Forest fire protection by the states as described by representative men at the Weeks law forest fire conference

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Issued January 22, 1914.

United States Department of Agriculture,

FOREST SERVICE.

HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES

AS DESCRIBED BY REPRESENTATIVE MEN AT THE WEEKS LAW FOREST

FIRE CONFERENCE.

Edited by J. Girvin Peters,
Chief of State Cooperation. Forest Service*.

PURPOSE OF THE CONFERENCE.

On January 9 and 10, 1913, there was held at the Forest Service*
Washington, D. C., a conference of forest officials of States with
which the Federal Government is cooperating in the protection from
fire of the forested watersheds of navigable streams under the pro-
visions of section 2 of the Weeks law, forest officials of other States,
representatives of timberland owners' protective associations and
forestry associations, private foresters, and others interested in for-
estry, in addition to members of the Forest Service charged with the
administration of section 2 of the Weeks law.1

The States represented include all of New . England, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia,
North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and those of the Pacific
Northwest. Those States with which the Federal Government has
cooperated under the law are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Wis-
consin, Minnesota, Washington, and Oregon. The heads of the fire
protective systems of these States, in addition to the chief fire war-
dens of certain timberland owners protective associations, hold Forest
Service appointments as collaborators.

The objects of this conference were (1) to provide for an informal
discussion of the administration of the law and of the various meth-
ods of fire prevention which have been adopted by the States, (2) to
determine the results of the cooperation, and (3) to encourage States
which can not fulfill the requirements of the law to enact legislation
enabling them to do so.

1A roster of attendance is given in the Appendix, p. 77.
13369°— 34 1

2 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

The most striking feature of the conference was the tremendous
emphasis placed on the value of cooperation between all protective
agencies and of educating the public in general of the need of pre-
venting forest fires.

H. S. Graves, Forester, United States Department of Agriculture,
opened the conference with the following address:

THE POLICY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN ASSISTING STATES TO
PROTECT THE FORESTED WATERSHEDS OF NAVIGABLE STREAMS.

Gentlemen: We have called this conference to discuss that sec-
tion of the Weeks law authorizing cooperation by the Federal Gov-
ernment with the State in protecting from fire the forests situated
on the watersheds of navigable streams. We have before us for con-
sideration not only the details of carrying out this law, but also the
results which have already been accomplished as bearing on the wis-
dom of the appropriation which has been made and the desirability
of extending the policy through subsequent appropriations by Con-
gress.

The appropriation of $200,000 for Federal assistance in fire pro-
tection initiated a new policy. When the Weeks law was under
consideration it was maintained by some persons that greater results
from a given expenditure of money would be accomplished by an-
nual appropriations to aid the States in fire protection than by the
establishment of National Forests by purchase. The appropriation
of $200,000 was, in a way, an experiment to test the efficacy of this
kind of Federal aid. While making this appropriation, Congress
at the same time adopted the policy of acquiring National Forests
in the eastern mountains where none had existed, It recognized,
however, that this appropriation or any other which might be made
later on would not be large enough to acquire all of the mountain
areas which ought to be under public control, or at least to acquire
them within such period as would enable the establishment of public
control in time to accomplish the purposes of forest protection.
There was recognition of the principle that there is a national inter-
est in these great areas of forest lands, and that there is not only a
justification but a duty on the part of the Federal Government to
see to it that these national interests are protected.

It is unnecessary for me to emphasize the importance of forestry
from the public standpoint. It is unnecessary for me to repeat that
the public must not permit the forests to be handled in a way to result
in direct public injury by the effect on water resources or indirect
injury through the stoppage of forest production. I do wish, how-
ever, to make the point that these public interests are in a great
many eases not confined to the State in which the forests lie. There
are many problems of forestry involving interstate considerations
in which our Federal Government can not participate on account of
constitutional limitations, or at least unless there is a different in-
terpretation of these limitations than heretofore has been made. For
example, a State which has under consideration the making of certain
requirements on private owners in the matter of fire protection, or

FOREST fill PBOTECTIOISr BY THE STATES. 3

perhaps in the methods of cutting in order to bring about better
practice of forestry, immediately meets the difficulty that the opera-
tors, on account of increased cost of logging, are placed at a disad-
vantage in competition with those of other States where no such
restrictions exist. The reason for this trouble is that the products
of the forest go into the general market, and so far it has been ex-
ceedingly difficult to secure uniform State laws which are really
effective in meeting the requirements of our problem.

The discussion of the new policy of acquisition of National Forests
in the East early brought out the fact that in stream protection the
States are helpless where the streams flow from one State into an-
other. A given State will not make large expenditures for public
benefits which inure primarily to the people of another State. It was
decided by Congress that it was unconstitutional to purchase forest
lands merely to produce timber and for certain other public benefits
which were fully recognized as having an interstate character. 1
think the debates during that time show clearly that nearly every one
recognized the interstate character of a great many of these problems,
in addition to the navigable feature.

In administering the cooperative clause of the Weeks law the
Forest Service has clearly in mind the principles which I have indi-
cated. It has been the effort so to distribute the money that it would
last through about three seasons and to expend it under sufficiently
diversified conditions to insure conclusive results.

The question comes before us now of what has been accomplished
during the two seasons of cooperation which have already passed.
Has it resulted in the stimulus to the States to meet their responsi-
bility in forestry ? Has it resulted in securing better protection than
otherwise would have been the case of the forests on navigable
streams; and if so, have the results from this standpoint alone justi-
fied the expenditures of the $200,000? In securing such protection,
have other national and interstate interests been secured aside from
mere protection to navigation? In short, before we go to Congress
and request an extension of this appropriation we must be able to
show that this new policy, which was in a measure inaugurated as an
experiment, has produced certain definite results which justify the
nation in continuing the work.

I want to emphasize over and over again this national feature of
the work, because we are asking the National Government to provide
the money, and while the protection of navigation is the constitu-
tional reason for the appropriation, the general national and inter-
state interests are a tremendous additional justification. I think that
was fully recognized fey Congress when it passed the law, if I may
judge by my interpretation of the records of the debates and by my
discussion of the whole subject with the men who were responsible
for putting this measure through Congress.

Mr. Peters has many facts which demonstrate to. my mind that
the results obtained are of an importance even greater than could
have been anticipated. We want to know, and Congress wants to
know, what the experience has been in the States, both from the view-
point of the State and from that of the Nation.

4 .FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

REQUIREMENTS IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 2 OF THE

WEEKS LAW.

J. G. Peters, chief of State cooperation, Forest Service, was
called to the chair and led the discussion on this subject.

Gentlemen : The fact that there are representatives here from dis-
tant States, from the extreme 'Northeast, from the South, from the
Lake States, and from the Pacific Xorthwest shows the interest and
the importance which have been attached to this conference.

The conference has been called primarily for the purpose of secur-
ing an informal interchange of opinions and suggestions concerning
cooperative protection from forest fires under section 2 of the Weeks
law. It is hoped that each and every one- of you will participate
freely in the discussions which will take place. *

I feel that this conference is particularly timely, coming as it does
at the moment when we are about to ask Congress for a further appro-
priation for cooperative protection, in order that the cooperation may
be continued after the close of the present calendar year.1

In the discussions to follow let us keep in mind the requirements
of the law, namely, (1) the cooperation must be confined to the for-
ested watersheds of navigable streams; (2) the State must have pro-
vided hy law for a system of forest fire protection; and (3) the Fed-
eral Government will not expend more than the State in a single year.

In the administration of the law by the Forest Service certain
other requirements must also be met. It is these requirements that I
wish to present to you for discussion. I do not consider it necessary
to cover all of them, and I shall take up only the more important
ones. However, I do not mean to restrict the discussion of any
requirement.

Let us first consider the question of navigability. There is a map,
compiled from the annual report for 1907 of the Chief of Engineers,
United States Arm}'', which shows the tonnage of the navigable
rivers of the United States. It is the most recent map of its kind.
This, in addition to Army reports, is used as a basis for determining
whether or not streams are navigable. Some streams actually navi-
gable are not shown on the map as such, which may be due to the fact
that their tonnage in 1907 was negligible; for information on their
navigability the reports are consulted, the conclusions of which we
consider as final. If no Federal report has been made on a given
stream, the information desired as to its navigability is secured from
a State report or by a field investigation, and the question of its navi-
gability is decided by the Forest Service itself. We are disposed to
interpret the meaning of navigability in a broad way. However,
streams which can float only logs, rowboats, or canoes are excluded,
although certain States may have declared such streams navigable.

All forested watersheds of navigable streams where forest fires
may cause erosion, and in consequence irregularity of stream flow and
loss of navigability, may be included in the cooperative area. Water-
sheds of tidal streams, lakes, or artificial waterways may also be
included; in short, all watersheds on which the forest cover may have
a relationship to navigability.

1 Congress subsequently appropriated $75,000 for the fiscal year ending June 00, 1914,
and at the same time made the balance of the original appropriation of $200,000, which
was available until expended, available until tbe fiscal year ending June 30, 1915.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 0

Mr. Ha wes. Would it be possible, in getting a further appropria-
tion from Congress, to have the law so worded that the money which
the State spends on all watersheds for the purpose of fire protection
could be used to offset the Federal expenditure on navigable water-
sheds only?

Mr. Peters. I doubt if Congress would consent to have the law
changed in this respect. The Federal appropriation was made pri-
marily for the purpose of protecting navigation, which is the basis
for the law's constitutionality, and the cooperation authorized by the
law is for the purpose of encouraging States to protect the water-
sheds of their navigable streams.

Next let us take up the subject of Federal allotments. Our aim
has been to disburse the original fund of $200,000 as widely as
possible and to help as many States as can fulfill the requirements
of the law, especially the States which have difficulty in providing
protection of their own. In some States where the appropriation is
small we have gladly duplicated it. The allotment to any State in
a single year has been limited to $10,000. Briefly, our policy has
been primarily to consider the educational value of protective work
and to allot the funds so that this value may as nearly as possible be
equalized in the different States.

All unexpended balances of. allotments at the end of the calendar
year revert to the Federal Treasury, and no balance is carried over or
made available for expenditure in the following year. However, a
State can always count upon receiving an allotment which will at
least equal any balance remaining unexpended at the end of the
previous year.

The total expenditures to date — that is, for the calendar years 1911
and 1912 — have been $89,407.48, leaving an unexpended balance of
$110,592.52. The allotments already made for the coming season
total $74,000. (See Table 1.) Additional allotments to certain
States which may, through their legislatures meeting this winter,
fulfill the requirements of the law will probably amount to at least
$15,000. The allotments will therefore total about $90,000, leaving a
balance of approximately $21,000, which we shall reserve as an emer-
gency fund available to be drawn upon by any State in case of a bad
fire season. We believe that it is extremely desirable to hold in
reserve a fund of this amount, and in order to do so it has become
necessary to reduce the maximum allotment to $8,000. While the
necessity for this reduction is a matter of regret to the Forest Service,
still, after all allotments have been made and we are well into the
coming fire season, it may be possible to increase the allotments which
it has for the time being been necessary to reduce.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

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FOREST FIRE PROTECTION" BY THE STATES. 7

Mr. Hutchinson. May I ask why Pennsylvania lias received no
Federal allotment for fire protection?

Mr. Peters. Pennsylvania has never requested one. I think there
is no question that the State can fulfill the requirements of the law.

I wish now to take up the expenditure of Federal funds. In order
to simplify the fiscal operation of the law and the inspection of the
work, we have limited the expenditure of Federal funds to the sal-
aries of lookout watchmen and patrolmen, preferably the former.
It is felt that where lookout stations are feasible they constitute one
of the most effective means of fire prevention; moreover, in many
cases the watchmen are on continuous duty throughout the fire sea-
son, and thus expenditures limited to their salaries tend still further
to simplify the cooperation. It is for these reasons primarily that
this limitation has been imposed wherever it has been possible and
practicable to do so.

