wage. But think what it would mean to-day to any employer if 
he were not allowed to bid more than twenty cents an hour for 
labor as strenuous as fire fighting, or were compelled to seek men 
of some executive ability, such as the Chief Warden service 
requires, but were not able to offer them more than three dollars 
per day. Only by some persuasion and a hint of the hope of better 
things to come have we been able to hold the class of men we re- 
quire. In fact, it hardly would have been possible to keep our 
present efficient force together if there had not been, particularly 
on the part of the Chief Wardens, a certain conscientious loyalty 
to the Department. | 
To correct the unfortunate wage situation outlined above some 
immediate action is needed and I would suggest that at the next 
session of the Maine Legislature the Maine Forestry District Law 
be so amended that the Forest Commssioner can offer to the men 
in the fire protective service a fair compensation and propor- 
tionate to the work they perform. There is no economy in a low 
wage for responsible workers—it tends toward slackness, ineffi- 
ciency and disorganization through a constant change of personnel. 