Mr. Cox. I hope this policy of limiting the expenditures to the
employment of lookout watchmen only will not be extended to in-
clude the whole of the cooperative territory, because in Minnesota
it will only work well in the northeastern part of the State, which is
a mountainous country, where the conditions are practically the same
as in the Adirondacks in New York. In northern and western Min-
nesota, however, the conditions are very different, the country being
fairly level. Fire protection there must be done by patrol on an
extensive scale. The protective force has a large territory to cover,
and the men have to keep on the move; they have to hunt for the
fires, which, as a rule, do not spread rapidly. Generally, fires can
not be seen far enough off from a lookout for it to be effective even if
a man is stationed there permanently.

Mr. Peters. I am glad you brought up that point, because it raises
the question as to why we include some sections of country and
exclude others. Our policy has been to limit Federal expenditures
to the salaries of lookout watchmen only in country whose topography
is such as to make the establishment of lookout stations practicable,
provided at the same time the effectiveness of the State's protective
plan is not lowered by such limitation. It has worked no hardship in
some States — for example, as Maine, Massachusetts, and New York.
In others, where the establishment of lookout stations on a compre-
hensive scale has not been possible, the restriction has been imposed
only in part. In Connecticut and New Jersey but 25 per cent of the
Federal expenditures will be for watchmen's salaries. In New
Hampshire a unique situation exists, in that a special appropriation
is made by the State for the maintenance of lookout stations, and it
can not be used for any other purpose. For this reason, although
the northern part of the State is covered by an extensive system of
lookouts, we have estimated that but 25 per cent of the Federal ex-
penditures would be a fair proportion to require the State to devote
to watchmen's salaries. In Vermont the law practically makes the
State itself liable for all watchmen's salaries.

In the States where protective work on a comprehensive scale is
just being started, as, for example, in Maryland and Kentucky, we
would not be justified in limiting the Federal expenditures to the
salaries of lookout watchmen; and in the Lake States and the Pacific
Northwest the topography is such that lookout stations equipped for

8 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

continuous operation are usually not practicable. However, while
the restriction is not being imposed upon these States, we are request-
ing our collaborators to place on the Federal pay roll the lookout
watchmen employed on the cooperative watersheds.

Mr. Elliott. In Oregon we are equipping some of our lookouts
with telephones, and we expect to keep the patrolmen on these look-
outs as much as possible, but we, of course, want to be able to use the
men on trail or patrol work whenever it becomes desirable to do so.
We would not Avant to be restricted as regards their employment in a
year like the past one, which was very favorable for protection work.
We did not allow the men to sit around in the lookouts, but we used
them in building trails. We got some 58 miles of trail built and 178
miles of old trail opened up by these men.

Mr. Pettis. Mr. Peters, do you have any regulation with regard to
the maximum salary of the Federal employees?

Mr. Peters. No ; we leave that to the collaborator, with the under-
standing that the normal wage rate in the region will be paid.

Let us noAv consider the amendments to last year's agreement,1
which have been proposed.- The first amendment is an entirely new
section, No. 5, which reads as follows :

5. This agreement contemplates the employment under ordinary conditions of

lire hazard of not to exceed Federal patrolmen, or in case of emergency

of not to exceed Federal patrolmen in the discretion of the collaborator,

provided that in case of serious emergency the latter number may be increased
with the approval of the Forester.

By requiring the number of patrolmen which will be employed at
any one time to be specified, this amendment provides for a definite
program of Federal expenditure for the State to follow throughout
a normal fire season. It is designed to prevent the Federal allotment
from being used up within a short period, but rather to insure its
distribution throughout the entire danger season. We are endeavor-
ing to secure permanent protection in this work. While we are
anxious to help every State meet the emergency of a particular sea-
son so far as our funds will permit, we are aiming higher than that;
we are aiming at developing and assisting the States to develop a per-
manent protective system that shall, so far as our side goes, measure
up to the needs of that State and the practical conditions on the
ground. For that reason we are encouraging the use of our funds, in
some cases, for a permanent lookout system, and through the amend-
ment I have just read we are asking the States, so far as the use of
our funds is concerned, to outline a permanent basis of protection.

The next amendment is the last sentence of section 7, which reads
as follows :

This agreement contemplates an expenditure of State funds of at least

dollars ($ ) : and in the event of such expenditure falling below said

amount the Federal expenditure will be decreased proportionately.

The purpose of this amendment is to cause the expenditures of Fed-
eral and State funds to be made in the same proportion. The State
specifies the amount of its own funds which will be available for
expenditure on the cooperative watersheds; if, owing to favorable
conditions, this expenditure is not reached, then the Federal allotment
will only be expended in the same proportion. The outlay by the

XA copy of tin' agreement ;>s amended is contained in the Appendix, p. 78.

■FOREST FIRE PROTECTION" BY THE STATES. 9

State may include the approximate charges for administration, as well
as for preventive measures, such as patrol, lookout work, telephone
construction, and trail building, and for fire fighting.

The third and last amendment of importance is the first paragraph
of section 13, which reads as follows :

13. This agreement shall become effective on the — day of , 191-,

and shall continue in force thereafter, subject, nevertheless, to the availability
of funds appropriated by Congress by the act of March 1, 1911, for the purposes
herein mentioned, and to any amendments which may be made thereof by mutual
agreement of the parties; and it is expressly understood that this agreement
or any modification hereof may be terminated by either party upon thirty (30)
days' written notice to the other.

This clause provides for a continuous agreement which may be
amended in any particular at any time. The making of a new agree-
ment each year will thus be obviated, while the calendar year feature
of the old form of agreement has been preserved in section 7, line 1.
The amount of allotment and any other figures will remain the same
from year to year unless the agreement is amended.

Y\e will now pass to the subject of employment of Federal men.
We wish in the administration of this law to limit the employment of
these men to patrol or lookout duties primarily, and we do not want
them to be emploj^ed chiefly for the construction of improvements.
When in the judgment of the collaborator the danger season has
begun, he may employ Federal men for patrol or lookout purposes
throughout the entire season if necessary. If- at any time during the
season lookout or patrol work is not necessary, he may employ the
men in the construction of improvements, such as lookout stations, tel-
ephone lines, cabins, trails, or other fire-preventive measures. If Fed-
eral men are paid for continuous work, they must be employed con-
tinuous^ in order that there may be no criticism by the public that
these men are not working steadily. We feel, therefore, that the
States in which Federal men are paid continuously should supply the
Forest Service, in advance of the fire season, with a definite plan of
improvement work, showing as nearly as possible how the men will
be employed during the periods when lookout and patrol duty may
not be necessary. The statement will only have to be in enough detail
to show that the work proposed will be sufficient to keep the men busy
during the favorable periods of an average fire season. This require-
ment will apply primarily to the work of patrolmen; the lookout
watchmen, especially those stationed in the rougher regions, will
ordinarily be kept busy repairing the lookout property and clearing
trails.

I would like to ask the collaborators whether the restriction of
employing Federal men primarily for lookout or patrol duty prevents
our getting the most out of this law, or should that restriction be
modified ?

Mr. Cox. I do not think that it interferes seriously at all. In
Minnesota we sometimes have long periods when patrol is not neces-
sary or when the lookout watchmen can leave their posts; there is
plenty of construction work to be clone to which they can be trans-
ferred.

Mr. Elliott. It has not interfered with us in Oregon at all. We
have not only used them on improvement work during the rainy sea-
son, but also during short rainy periods in the extremely dry season.

10 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

In case of a drying east wind they were put on patrol again in half a •
day's time. I keep what I call a supervising warden looking after
them and directing their work, and whenever there is the opportunity
we put them on trail or telephone work. Again, we also use them in
slash burning. This restriction has not been any detriment to us.

Mr. Peters. Gentlemen, is there any objection to the policy of the
Forest Service in requiring that Federal employees be given written
instructions concerning their duties? This requirement has been
very thoroughly tried out in the two years* administration of the
law, and has proved generally effective by giving the men a definite
idea of the work they are to do.

Are there any questions as to the authority which has been given
the collaborators? We wish it to be clearly understood that they are
to have as much authority as possible. We have aimed to give them
considerable latitude, and at the same time to hold them accountable
for results. We have endeavored to eliminate red tape wherever it
has been possible to do so.

Regarding cooperation from private owners, we feel that where
private lands are being protected the owners themselves should sup-
ply a reasonable amount of active assistance through the hire of
patrolmen, the construction of lookouts, or other protective measures.

In the prevention of railroad fires it is felt that Federal funds
should not be used for the purpose indefinitely, and that the Federal
Government should withdraw from protecting the railroads as soon
as it can consistently do so, without decreasing the efficiency of the
State's protective work. We do not insist upon this immediately,
but we ask the State to secure active cooperation from the railroads
as soon as possible. The Forest Service might assist some of the
States in getting more action from the railroads themselves, or in
securing better railroad legislation, by making it known that the
service will not permit the expenditure of Federal money indefinitely
on work which the railroads ought to do themselves. That is our
only object in this matter. We do not want to prevent the best
returns in actual safety for the use of Federal money. If the de-
mands of certain States at present require that it shall be spent in
patrolling railroads, we are willing to have it done. Sooner or later
the railroads all over the country ought to be doing what some of
the more progressive ones are now doing voluntarily, or what some of
them are doing in States where there is stronger legislation on this
subject. I would like to know if it is going to work out that way.

Mr. Cox. I should think that would be a pretty good plan. You
will remember last year you sent out some instructions in regard to
cooperation by lumber companies. I think there is far more reason
for enforcing restrictions on the part of the railroads because, with
us, the lumber companies have cut their valuable timber and a great
many of them own stumpage only. Since they have no interest in
the land, they can hardly be expected to get busy on a large scale
patrolling it, but the railroad companies certainly can, because it
can be easily proven that it is a profitable proposition for them right
from the start.

I was wondering just how far you are willing to go in expending
money for the inspection of railroad fire protection. We have used

FOREST EIKE PROTECTIOX BY THE STATES, 11

some of our patrolmen more as inspectors of patrols than as patrol-
men, and very often they look after railroad patrolmen.

Mr. Peteks. I believe that to be a thoroughly justifiable use of
Federal funds. If the railroad is doing the work and cooperating
with you, there is no reason, in my judgment, why our money can
not be spent for the inspection of that work.

Mr. Filley. In Connecticut it was brought to the attention of the
railroads this past fall that Government funds had been used on
what should be railroad work, with the idea of showing them what
they could do not only to help the State but to save money them-
selves. As a result the chief engineer of the New York, New Haven
& Hartford Railroad has asked me to present a report of the patrol
work in the past year, showing what the patrols accomplished, how
much the work cost, and my recommendations for similar work on
the part of the railroad. I think the railroad company will take it
lip next year on these grounds. It seems to me we could consult with
the Forest Service to advantage on railroad legislation, and also
make use of the Forest Service statistics in regard to railroad fires
and railroad work in other States. I have just learned of railroad
work in other States which I did not know of before, and which, I
think, if brought to the attention of the railroads in Connecticut,
might be of considerable assistance in securing their cooperation.

Mr. Ha wes. I would like to he able to spend money on railroad
patrols for a year or so longer, for our railroad officials have not
become fully educated, and perhaps are more backward than those
of some other States. We persuaded the Central Vermont Railroad
to furnish passes for our Federal patrolmen last year so that they
could go over the dangerous portions of the road as much as they
needed. I hope that other railroads will make similar provision this
summer, and that in this way we can gradually educate them to the
value of a patrol. The railroads have thus far effectively opposed
any legislation looking toward requiring spark arresters and similar
devices.

Mr. Besley. In Maryland we have a great many railroad lines
going through the State, and we have been collecting statistics for
some time to convince them that they are responsible for a great many
of the fires. I think we have convinced them that they are a great
source of danger, for they assured us of their desire to cooperate. A
year ago last fall one railroad went to the extent of establishing a
patrol along its line, and I think it was well satisfied with the result.
Others have instructed their men to put out any fires that occur any-
where near the right of way, regardless of whether they started the
fires or not. We told the railroads, after we had collected our statis-
tics, that they were responsible for a great many fires and it was up
to them to reduce the danger by having fire lines constructed or by
employing a patrol. We also told them that if they did not do this,
we would feel it necessary to keep a pretty close watch along their
lines with the idea of showing exactly how far they were responsible.
We have kept in touch with those whose property has been damaged
by railroad fires, calling their attention to the fact that the forest
law offered them redress, and encouraging them to use this law to the
fullest extent,

12 POEEST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

The Pennsylvania Railroad has in some parts of the State con-
structed fire lines; that is to say, they have cleared hack from the
track quite a distance, They are carrying on that work, I under-
stand, in all places where there is no objection on the part of the
landowners to having the debris cleaned up and burned. So I
think as far as Maryland is concerned we have the railroads with us,
and I do not think that it will be necessary to have any further
legislation on that subject.

Mr. Peters. Is there anything further to be said concerning co-
operation with private owners, or railroads ?

Mr. Mowry. I would like to know the nature and extent of pri-
vate cooperative work required.

Mr. Peters. We do not require it ; we only feel justified in en-
couraging it. It may include the hire of patrolmen, the construction
of lockouts and trails, or other effective protective measures. Take
your oAvn State — Rhode Island — as an example, where the forests are
largely- in wcodlots.. The owner in going the rounds of his property,
whether a farm or an estate, is at the same time protecting his wood-
lot. That is a phase of patrol work by the private owner, uncon-
sciously done to be sure, which we will recognize.

Mr. Holmes. Would you prefer that the Federal money be used
in counties where the sentiment is strongly against forest fires than
in counties where the people are indifferent?

Mr. Peters. By no means. I believe that would be a very short-
sighted policy to adopt. We want private owners to cooperate, and
we feel that it is up to the collaborators to secure cooperation from
them, if possible. But we certainly do not want to enforce the
requirement to the extent of decreasing the efficiency of the State's
protective work.

Mr. Holmes. Where there is any question about using the money,
would it be preferable to expend it where the owners are anxious to
have us do so and are at the same time willing to do their share of
protecting their own property, other things being equal ?

Mr. Peters. Yes. You understand that after a State has received
a given allotment, the State forester may use his discretion in spend-
ing that allotment within the approved watersheds, and this question
of the extent of cooperation of private owners will be considered by
the Service in making the allotment.

Mr. Greeley. We have started out with the fundamental idea that
the primary purpose of this law is education. We can not expect to
stop all the fires in the United States with $200,000, and of course
we would not try to do so. What we are trying to do is to demon-
strate what can be accomplished, and to assist the various protective
agencies. In order to make this campaign effective, Ave have felt
we should do something to insist that all of the people who have
interests at stake should come into line. We can not lay down a
definite ground as to just what they should do, but we feel that they
should do something. As in the case of the railroads, we have made
it our policy, in scrutinizing the plans which each collaborator pre-
sents to us, to ask him for a statement as to how much private
owners are contributing and what they are doing. We feel that
possibly in that way we. might help the State in bringing private

FOKEST FIKE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 13

owners into line. I would like the judgment of the collaborators as
to how far we should go.

Mr. Wilber. It seems to me that is a point which ought to be left
to the men handling the work, because you will find one owner com-
ing in gladly on all sorts of work of that kind while others will not.
I have in mind one big estate of about 40,000 acres in New Jersey
on which we have been trying to put a lookout station for two years.
The owners do not see it our way at all, and it seems to me if we
must tell them that this help will be withdrawn from their area if
they do not cooperate we are likely to stir up antagonism in a way
that will injure us more than it will do us good. On the other hand,
if we can go on as we have been in the past two years, running a
patrol there and stopping 10 or 15 fires a month, I think we can
educate them to our point of view. In our territory I would rather
have the coercive feature left more as a discretionary one than to be
compelled to club the owners into cooperation with us or drop work
on or near their property.

Mr. Greeley. In other words, you hold the school of educating-
them with love rather than with a switch?

Mr. Wilber. I think it is more effective.

Mr. Elliott. There is another side to that. For instance, in Ore-
gon we have one county in which there is a great fire risk and there
are no large timber holders — no one who has enough timber to justify
him in hiring a regular patrolman — and there are absolutely no
hired patrolmen in that county except those whom the State hires
with the State and Federal funds. Last spring we had a letter from
the Forest Service to the effect that we should help especially the
timberland owners who were helping themselves, so I went to the
county court of this county and put the proposition up to the county
something like this: I will put three Federal patrolmen in your
country and also our State man, the supervising warden, and I want
you not only to furnish your road supervisors as patrolmen but I
want you to give them authority to put out the fires at the county's
expense ; otherwise, under the restrictions from the Forest Service, I
do not feel justified in putting in these three patrolmen. They took
up the proposition, and so we had an agreement there that in case
they did have fires the county funds would be used to put them out.
I think that is a splendid example of cooperation, and that is some-
thing which we decided should be encouraged.

Mr. Greeley. Regardless of what Mr. Wilbur says, I think the
switch is sometimes effective. How does that meet with your ap-
proval, Mr. Cox?

Mr. Cox. I do not believe that anything more is needed than we
have. I think both methods must be used. In some cases the more
peaceable method seems most effective, in others the club is necessary.
That instance cited in Oregon seems to me a mighty good one. In
Minnesota the local people have frequently taken up this fire prob-
lem in a surprising way, and have gone much further than we sup-
posed was possible. In some sections of the- State you could not get
them interested in it at all. It seems strange there should be such
a difference ; some communities have practically taken the burden off
of our hands and Ave can readjust our pay roll force for that reason.
It is a matter of education pretty largely, and I think it is up to our

14 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

patrolmen to devote a good deal of thought and effort to instilling
into the local people the whole idea of the thing. Let them see
clearly the object of the work and convince them of its value and I
think we will save ourselves a whole lot of work.
The session then adjourned.

PATROL.

The afternoon session of the conference was called to order by
A. F. Hawes, State forester of Vermont, acting as chairman, at 1.30
o'clock.

The first subject was "Patrol." W. T. Cox, State forester of
Minnesota, was called upon to open the discussion.

Gentlemen : It is my purpose to tell you briefly of the situation
in Minnesota with regard to fire patrol. After the big fire in 1894,
Minnesota passed some legislation looking to the better protection
of the woods, and rather an advanced law for that time was enacted.
It made township officers fire wardens, and the State had for years
practically the same system that has been tried out in many other
States. However, the system gradually worked into politics, and
there were never any adequate appropriations made for its support,
Something further was needed to awaken the people, and it was had
in the disastrous Beaudette fire of two years ago. The next legis-
lature enacted a new forest law, which is a very comprehensive one.
This law provided for a new State department — the forest service —
and in order to get it out of politics as far as possible a forestry
board was established, which includes the dean of the agricultural
college and the director of the forest school of the State university,
two members recommended by the board of regents of the university,
two by the Minnesota Forestry Association, and one each by the
State Agricultural Society, the State Horticultural Society, and the
State game and fish commission. The law further provided that
the board should select a State forester, who should be a trained
forester and who should select his own assistants in the office and in
the field. Thus we were given a free hand to select the men and organ-
ize the field work, and as a result succeeded in getting a good force
of rangers. Our system has been in operation two years.

There are 28,000,000 acres of forest land in the State, of which
20,000,000 acres are really in need of fire protection, the remainder
being included in the hardwood country, where there is no great
danger of fire, and in the National Forests and Indian reservations,
which are already protected and where State rangers are not needed.
These 20,000,000 acres we divided into 20 ranger districts. Under
each district ranger there is a force of State patrolmen, and on the
"Weeks-law cooperative areas an additional force of Federal patrol-
men. We look to the rangers to select these men. On the start we
held an examination. While we are not under civil service, and did
not have authority under the law for holding the examination, it
seemed a good plan in order to head off the various recommendations
which are made. As a result of this examination, a force of efficient
men was obtained.

The Federal cooperative fund has been of great assistance to us.
It can be expended on most of the forest areas of the State • there is

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 15

only a small territory in the northeast, draining directly into Lake
Superior, in which we are prevented from using' it.

In addition to the State patrolmen, the law provides for various
other kinds of patrol; for instance, the organized towns are author-
ized to vote a tax, not exceeding 5 mills, for fire protection. Over 60
organized towns have voted this tax and provided patrolmen, who
must be approved by our district rangers and given appointments
by the State forest service. These men work under the rangers and
fit into the organization as if they were State men.

Furthermore, the railroads put on patrolmen as called for. The
State service has great power to compel the railroads to put on as
many patrolmen as are necessary. We call on the district ranger
to let us know how many men there should be along a certain rail-
road running through his district, where they shall be placed, and
how equipped. We then call on the railroad company to comply
with our request for these men and to maintain them on duty as long-
as the ranger deems necessary. As a result the railroads have on duty
during the fire seasons in the spring and fall something like 200 men
in the northern part of the State.

The lumber companies have also put on patrolmen. As a rule,
the companies in Minnesota do not own large areas of valuable timber
land. They buy timber stumpage in small lots from settlers and
others. Many of the larger holdings are cut— at least the pine has
been cut off — and the companies do not feel justified in spending
money on a basis of acreage, as is done in the Pacific Northwest.
However, all of them have camps, dams, and the like scattered over
their holdings, where they maintain watchers throughout the summer.
These watchers and a few additional men employed for patrol pur-
poses are given instructions to comply with our rangers' requests as
to protecting certain districts; in this way they fit into our organi-
zation and relieve us of a great deal of the burden of patrol.

The rural mail carriers, as a result of the arrangement which the
Federal Forest Service worked out with the postal authorities,1 were
of considerable assistance in the southern and central part of the
State, and also helped the rangers in the northern districts to some
extent.

The patrol force, considering that it must be distributed over
20,000,000 acres, is only a skeleton force, and the men must be so
placed as to do the most effective work of fire protection. We find
that it is more effective to place our men on the border of settlements
along routes of travel and where there is really clanger of fire than
to have them patrol districts where a few people go in the summer
time or in the fire season. Thus, while on paper it averages some-
thing like 280,000 acres to the man, our men actually patrol about
80,000 to 100,000 acres, and there are large districts in which there
are no patrols. With more men we could, of course, get much better
results,

It is important that the patrolman know the district sufficiently to
go around easily and take advantage of the lay of the country. I
believe that an outsider is the right man for the head patrolman,
though a local man can very often be employed to look after towers

1 A copy of the Post Office Department's order concerning the reporting of forest fires
by rural mail carriers is contained in the Appendix, p. i9.

16 FOREST PIEE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

and similar improvements. In my opinion the rangers should have
wide discretion in selecting and directing their patrolmen. The
ranger has a large enough territory from which to pick his men and
to switch them around, so that they are not really local men.

The patrolmen have been helped a good deal in certain parts of
the State by ;" rural fire brigades." The rangers have gone into these
little communities and have been instrumental in organizing forces
of men comparable to the fire brigades in villages — volunteer brig-
ades. A captain is selected in each case and definite plans are made
for action in case a fire is discovered or reported. The patrolman is
thus relieved to that extent, though, of course, if he were in reach he
would have charge of the fire fighting.

Returning to the railroad feature — a very important one with us — ■
in northern Minnesota, as in most timber countries, wherever the rail-
road penetrates the forest there is a strip on each side extending back
from 5 to 15 miles where the country is badly burned up. This is
true even where settlement is lacking. At a greater distance than
that, as a rule, the conditions are very favorable to forest reproduc-
tion. Therefore we feel that it is the duty and responsibility of rail-
road companies to look after their own fire troubles, and they are
finally beginning to come to that point of view themselves. Y\Te have
had a number of meetings with the chief officers of the companies,
and some companies favored the plan of putting an immediate end to
the fire problem; others, however, were more dilatory about it, but
have gradually come into line. While there is a provision of law
which requires the maintenance of railroad patrols, we do not want to
use the club any more than we can help. We feel that if we can get
them to see the reason for the work and the benefit of it we will get
better results. Owing to the way in which the railroad company is
organized, it is mighty hard to force anything on it, because the
responsibility can be easily shifted.

There are about 30 railroad organizations in the State, of which 8
or 10 are important. There are single companies in the State which
have paid out $400,000 a year damages as a result of forest fires, and
there is no doubt that they could have prevented that loss absolutely
by an expenditure of $10,000 a year. That kind of argument appeals
to them, and they are beginning to take hold of it. The general
manager of one of the large companies announced at one of our meet-
ings that he had looked into the matter thoroughly and was con-
vinced that his company could have afforded to have covered the
entire right of way 8 inches deep with gravel and would have been
ahead at the end of two years. There is a suit now pending against
the Canadian Northern Railroad for $2,500,000 as a result of fires in
1910; they could do considerable in the way of fire protection for
tli at amount.

We are using patrolmen more and more as inspectors and educators,
because, after all, the number of fires that they detect and put out is
very small compared with the number that could be extinguished by
the average citizen, the settler, or campers going through the country.
Therefore the thing for the patrolman to do is to educate the public
to the idea that there is a force of men permanetly employed to look
after this work, and that it is worth doing. There is a notion in the
minds of many people that the young forest is worthless; this should

FOBEST FIBE PBOTECTICUST BY THE STATES. 17

be overcome. If people think that the young growing pine has no
value, they will not make much of an effort to protect it ; but if they
realize that it represents an asset of from $10 to $20 an acre they
will view it in a very different light. Back from the burned areas
along the railroads, especially in northern Minnesota, there are
numerous young forests — hundreds of thousands of acres of as pretty
stands of young white and Norway pine as one would wish to see.
Of course, that kind of forest has a value, even if the trees are very
small, and as soon as the public appreciates such property we are
going to have less trouble with fires.

We have equipped the patrolmen in various ways. In the more
settled parts of the State we have in some instances furnished horses.
In case the patrolmen furnish their own horses the service pays one-
half the cost of maintaining them. In the northeastern section of the
State we have supplied canoes, which are the common mode of travel
there. We have also furnished launches for seme of the lakes and
larger streams, and in this way enabled one man to do the work of two
or three. A great many cabins, lookout towers, and shelters have
been erected. For shelters we frequently get the heavy 20-ounce can-
vas used in pulp mills. In the matter of lookouts we follow a some-
what different plan from that used in the East. In the Adirondacks
the observation station is a place where a man stays. With us most
of the lookouts are erected on some hill along a trail or canoe route,
and they are climbed merely as the patrolmen come to that part of
their beat, or if there is a settler or fisherman living in the vicinity
we pay him to climb the tower regularly during the fire season and
get word to the patrolman in case of fire.

With regard to the telephone proposition we have gone at this also
in a little different way from most of you. As I understand it, in the
East you have built telephones mainly to the permanent observation
stations, which, of course, is the proper thing there. In our case,
where there is no one living at the lookouts, we find it more advisable
to build telephone lines into the remote settlements. In the northern
part of the State there are settlements scattered 20 and 30 miles apart.
Some of them are 30 miles from the nearest wagon roads, necessitat-
ing our getting into communication with them by wire, and we have
built in one case a telephone line that is nearly 100 miles long. Here
again we rely on the cooperation of settlers, lumber companies, and
others in the region to help us out. We furnish the wire and supervise
the work; the settlers and lumber companies do the work, putting
up the poles and getting the line in operation. The patrolmen main-
tain it.

One-half of the State appropriation, or about $40,000, is set aside
for strictly patrol work. So far we have laid a lot of stress on the
educational feature, as I "do not believe it can be over-emphasized in
the beginning of such a work as we have in Minnesota. After the
service becomes well organized and the people know more about the
nature of the work it will be proper to devote two-thirds or more of
our appropriation to patrol.

We hope to have a greater force of patrolmen in the future. The
legislature is in session now and we are asking for a larger appro-
priation, which I think there is fair hope of getting.

13369°— 14 2

18 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

C. P. Wilber, State fire warden of New Jersey, was next called on
and spoke as follows :

Gentlemen : First, I want to outline the situation we have to meet
in north Jersey, because that is the only part of the State where we
can use Federal funds. The whole territory there is within two or
three hours* ride by railroad from the metropolitan district. It is
commonly called " New York's playground," and includes all the
well-known New Jersey mountain and lake resorts. Furthermore,
Jersey City, Newark, Paterson, and the large manufacturing centers,
where there are many foreigners — the most careless type — who go
into the woods in crowds on Sunday, are nearby. There are also a
large number of permanent residents throughout the region.

The whole State is gridironed with one of the best systems of roads
in the United States, which draws automobilists from all of the
New England States, New York, and Pennsylvania; besides there
are some 75,000 automobiles in New Jersey. These people are con-
tinually passing through the territory, and it is impossible to watch
them. Furthermore, the whole country is criss-crossed by railroads.
Most of them are coal-carrying roads that have very heavy hauls and
heavy grades, which increase the fire danger. In addition, fully half
of the gunning around the New York district is done in north Jersey.
Trains will stop nearly anywhere to drop sportsmen off, and there is
no adequate way to reach them as they go into the woods.

Thus, we have a territory that must be handled differently from
sections where there is a large area of woodland sparsely settled and
remote. We must prepare for a large body of people all the time.
We also must provide for the class of people who go out from the
cities on Sundays and holidays, the greater part of whom we can not
keep track of. There seems no way, except through general educa-
tional work, to reach them. A great many people who come into the
territory are from outside of the State. They have no personal or
property interest in the work we are doing, and can not be reached
as can our own citizens for either education or penalty.

The only way we have found to cope with the problem is by endeav-
oring to penalize the people who start the fires. We put particular
emphasis on getting the offender. If we can make a man pay a fine
for starting a small fire, and the fact gets into the newspapers, it
makes an impression on the people who frequent or use the forest.
I believe we have done the greatest part of our educational work by
making it expensive to start fires.

The State organization in north Jersey consists of a division fire
warden as an assistant to the State fire warden and a township
warden in each township where there is any appreciable amount of
woodland, in addition to enough district wardens to adequately con-
trol the area. The aim is to assign a warden to each 5,000 acres of
land. This force is composed of local men, who receive a small
annual fee of $10 or $20 besides the money paid them for actually
fighting fires. It is, therefore, a good deal of a voluntary service.
These men, as soon as they hear of a fire, get together enough men to
take care of it. They have authority to require assistance. Such
work is entirely in their hands, and the results through the local
organization in this territory indicate that we can rely upon the
system.

FOREST FIBE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 19

In handling the Federal fire patroi work I did not know in the
beginning how to go at it, because it seemed almost useless to put
patrolmen on a road and have them walk 15 or 20 miles a day, if
they could cover that much, and leave perhaps 150 miles of road
absolutely without patrol.

Our idea first, in the fall of 1911, was to use a large number of men
and cover the whole territory for a short period. We did so for two
months with about 40 men, and had very few fires, but since the
season was wetter than usual, the effectiveness of this plan was not
fairly tried out. In 1912 it was evident that we could not afford such
a patrol. Further, it appeared that we were not getting enough
value from so large a number of men, outside of the publicity feature,
to justify such expenditure. Therefore, during the past summer we
used from six to eight men at particularly dangerous points where
there had been a large number of fires heretofore, principally along
the railroads. They patrolled an area of from 4 to 6 miles each, and
together they handled as high as 31 fires a month, stopping them en-
tirely unaided and in only one case allowing a fire to get enough
headway to require a call for help. It was purely railroad patrol,
and I feel that its continuance is not justified. I think, however,
it will help us in getting a grip on the north Jersey roads, some of
which claim there is no use in patrol. I have not yet had an oppor-
tunity to work up the data these men collected, but I think the great-
est value of the work will be in showing the railroads that they are
setting enough fires to make it worth their while to watch them.

We are placing particular emphasis on holding the railroads liable
for the fires they start and enforcing money penalties. We do not
collect a large fine, but require the railroads to pay the costs of ex-
tinguishment, a great deal in the same way that Connecticut does.
This sum is getting larger each year on the northern roads, and
probably in time we will be able to put enough pressure on them to
look at the fire problem from a practical standpoint, as Mr. Cox has
done in Minnesota.

In the fall of 1912 we determined to continue with the small force,
but put them in the woods. Most of them had routes covering about
33 miles of road and trail, and the territory was covered in from one
to three days. They were picked largely from the 40 men employed
the previous year, and we found that we did not have to inspect them
continuously to secure conscientious work. They were seen on an
average of once a week from September until the last of November,
and we found no case where a man had shirked the work. They were
told to watch for fires, and in no case to try to fight large ones. If
they saw a fire they were to get the township wardens to it and then
go on. Special emphasis was laid on the necessity for arresting
offenders against the fire laws and penalizing them. There were,
however, no arrests, and in two and one-half months there were but
five fires per man reported.

I am pretty thoroughly satisfied that in northern New Jersey a
patrol system is too expensive a method of protection. I think in a
territory of this kind, so accessible to large centers of population, and
where the people go into the woods, the lookout system is probably
the only one that will pay in the end.

So far we have not been able to do much lookout work in north
Jersey, except where in two places we found local families some

20 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

members of which would climb a tower six or eight times a day. One
of our greatest difficulties in installing lookouts is that there is no
telephone communication over large areas. It is localized in the
towns, in the large cities, and along the railroads. Our wardens are
scattered through the more remote districts, where the State can not
afford to put in and private interest is not sufficient to support such
service. However, the building of new lines is being extended
through the initiative of the telephone companies themselves at every
opportunity, with our interest and assistance. When we get such
service I am confident that we can put in a lookout system in the
northern part of the State which will cover the territory very satis-
factorily, leaving the actual fire fighting and what little patrol is
necessary to the local wardens themselves.

F. W. Besley, State forester of Maryland, was then called upon,
and gave the following talk:

Gentlemen : Our problem in Maryland is quite different in many
respects from the problems in Minnesota and New Jersey.

Cooperative work under the Weeks law is being conducted in the
western half of the State, which includes the Appalachian and Pied-
mont regions. In the Appalachian region there are a few large
holdings of timberland, but for the most part the holdings are rela-
tively small. The Federal patrolmen are employed in this region
exclusively. In the Piedmont region the holdings are mostly in
wood lots; our work there has been largely in the nature of educating
the public in fire prevention.

The fire season in the State is confined to two relatively definite
periods — one in the spring, from about April 1 to May 15, and an-
other in the fall, from about September 15 to December 15. This
enables us to concentrate our efforts and reduce the cost of protection.
In certain sections, especially in the wood-lot section, the spring fires
are the most common ones and do the most damage. They result
largely from brush burning, incident to clearing land. The larger
fires, however, usually occur in the fall, in the mountain section.

Our protective system consists of forest wardens, forest patrolmen,
and lookout watchmen. The wardens are commissioned by the gov-
ernor, upon the recommendation of the State forester, the law limit-
ing us to the appointment of not more than one warden for each
15,000 acres of woodlands in the county. The wardens receive no
salary, but are paid for services rendered, half by the State and half
by the county. Since under our law there are no restrictions in the
appointment of the wardens, except as to number, we have been able
to select men who would make the best officers, most of them actuated
by a high sense of public duty. The chief difficulty is that they are
too far apart, and in order to overcome this we are appointing depu-
ties for each warden, with the view of having the men within 2 or 3
miles of each other.

The patrolmen, all of whom are Federal employees, are regu-
larly commissioned forest wardens, assigned to patrol duty. They
are usually farmers who know everybody in the community and who
understand the local situation thoroughly. These men are assigned
a territory covering from 85,000 to 100,000 acres each, and, as far as
possible, they travel along the ridges, where a good view of the sur-

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 21

rounding country can be obtained. They are mounted on horses, in
which respect our system appears to be different from that of other
States. The patrolmen furnishes his horse and receives $3 per diem
when actually employed, and his patrol is limited to days when it is
dry enough for fires to run in the woods. This usually amounts to
from 50 to 60 days during the year. By paying a dollar a day more
for a mounted patrolman than for one on foot the efficiency, I be-
lieve, is at least doubled. There are roads and trails all through the
mountains, so that it is possible for a man on horseback to reach
about any point desired. He can also cover a much larger territory,
and in case a fire is discovered some distance away he can reach the
point quickly and get together a force of men with little delay. Our
woodlands are not in large, continuous bodies as in the North, and
the country is more thickly settled. We find that one of the great-
est accomplishments of our patrol service is in showing the people the
importance of fire protection. The patrolman is instructed to confer
with the property owners in his district and to warn those who are
likely to be careless in the burning of brush and the escape of fire.
He also visits the school houses to secure the cooperation of the
teachers and children in educating the public of the need of fire
prevention. The people of this section have become impressed with
the importance of the work, because they see the active interest which
the State and the Federal Governments are taking in it.

The lookout watchmen aid very materially in the fire-protection
plan. We have a number of lookout stations in the mountains.
Each one has a telephone connection with the forest wardens, so that
a forest fire is quickly observed and reported to the nearest warden.
We have found that under this system the fires have not only been
reduced in number, but the average area burned over by each fire is
very much less than before the system was inaugurated.

In addition to the regular lookout stations there are a number of
good observation points where we employ men living near by to
make three observations daily during the dangerous seasons, for
which they are paid 50 cents a day. We find that this arrangement
works very well and saves the expense of a regular station where we
would not be justified in having an all-day lookout.

In regard to cooperation with private owners, we have not been
able to secure any from the larger owners of timberland, while we
have gotten considerable from the smaller owners of wood lots. Our
forest law requires that each owner shall, to the extent of his ability,
control fires that may burn on his own land. When a fire occurs it
is the duty of the forest warden to go at once to it and see that the
owner and the help that he may have on the place are doing what
they can to extinguish the fire. If the force at hand, with the help
of the warden, is not sufficient, then the warden is- authorized to
employ additional help at the expense of the State and county, each
paying half. It is, therefore, the intent of the law that the State
fire-protection work shall be supplementary to private effort. In
the case of the large nonresident owner, who frequently has no one
available for fire fighting and yet who should be just as responsible
for the protection of his own land as the resident owner, we have
considerable difficulty In having the spirit of the law strictly ob-
served. As a matter of course, we do not discriminate in our efforts

22 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

to protect any forest land, but in justice to all taxpayers we feel
that the whole burden of protecting the lands of nonresident owners
should not be borne entirely by the State and county. We have con-
cluded that the spirit of the law would be properly carried out if
each owner of as much as 500 acres of woodland would agree to have
one man on the place available for fire fighting, to be paid by him,
and an extra man for each additional 500 acres up to 5,000 acres, and
for each 1,000 acres in excess of 5,000. One large company has prac-
tically accepted this arrangement, and another is, I believe, willing
to carry it out, though unwilling to enter into an agreement with us.
Some have refused, and many others are undecided. Public senti-
ment, however, is being worked up and will, I believe, eventually
bring some of the doubtful ones into line.

This, in the main, covers our system. We have but few features
not found in other States. Under our conditions, where the wood-
land is in relatively small areas and where the timber is practically
all hardwood and is in consequence liable to surface fires only, there
is not the need for so extensive a system as is required in the North.
The fact that the dangerous season is restricted to three or four
months makes it possible for us to concentrate our efforts in fire
protection to a small part of the year.

COOPERATION WITH PRIVATE OWNERS.

E. T. Allen, forester of the Western Forestry and Conservation
Association, led the discussion of this subject with the following
address :

Gentlemen : Mr. Peters has suggested that I discuss cooperative
private work, rather than the Weeks law, in order to help, perhaps,
in your attempts to start private organizations in your own States.

The Western Forestry and Conservation Association is a league
of such local associations throughout the five Pacific States. It does
not do field fire work itself. The first locals to ally in this way were
the four Idaho patrol associations that were also the pioneers in
cooperative patrol in the United States. They soon joined with a
western Washington association, and, as cooperative patrol spread,
we took in Montana, Oregon, and California organizations.

Except in Idaho, where the law places State cooperation upon an
acreage basis, the methods and organization principles of all these
locals are very similar. They are patrol and fire-fighting systems
financed by uniform acre assessments upon their members and co-
operating with county, State, and Government to the extent possible
under the local conditions oi these public agencies. As a rule they
have the usual officers, with a standing fire committee and a chief
fire warden. In contributing acreage they vary from 50,000 to
3,000,000 acres, and the territory patrolled usually is two to three
times the contributing acreage because of scattered holdings. The
total patrolled by our 14 active constituents is about 20,000,000
acres, and the total expenditure for all purposes runs from $200,000
to $700,000 a year, according to seasonal hazard. This maintains
about 450 regular wardens, a shifting force of temporary men and
fire fighters, and yearly increasing trail and telephone systems. It
protects approximately 500,000,000,000 feet of timber, about a fifth of

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 23

the Nation's entire supply. Aggregate losses have ranged from about
one-hundredth of 1 per cent in easy years to perhaps one-fourth of
1 per cent in 1910, the worst year in history. Assessments vary with
locality and season, ranging from 1 to 15 cents, with an average of
perhaps 3 cents.

In Idaho there is no State forest administration other than that
afforded through the land board, but there is a law under which
timber owners may organize fire districts and have their warden
given police power. The State itself is a timber owner, so it joins
the association in each district and pays upon its acreage exactly
like the rest. In Washington the association does most of the pa-
trolling, while the State helps pay for fire fighting. In Oregon the
State appoints and pays the district wardens nominated by the asso-
ciations and the latter furnish subordinates. In Idaho and Oregon
Weeks-law rangers work directly in these State-private combinations.
In Washington, the bond being less, they are under the State only,
but are stationed so as to dovetail into a related patrol system. In
Montana the cooperation is rather less systematic still. In all four
States there is systematic private and State cooperation with the
Forest Service, varying in method. California, having no State fire
work and only one small private fire association, offers little that
would interest you except an increasing tendency to place private
lands within National Forests under Federal protection, toward
which the owners contribute.

But while these local associations exist primarily for actual field
fire work, one of their results, and the object of their alliance almost
wholly, is the strengthening of the whole protective movement with
such elements as the public legislative bodies and nonprogressive
lumbermen. A warden cautioning a setttler or a logger to improve
dangerous conditions or prosecuting an offender is immensely
stronger with a broad, useful organization back of him than he would
be as the employee of one timber owner. An association that can
show its own liberal expenditure and practical results has an unques-
tionable right to suggest legislation and request appropriations for
State work.

It was discovery of this power resulting from their independent
local strength that suggested the five- State league for still more
effective educational work and for a clearing house of technical ideas.
At first this was pretty much an interassociation movement, but it
soon transpired that the Forest Service and the States had practi-
cally equal place in it, so the next step was to make the Western
Forestry and Conservation Association a sort of triple alliance of
private, State, and Federal protective agencies. So now we repre-
sent the combined influence and technical competence of all branches
and have corresponding strength in molding legislation and public
sentiment, as well as a unique usefulness in helping each other in
our own work. Each one of the three gets the active help of the
other two whenever it needs it to any good end. Recently the Brit-
ish Columbia people have signified a desire to have us take them
in too.

These activities of our five-State alliance take four chief forms.
One is the function of a clearing house for ideas and experiments in
fire methods, as in handling and feeding men, building telephone lines

24 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

and lookouts, burning slashings, improving tools and equipment, etc.
Secondly, we engage in an active publicity campaign, using every
adaptable device of modern advertising. Thirdly, we afford an ex-
pert for framing and pressing forest legislation. Finally, and prob-
ably most interesting to you in connection with the Weeks law, is
our service as a medium for bringing about cooperation between the
several agencies in actual field organization of protective forces.

We were all troubled once by the waste of money and ineffective-
ness due to duplicate effort and neglect of neutral territory. State,
Forest Service, and associations were all sincere in trying to keep
down fire and in building up good organizations, but, likely enough,
sending three men along the same trail to go after the same fire and
equally neglecting some other fire. Sometimes there was mutual
suspicion of each other's competence.

But after we got acquainted, through a common working medium,
each found the other had much to contribute, and none had any
monopoly of advantage that warranted its standing alone. So now
they get together — Forest Service officials, State foresters, and asso-
ciation heads— with maps and lists in hand and say, " How can we
divide this territory so as to get the best fire protection for the least
money? " Roughly speaking, the Service is chiefly interested inside
the National Forests, the associations where private timber interests
are paramount, and the State in its grant lands and in regions where
water supply or settlers demand protection that no one else will give.
But there are overlaps of interest and also regions where none would
act if obliged to make a sacrifice to do it. We try to divide these up.
The best man is put in charge, whether State, Federal, or private, and
the subordinates of each are given the right relations, or the terri-
tory is abandoned to one agency, which is in turn relieved elsewhere,
or some other mutually satisfactory plan is devised. Advance ar-
rangements are made for fixing responsibility in emergencies and
for sharing expenses.

The Weeks law money has been a tremendous help in all this. It
has forced better relations where they tended to lag. Some of you
may have thought it should not go to States that already have Fed-
eral aid through the National Forests. To this we can reply that it
is quite as important to double the efficiency of an existing joint ex-
penditure of perhaps $300,000 a year by spending $10,000 more as
it is to bring about the expenditure of $10,000 in some State that has
hitherto spent nothing. It is the addition of a new element — the
Weeks law patrolmen — that has necessitated cooperation on a wide-
spread systematic scale and is knitting all parts of the system into
an efficient whole for the public good. In Oregon, for example, it
has helped greatly in the organization of many new associations with
strong patrols where no patrol existed before. The State forester
simply adopted the Carnegie library system of inducement, saying to
the timber owners and the country, " If you will put in a system of
a certain standard of excellence, I will pay a fair share of the cost
from the Weeks law fund; otherwise the money will go to some
locality that will."

We of the West also feel that the methods of using Weeks law
money should be left fairly flexible. While in some regions lookouts
are as valuable as patrolmen, in others, or at certain times, they do

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 25

little good. It should be possible to put a man at trail building dur-
ing a week of rainy weather, for example. We think the Service
should lay down principles and ideas to guide the work toward uni-
form ends, but leave enough discretion with the State to insure meet-
ing conditions. I believe this has been the policy of the Service from
the start.

Returning again to association work, it has a peculiar field in
publicity work that is hard for you to cover as State officials, espe-
cially where you are restricted by State printing rules or by statute
fixing what you may publish. The association can do anything it has
money for, can get the lowest rates, and is not hampered by red-tape
or official dignity. The State can then purchase the material from
the association at cost, thus receiving all advantage. Our association
issues colored pictorial fire warnings, gummed stickers, various illus-
trated circulars designed for the general public, and special cir-
culars distributed among school children by teachers.

We also prepare copy for use by other agencies at their own initial
expense, such as drills on forest-fire subjects to go in State arbor-day
bulletins, arguments and precautions printed in time tables by rail-
road companies and in directories by telephone companies, forest-
fire epigrams on checks used by business houses, and all sorts of simi-
lar publicity material printed by our State foresters, constituent
associations, and anyone else who will make use of it. By gaining a
reputation for having reliable forest information on tap, we find a
large field in supplying clubs, public speakers, State commissioners,
and the like with material for addresses and reports. You will be
surprised by the number of people who will call on you for this if
you will furnish it in attractive form, keep confidence, and let them
use it as wholly their own. Advertise the other fellow, not yourself,
and he will spread the propaganda at his own expense. Our princi-
ple is to do ourselves only what we can not get done in this way.

In legislative work you will find the association of immense as-
sistance to you. On the other hand,' its help to private owners, in
this kind of work is one of the best arguments with which to organize
associations. The foundation principle of success in forest legisla-
tion is to have your measures fair to all interests involved and then
to enlist all interests in their passage and execution. It is unfor-
tunate to have a legislative movement pushed singly by either the
Federal service, a State forester, the lumberman, or the lay reformer.
It will seldom either be an ideal measure or receive the necessary
support.

With a clean association of forest owners who do useful things
themselves and are entitled to a voice, you get a point of view in
framing the bill that safeguards you against any impractical features.
Moreover, giving them a part removes the indifference or suspicion
they might have even if the bill did not warrant it, and it enlists
their interest in getting it through. The knowledge that they will
also have a voice after its passage makes them far readier to accept
what otherwise might seem like dangerous State regulation. Finally,
they can get behind a kind of campaign for its passage that you, as
a State official, are debarred from attempting. It is our associations'
personal and financial backing of a whirlwind campaign that passes
practically all of our progressive forest legislation, yet there is

26 FOEEST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

nothing uncommendable in this from the public's point of view,
because the bills are also indorsed by the official forest authorities.

Possibly your forest owners may not see the desirability of coop-
erative fire protection. Often they don't until they have tried it.
Then talk to them of the dangers of foolish compulsory legislation
at any time likely to be sprung by impractical reformers, quote any
examples of this as handwriting on the wall, and show them that by
organization with a useful purpose they will acquire a systematized,
workable influence against anything of the kind. There is no better
way to get a helpful, sympathetic understanding of their industry;
a safeguard in all directions, not forgetting taxes. It brings them
friends at court, as it were ; the* friendship of the State, the Forest
Service, the educational institutions, and all the mediums that in-
fluence public conduct. Once get them together with arguments
like this as well as with talk of fire fighting, and in a little while
they get the spirit of the whole forest movement and work with you
heartily in everything if you deserve it.

In some States you can not get satisfactory cooperation with pri-
vate owners in fire work, because the law does not provide for it.
This is a good ground for getting their organized help in changing
the law. I maintain that every State forest law should contain such
encouragement ; that instead of contemplating a purely official system,
it should induce private owners to get into the game and, in return
for consideration of their needs, work with you to get freedom from
politics, practical efficient personnel, spirit of mutual confidence, and
local and technical familiarity with forest conditions, in a combina-
tion that Can not exist in an exclusively private, State, or Federal
system.

Mr. Ha wes. Gentlemen, we are fortunate in securing the time of
Mr. George Otis Smith, Director of the United States Geological
Survey, for a few moments this afternoon. Mr. Smith is here as a
representative of the Kennebec Valley Protective Association, and
will speak to us on the work of that association. I take pleasure in
introducing Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith. Gentlemen, I come here somewhat under false pre-
tenses. I am not an expert on the matter of the forests of Maine.
I suppose there are States in the West whose forests I am better
acquainted with than I am with those of my own State, where I have
the privilege of paying taxes and having my children spend their
summers. I was, however, one of the organizers of the Kennebec
Valley Protective Association. As it happened, I was in the State
at the time that the timberland owners of the Kennebec Valley got
together and perfected an organization, the principal purpose of
which is to aid the State and Federal Governments in their fire-fight-
ing work. It is essentially a timberland owners' association. The
membership is based and the right of voting is based upon acreage
ownership. The organization is small, though representative of
large ownership.

I simply desire to call attention to the fact that the directors are
given large powers in the matter of authorizing very informally, but
very effectively, an assessment which may amount to 5 mills per
acre. That is simply an emergency measure, the purpose of the
association being more to stand in the background and assist the

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 27

State and the United States officials in their work. When there is
need for a reserve being called into the field this association stands
ready, and its five directors have the power to vote very expeditiously
money for fire fighting in addition to that which is available on the
part of the State. We trust that that power of the directors may not
have to be exercised, but it is quick money that they can vote, because
these men are leaders in the industrial activities of the State, and
they do not have to go to the bank to get money ; their word is enough
for the men who will go on the fighting line.

Maine seems to me to be more comparable in these matters to one
of the Western States than any other of the Eastern States for the
reason that it is sparsely settled. We have about 30,000 square miles
in Maine, and the greater part of it is really wooded, even in the
southwestern portions of the State.

The northern half of the State is densely wooded and practically
unpopulated. Piscataquis County, which lies in the central portion
of the State, has a population of a little over 5 per square mile,
whereas our country as a whole has 31 per square mile. So the con-
ditions are altogether different from what they are in the old State
of Massachusetts. I believe, however, that the lookout service is quite
similar. While I can not speak authoritatively regarding the present
method of establishing these lookouts, I remember when the first
ones were established, which happened to be in the Kennebec Valley.
The procedure was for the landowners of certain areas to get together
and meet the expenses of erecting shelter and putting in the telephone
line. Then the State would step forward and take on the upkeep of
the station.

There are now 28 lookout stations^ all located in the Maine forestry
district, which includes the wild lands of the State. Emergency tool
boxes are distributed over this district at advantageous points. They
are similar, I suppose, to what you have in the other States, the equip-
ment being from 1 to 2 dozen tools, or in some cases 5 or 10 dozen.

I believe we can not lean too heavily upon the work of the Federal
and State Governments. While their work must be carried on in a
way adapted to normal conditions, in time of war the reserves must
be called out, and this association is like the organized militia of the
State — ready to go to the assistance of the standing Army.

E. C. Hirst, State forester of New Hampshire, followed Mr. Smith.

Gentlemen: I will take this subject up under two heads, coopera-
tion with (1) large owners and (2) small owners.

Cooperation with the large owners in New Hampshire is confined
almost entirely to an association formed two years ago. This asso-
ciation was the first one of its kind in the East. About three years
ago the State forestry commission called a meeting of the large timber-
land owners of the White Mountain region to discuss fire protection.
Mr. Cox, who was then in the Forest Service, came up and spoke to
us on how the Government cooperates with fire protective associa-
tions in the West. At that time most of the owners did not think
it necessary to organize for fire protection. Most of them were will-
ing to do something^ but felt that the best way was for each owner to
turn over the amount of money he was willing to expend each year
directly to the State forester and let him use the funds, together with
the State appropriation, to the best advantage.

28 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

At that meeting the timberland owners present subscribed about
$5,000. and gave i,t to the State forester for the building of mountain
lookout stations. During the summer of 1910 nine stations were
built and operated. At the end of the fire season the owners who
had contributed held another meeting and the State forester reported
how their funds had been used. It was then decided that the owners
could best cooperate with the State through an organized associa-
tion, and the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association was
later formed and incorporated. Some of those who went into it did
not think it would be permanent. However, during the first year of
field work the association demonstrated its usefulness pretty clearly,
and I do not believe there are any members now who could be driven
out of it.

I have here a map which shows how our fire-protective system
operates. The black lines -indicate the fire districts ; there are four
of them, each supervised by a district chief employed by the State.
The Weeks law cooperative area is within the three northern dis-
tricts, as also is most of the land of the association owners. In
1911 New Hampshire experienced the most dangerous fire year on
record. In the three northern districts, where most of the wild
lands are located, there was very little fire damage, due to the
cooperative system which had been worked out between the Gov-
ernment, the State, the towns, and the timberland owners. In the
southern district, however, which is largely a wood-lot country, and
in which we have heretofore not expected serious fires, there was
more damage than in the other three districts together. This at
once -shows the benefits of cooperation and indicates that it must
be extended into the southern wood-lot region.

The work of the timberland owners' association is divided into
patrol, lookouts, and education. Early in the spring, as soon as
we find out just what money the State can spend on- fire protection,
and as soon as our agreement is completed with the Federal Gov-
ernment, the forester for the association, Mr. Billard, and I get
together for a conference. I prepare a State and Federal budget for
the fire season, and he plans the association work to supplement
and strengthen the State and Federal work. He tries to spend the
association's money, as nearly as he can, in the regions from which
he derives the revenue. The association members assess themselves
1 cent an acre a year, which may be increased in case of emergency,
and he tries to give each locality adequate or proportional pro-
tection. By putting a little money in the form of patrol, or trail
building, or something of that kind, into the different localities
from which he gets revenue, he can secure more members. The
Federal Government has purchased 72,000 acres in the White Moun-
tains proper, which was formerly association land, but Mr. Billard
has been able to get enough additional members to offset that pur-
chase, so that there will be just as much land in the association next
year as there was before.

The greatest value of the association's patrol service is that it
is so very elastic. In 1911 our agreement with the Forest Service
for the Weeks law patrolmen did not go into effect until June 2,
but we had had fires in the mountain region as early as April 30.
The association stepped in and hired about 75 patrolmen, doubling
the force on Sundays and holidays. This filled in a gap when we

POREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 29

would otherwise have had inadequate protection. Throughout the
summer Mr. Billard aims to keep on a small number of permanent
patrolmen, but can expand the field force quickly if necessary. He
usually takes this up through the town fire warden, visiting each
one in the spring and making the arrangements. The warden is
given the first chance at the patrol job, and this keeps him interested
in the association's work. If he does not want to do the patrolling
himself, he usually hires somebody near by and keeps a watch on him.

The association has also been able to extend the State work a
great deal. The lookout stations it first built have been taken over
by the State through a special appropriation made for the purpose.
It would have been very difficult to get a bill through the legisla-
ture to establish lookout stations without first demonstrating their
usefulness, and the association enabled us to do this. Last year
it built additional stations, which we hope to take over at this
coming session of the legislature, and continue that .policy until the
whole State is covered with as many lookout stations as are needed.

In addition to building the stations, the association built a num-
ber of telephone lines into dangerous localities and along patrol
routes. In some cases it has been possible to repair and use old
lines abandoned by lumber companies, which were formerly used
along driving-streams or for connecting camps. In this way they
have built new or reconstructed about 100 miles of telephone line.

The association also does a great deal of educational work. Mr.
Billard plans to be in Concord all the time the legislature is in ses-
sion to appear before committees and explain legislative measures
to members individually.

I am not able to give so favorable a report from New Hampshire
on cooperation with the small owners. Since we get such good
results in the mountain, region, where we secure effective cooperation,
it is clear that in the rest of the State we have got to make the State
or the local communities or the private owners do more. I do not
see how we are going to get these small wood-lot owners together in
an organization.

It is possible we may be able to work it out on a town basis. We
have a pretty good set of fire wardens, and it has taken quite a while
to get them. Most of them are willing to do a great deal in the way
of local organization. We are following up the warden appoint-
ments by sending our district chiefs around to each town and having
them get in touch with woodland owners. The town warden has
furnished us with lists of all the persons in each town who own any
woodland to speak of, and the district chief, as he has time, makes
it his business to visit them. If he finds a place on a hill where some
one is living who has a telephone and can look over considerable
country, he goes there and makes arrangements for the owner to
report fires to the warden, and leaves a list of town fire wardens
and deputies in the vicinity, with their telephone numbers. There
may not be a great many fires reported from such places, but it
spreads the information of fire protection throughout the town.
Then if there is anybody who has been employed and owns tools that
can be used for fire fighting, the district chief makes an arrangement
with him to furnish these men and tools in case of fire. I am in-
clined to believe that it is along that line that we will have to work
for cooperation with the owners in the wood-lot regions. Perhaps

30 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

by organizing local forestry societies, like the Society for the Pro-
tection of New Hampshire Forests is doing, we may develop volun-
teer forest-fire companies in the rural towns. In that way I think
we can build up some kind of an effective cooperation with the small
owners, but I rather doubt whether we can go as far as getting them
to pay any assessment on their timberland for fire protection.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Peters. I would like Mr. Hirst to explain why we made Mr.
Billard, the forester of the New Hampshire Protective Association,
a collaborator in the Forest Service.

Mr. Hirst. I requested his appointment because he is in the field
nearly all the time looking after his own men. In 1911 we found
that the Federal men to whom he would give suggestions did not
really know whether they were under him or not. Now, however,
that he is appointed a collaborator in the Forest Service, we place in
the fire budget to each district chief a notice that Mr. Billard is in
charge of field work in the absence of the State forester. It gives
one more man, who is in the field considerably, authority over the
patrolmen.

Mr. Hawes. Does the Forest Service take the stand that in any
case where a cooperative organization is formed the forester in
charge will be appointed a collaborator?

Mr. Peters. Yes ; to a reasonable extent, provided his appointment
would further the effectiveness of the work. For example, in Idaho
there are five collaborators, including the commissioner of the State
land office and the chief fire warden of each of four timber protective
associations. Under the law the State as a timberland owner is
authorized to cooperate with other owners, and it does this through
these four associations.

Mr. Cox. I would like to ask Mr. Hirst if the association members
pay on a basis of total acreage or of only uncut timberland?

Mr. Hirst. Total acreage, including cut-over land.

Mr. Hawes. I will ask Mr. Cox to speak of his experience in secur-
ing cooperation from private owners in Minnesota.

Mr. Cox. We have not had so very much cooperation with the
lumber companies. As I have already said, they have their camp
watchers, and some companies have put on a number of patrolmen in
addition. The iron companies which have large holdings in north-
eastern Minnesota, especially the steel trust, have a regular forest
service of their own. They cooperate with us very fully, putting
their men under our district rangers to a certain extent, but they, too,
have what might be called district rangers. We feel that the lumber
companies are doing almost enough in looking after the disposal of
their slash, and that it is up to the State to look after the patrol work.
In meeting the slash requirements, which are very stringent, the
companies are paying the equivalent of $300,000 a year for fire pro-
tection, so we feel that they should not be called upon to contribute
very heavily in the matter of patrol.

Mr. Hawes. Mr. Wilber, what have you to say on this subject?

Mr. Wilder. We have not been able to secure any private coopera-
tion to speak of in North Jersey. The only people we can turn tq
are those owning large estates, many of whom have their own pro-

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 31

tective systems, which they consider better than ours. I have been
trying for 18 months to get some sort of cooperation on one property
in installing a lookout on a high mountain. It will entail on the
part of the owners the expense of building probably half a mile of
telephone line, but they can not see the advantage of it. These
owners are, for the most part, satisfied with things as they are. On
the wood-lot proposition I agree with Mr. Hirst, that it is exceedingly
difficult to bring these people together.

Mr. Allen. Where you have had this difficulty in any association,
may I ask whether the small man has had an equal vote? How is
that in New Hampshire?

Mr. Hirst. In the New Hampshire association every man has an
equal vote. That policy was adopted in order to bring the small
owner in.

Mr. Allen. It helps to allow the small man equal vote; that is, to
make membership privileges uniform without regard to acreage. He
then takes more interest and is less apt to fear he will not be looked
after as well as large contributors. All our associations do this.

Mr. Wilber. I would like to ask Mr. Allen whether in organizing
an association he thinks it should be wholly private, with a private
individual to handle it, or could the State forester handle it ?

Mr. Allen. It would depend considerably upon existing sentiment
and upon the confidence in the State office of those who would be
involved. Generally speaking, however, I should prefer to see the
timber people feel that they were doing the work, so as to insure
their own interest, but have the association cooperate with the State
very closely. It would not be so strong with the public if it didn't,
nor would you feel so safe with it. On the other hand, in getting effi-
ciency in the woods through good men well handled a private organi-
zation has an advantage over the State forester. It is closer to the
job and free from politics. It can insist on getting maximum results
from every dollar spent. And why should the State forester have
to spend valuable time supervising and inspecting men doing things
which the local owners have just as much interest in and will look
after as well or better? Is it not better for him to be relieved, where
possible, and have more opportunity to work where he can not get
such help? I think every element, public and private, has a duty
and responsibility in forest preservation and that the task should
be divided fairly and to insure that each contributes its special
efficency.

Mr. Ha wes. I would like Mr. Allen to say something to us about
the development of specialists by fire associations.

Mr. Allen. This has been one of our great opportunities. Being
free from the miscellaneous administrative duties that take so much
of most State and Federal forest officers' time, we can detail men to
particular lines exclusively and make them highly proficient.

For example, one of our great problems is the disposal of slash.
In red-fir lumbering there is no selection cutting, leaving a thinned
stand to protect, but we cut clean and burn the slashing in order to
reduce risk and facilitate reproduction. This is required by law.
While approving of the principle, few lumbermen really like to touch
the match to slash, especially when it is dry enough to burn. To do
it both safely and effectively requires more experience than he gets in
his own operations. So the associations develop expert slash burners,

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

who work at this exclusively during portions of the year, burning
many thousands of acres under varying conditions, and are able to
decide when it is safe and what precautions are necessary. They
relieve the individual operator of the responsibility, and it is such
assurance that the work will be regulated by experts that makes
lumbermen accept what might otherwise be dangerous legislation.

It is much the same with spark-arrester laws, Operators are glad
to have them when they feel that enforcement will be largely in the
hands of association engine inspectors who know the subject in a
practical way.

There are other things a strong association seems to be able to ac-
complish better than State or Government. Patrol and the use of oil
fuel by railroads would not be as far along in the West were it not
that the associations include big shippers and men of wide business
influence who can get the ear of railroad officials. I do not think
the Forest Service could have had the Army ordered into fire work
in 1910, but when our alliance of associations, themselves spending
$700,000 that year, telegraphed the President, departmental prestige
or jealously had no bearing.

So in trying to form private associations in your States show the
timber owner that this is the way to get a voice in all things that
affect him, and thus to safeguard himself against compulsory legisla-
tion that might be dangerous if enforced wholly by impractical men.
He will be a tremendous help in getting things you can not get alone
as State officials.

RAILROAD COOPERATION.

"W. O. Fillet, State forester of Connecticut, opened the discussion
of this subject, as follows:

Gentlemen : Connecticut is primarily a manufacturing State, but
the agricultural interests run a pretty close second. Less than one-
half of the State's area is suitable for cultivation, and nearly all the
remainder is beter adapted to the raising of trees than any other
crop. In handling the forest land the largest factor is the fire prob-
lem, and in studying this problem during the last eight years we have
found that the railroads cause the largest number of fires. During
the last four years the railroads have been responsible for about one-
third of all the forest fires in the State. So we have tried to get the
railroads to cooperate voluntarily by means of patrol. In 1908 Mr.
Hawes, the State forester, made an arrangement with one of the rail-
road companies providing for a patrol along a certain section of
track for a period of three weeks or a month. Although the practical
value of the patrol was clearly demonstrated to the railroad, we could
not persuade the company to take the matter up voluntarily. A little
later State Forester Spring prepared a bill for the legislature which
would have made patrol compulsory on the part of the railroads,
upon instruction from the State forester. The railroads were op-
posed to any such measure, and they offered a substitute making
themselves liable for the cost of fighting fires which they started.
This seemed worth while accepting, and for the time being we drop-
ped the idea of compulsory patrol. The measure was enacted into
law in the summer of 1911. If it had been in effect in the spring
thousands of dollars would have been saved, which were paid by the

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 33

State and towns in fighting fires. That was the most serious forest
fire year we have ever had.

The only other law in the State relating to forest-fire work by the
railroads is one which makes them liable for damages caused by fires
they start. Although we have only about 1,500,000 acres of forest
land, about 65,000 acres of that area were burned over in 1911, almost
all of it in the spring. Thirty-three per cent of the fires and nearly
33 per cent of the damage were caused by railroads.

Those of you Avho are familiar with Connecticut know that the
valley through the center of the State is largely agricultural land,
and the forest land is in the shape of small wood lots. The conditions
are similar to those of many portions of New Jersey, Maryland, and
Massachusetts. The hilly areas in the eastern and western parts of
the State are pretty thoroughly cut up with deep valleys, and the
railroads run through them or cut through the hills. The hills are
usually well covered with forest growth; in fact, there are extensive
tracts of unbroken woodland, and the railroad fires occur almost en-
tirely in the hill sections. Therefore we can reduce the railroad
problem to a very small area if we can get the railroads to see that
those sections must be attended to.

Last year we used the Weeks law funds for railroad patrol, be-
cause we felt that its use for this purpose would give the most satis-
factory results. We wanted information arid data which we could
present to the railroads in regard to patrols. Although in 1912
there was a comparatively wet spring, and we had only 250 fires as
against over 800 in the spring of 1911, yet 43 per cent of the fires
in 1912 were due to the railroads as against 33 per cent in 1911. I
think next year we shall be able to get from the railroads the co-
operation for which we have been working so long. I do not feel
we need any law compelling patrol, for I think we can get the help
of the railroads in this matter without compulsion. If we can get
them to patrol voluntarily, it will produce a better cooperative spirit
between the railroads and ourselves. They already cooperate with
us to the extent that when we report the right of way in bad condi-
tion they usually clear it pretty well; and they issue general instruc-
tions to their section foremen to cooperate with our fire wardens in
every way possible. The section hands in some parts of the State do
very well, while in other parts their cooperation is rather perfunc-
tory, and for the least excuse they shirk it. It depends entirely on the
foreman. So far as the higher officials are concerned, the instructions
are clear.

Conditions as regards the motive power of the railroads are going
to change in Connecticut greatly during the next few years. The
New York & New Haven section is being electrified now, and the
Hartford section will be electrified later on. Therefore it is only a
matter of a few years when fire danger from railroads in the State
will be greatly reduced. Yet it may be advisable for us in Connecti-
cut to have a law compelling inspection of the locomotives, because
it seems to me patrol work is not getting to the bottom of the trouble.
We ought to go further back than that and eliminate the cause of
fires. Our patrols have reported defective locomotives, and we have
notified the motive department of the railroad of their numbers. In
some cases the locomotives have been taken off, but when returned to

13369°— 14 3

34 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

service they seem to set just as many fires as before. We have no
power to compel them to repair locomotives at present.

I want to say that Massachusetts, being next door and having more
stringent laws than Connecticut, helps us quite a little. The attitude
of the railroad companies has changed considerably because of the
fact that they are required to take precautions in Massachusetts.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Allen. You have a spark-arrester clause ?

Mr. Filley. No; but the locomotives are equipped with spark
arresters, and these are what we record as being out of order.

Mr. Hutchins. I think you will find the worst trouble comes from
the ash pans. The New York. New Haven & Hartford's are in very
poor shape.

Mr. Filley. I know that much trouble comes from the ash pan.
However, fires often occur in cuts where the sparks are thrown up
on the bank, and in such cases the spark arrester must be to blame.

Mr. Gaskill. The question I want to ask is directly the contrary
to that which has just been propounded. Why should the State take
up the question of spark arresters or ash pans? In my experience,
which has not been confined to New Jersey entirely, it lias been dem-
onstrated pretty conclusively that such a provision of law affords a
refuge behind which the railroad companies can secure immunity
against claims for damages. Precedents and decisions in New Jersey,
at least, are almost all to the effect that compliance with any such re-
quirement absolves the company from consequential damages.

Now, we absolutely weaken our position, in my opinion, by impos-
ing any such requirement upon the companies. I can go one step
further, in personal experience, if you like. In discussing the origin
of a large number of fires along one of our railroads with a chief
engineer, we went into the question of the efficiency of spark ar-
resters— we all know what that is, more or less — and he stated frankly
and clearly that they do not do and can not do what is claimed for
them. Finally I said, " Will jour company agree to the repeal of that
clause in our railroad law ? " He said, " No ; " they preferred to let
it stand.

Mr. Pettis. I can hardly agree with Mr. Gaskill. I will agree to
this extent : That I believe the railroads are glad to have inspection,
provided it is done by competent men, for the reason that it relieves
them of that much expense. On the other hand, when it comes to
a question of proof that they caused a fire, I think we are in a far
better position. In other words, if our inspections are thorough
enough, we know the condition the engines are in. At the present
time we have a case as the result of a fire by the Erie Railroad Co.
The inspection of three engines, one of which caused the fires, were
all made about three or four days before, and all of the engines were
found to be in bad shape. I believe if this inspection had not been
made we would have had trouble in trying to make a jury believe the
fires were caused by defective spark arresters.

Mr. Gaskill. May I contribute one piece of information which
I have found is news to a number of men? It is to the effect that
the harder the coal the more readily are fire-bearing sparks likely

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 35

to be discharged through a standard spark arrester. It is easy to
understand why. The softer coals, the bituminous and semibitumi-
nous, coke quickly and exhaust themselves rapidly. They frequently
expand after going through the screen, and when thrown up into
the air they flare up, but strike the ground practically dead. On
the contrary, take anthracite as the extreme of the hard coals, and
you will find that small sparks can be discharged through the screen
of an ordinary arrester, and yet those small sparks will reach the
ground in a condition capable of setting fires. In other words, I have
found that fires in many cases come from the small brands, not from
the big ones.

F. W. Rane, State forester of Massachusetts, was then called upon
to tell how his department is solving the railroad fire problem.

Gentlemen : When I went to Massachusetts six years ago we did
not have a single statute on our books with regard to the regulation
of spark arresters on railroad engines or anything else relative to
fires set by railroads. I think that in all probability more real gain
has been made in the past two years than in any previous time. This
has been due to the fact that we have a specialist in Massachusetts,
in Mr. Hutchins, who had had a lot of experience in New York with
railroads before he came to us.

I secured a law whereby we compelled the railroads to have spark
arresters on engines, but the enforcement of the law was put into
the hands of the railroad commission, because we thought it would
be easy for them to enforce it. When Mr. Hutchins was employed
and we began to look into matters more thoroughly, it was found
that the spark arresters on the engines were in very fair condition,
and that the cause of fires was largely a question of defective ash
pans, a thing the railroad officials and their engineers apparently
did not know much about.

It has been a process of education with me, and I am sure it has
been with the railroads. Recently each railroad has placed a man
in charge of this special work. The master mechanic is constantly
going over his engines in the different companies. It is not a ques-
tion of Massachusetts alone. The New York, New Haven & Hartford
runs through Connecticut and the Boston & Maine is in every other
New England State. It is not a question of just one State iooking
the matter up, but of all pulling together. Last year we had a splen-
did record so far as railroad fires were concerned. About a year
ago the Boston & Maine Railroad appointed Mr. E. A. Ryder, a man
experienced in the business, to have charge of the work. Mr. Ryder
has gone into the matter of forest-fire protection and is an expert
on that question to-day. The report that he sends in to us in regard
to fires in Massachusetts is a masterpiece. Every single fire that has
occurred, big or little, has been reported by the railroad. He goes,
therefore, even beyond the reports that come principally from our
forest wardens in the various sections. This shows that if the rail-
roads want to cooperate they can, and I think it has been demon-
strated sufficiently, and will be through Mr. Ryder's report, that they
can not afford to do otherwise than to have a man of this type in
their employ.

Our experience last year was very satisfactory until within six
weeks ago, when all at once fires began to break out in one district,

36 FOREST FIKE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

and we seemed to be returning to 1911 conditions, so Mr. Hutchins
concentrated his men there. We have three automobiles now. so that
our men can go from place to place quickly. They found upon in-
vestigation that a large percentage of these fires were caused by
defective ash pans and front ends. I took the matter up with the
railroad commission, and found that they did not feel that they had
sufficient authority to give us permission to examine the engines, so
we drew up a tentative bill. We said we were going to propose to
the legislature that we be given more authority, but I thought it
would not be necessary to go to the legislature for an act of that
kind if the railroads wanted to take hold and cooperate. The rail-
road commission thereupon called a meeting about a month ago of
all the railroads that come into Boston, and we got together and
had the most satisfactory meeting we have ever had. The very fact
I hat Mr. Hutchins knows what he is talking about, and knew some-
thing about the engines, and the fact also that the railroad commis-
sion put a man on the work as their deputy — he is an ex-engineer
and also has gone to the bottom of things and can give them informa-
tion— lead toward the point we are aiming for. The railroad people
who came to the conference told us how many engines they had re-
modeled last summer, how many they have to remodel, and how many
weeks it is going to take them to get the rest of them remodeled.
They have a feeling that they are going to handle the problem. At
the last meeing the State fire warden and his four deputies were
allowed the privilege of inspecting all locomotives on the different
roads. The railroad officials preferred to grant this request rather
than to have us ask for extra legislation covering the inspection of
locomotives. Therefore, I think the thing for us to do is to cooperate
with the railroads and not ask too much legislation, and in that way
I believe we can bring the present difficult matter under control.

Mr. Peters followed Mr. Bane's address with the reading of a
paper from E. M. Griffith, State forester of Wisconsin, who was
unable to be present.

Gentlemen : Our legislature of 1911 gave Wisconsin one of the
strongest and most practical laws in the country for reducing the
number of forest fires set by railway locomotives, donkey, traction,
and portable engines. The following provisions of the law are
worthy of special note :

(1) Between March 1 and December 1 all logging locomotives,
donkey, traction, or portable engines which are operated in, through,
or near forest, brush, or grass land and which do not burn oil as fuel
must be equipped with screens or wire netting on top of the smoke-
stack so constructed as to give the most practicable protection against
the escape of sparks and cinders. " The term logging locomotive, as
used in this act, shall be construed to mean any locomotive operated
on a railroad, branch line, or division the chief or main business of
which is the transportation of logs, lumber, or other forest products."
The great value of this provision of the law will be at once apparent
to any forester, as it compels every locomotive which is operated
through the forests to be equipped with the oldest, simplest, and yet
by far the most effective device for preventing the escape of sparks
or cinders, namely, a screen or hood over the smokestack. Locomo-

FOREST FIEE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 37

tives operated on main through lines which make long runs could not
be equipped in this way, for with the smokestack covered with a hood
the front end of the engine would clog up with cinders and then, of
course, the engine could not steam or pull its load. Therefore the law
provides that " all locomotives operated on any railroad other than
a logging railroad shall be equipped with the most practicable spark
arresters, so constructed as to give the greatest possible protection
against the escape of sparks and cinders from the smokestacks
thereof, and each such engine shall be provided with the most prac-
ticable device to prevent the escape of coals from ash pans and fire
boxes and such devices between March 1 and December 1 shall at all
times be maintained in good repair."

(2) The law provides that the superintendent of motive power or
equivalent officer on each railroad shall designate an employee of
such railroad at each division point and roundhouse who shall ex-
amine each locomotive each time it leaves the division point or round-
house between March 1 and December 1, and such employee shall be
held responsible for the proper carrying out of the provisions of this
section, but without relieving the company from its responsibility
thereunder. This provision of the law has proved very effective in
keeping the locomotives in proper condition, and also in bringing
about real cooperation between the State and the railroads.

(3) It will be noted that the law provides that screens or hoods
on the smokestacks must give the " most practicable protection " and
that spark arresters must be constructed so as to give the " greatest
possible protection." The question naturally arises as to who shall
decide as to the most practicable device. This is provided for in the
following section, which is the strongest part of the entire law :

Any locomotive inspector designated by the State board of forestry shall have
the power to reject from service immediately any locomotive, donkey, traction,
or portable engine which, in the opinion of the said inspector, is deficient in ade-
quate design, construction, or maintenance of the fire-protective devices desig-
nated in sections 1 and 2 of this section, and any such locomotive, donkey,
traction, or portable engine so rejected from service shall not be returned to
service until such defects have been remedied to the satisfaction of the State
board of forestry. In case of disagreement between said inspector and the
owner of the locomotive, donkey, traction, or portable engine so rejected from
service as to the efficiency or proper maintenance of said protective devices
then the owner of said locomotive, donkey, traction, or portable engine may
appeal to the railroad commission of Wisconsin for a decision of said matter,
but pending such decision the said locomotive, donkey, traction, or portable
engine shall not be returned to service.

'Particular attention is called to the fact that any defective engine
can be ordered out of service and that it can not be returned to service
until the defects have been fully remedied. This provision of the
law is extremely important and is far more effective than the usual
fines, for any railroad that was inclined to disregard the law would
be quickly brought to its senses by having its locomotives ordered out
of service.

(4) Minor though important provisions of the law are :

(a) Railroads must provide patrols for duty along their tracks in
dangerously dry weather, and if any railroad fails to provide such
patrols after due notice, the State board of forestry may employ
patrols and charge the cost to the railroad.

38 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

(b) Every railroad must at least once every year cut and burn, or
remove from its right of way all grass, weeds, brush, logs, and refuse
material.

(<?) No railroad shall permit its employees to deposit fire, live coals,
or ashes upon its tracks outside of the yard limits, unless they be
immediately extinguished.

(d) Engineers, conductors, or trainmen who discover fires along
the right of way, or on lands adjacent to the railroad, shall report
the same to the agent at the nearest telegraph station.

The main causes of railroad fires are sparks which escape from the
smokestacks, and live coals which are dropped by the ash pans. The
Chicago & North Western Railway has been cooperating with the
State for the last three years in an endeavor to perfect a spark
arrester which would prove entirely satisfactory in preventing the
escape of sparks, and though great progress has been made, complete
success has not been secured as yet. It is a comparatively simple mat-
ter to get an arrester that will stop a locomotive from throwing
sparks, but very difficult to find one that will also allow the engine to
steam freely and pull its load.

The State board of forestry has a locomotive inspector who de-
votes his entire time, from March 1 to December 1, to inspecting
locomotives in the forest regions of the State, and he is constantly
working with the railroad officials to perfect improved devices. A
brief summary of his report for 1912 follows :

SPARK ARRESTEES.

The Chicago & North Western Railway now uses the Slater box
front-end on nearly all of its engines operating in the forest reserve
regions. This front-end is a big improvement over the old style
known as the master mechanic front-end. Fifteen night runs were
made on engines equipped with the box front-end, and several on
engines equipped with the old style front-end. Less sparks are
thrown from the stack when the former is used, and it is estimated
that less than 5 per cent of the sparks are alive when they strike the
ground. The box front-end is in nearly every case a self-cleaner,
while the old style is not, but the engine crews state that it is harder
to steam with than the old style and that it uses considerably more
fuel.

The Great Northern Railway has experimented during 1912 with
a new spark arrester, known as the cannon or conical front-end.
Four night runs were made on engines equipped with this arrester,
and one night was also spent in the tower at Saunders, Wis., watch-
ing 25 engines which passed. Very few sparks were thrown from
the stack, and only occasionally would one reach the ground alive.
The engine crews do not appear to have any fault to find with this
arrester.

A number of other spark arresters are being tested, and the neces-
sity for finding the best possible device is so great that the investiga-
tion will be continued along all possible lines.

HOODS AND SCREENS.

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, during 1912, has used
a very satisfactory hood on all its engines operated through forest
lands. The hood is fastened to the top of the smokestack with a hinge

FOBEST FIEE PBOTECTION BY THE STATES. 39

at the back. At first engineers and firemen were inclined to tip the
hood back when they thought there was not much danger from forest
fires, but close supervision and the fact that one or two men were
laid off by the railroad for doing this, has largely put a stop to the
practice. This is considered to be the best hood in use, the only ob-
jection to it being that the cinders are apt to fly back into the engine
cab, but a device was perfected last August which overcomes this
trouble to a certain extent.

Some of the smaller railroads and a number of lumber companies
use the old diamond stack, with a large top and cone well down in
the stack. This type of stack has been found very expensive to keep
in good repair, and the front ends sometimes choke up, since they
collect a lot of cinders. It would appear that an entirely satisfactory
hood has not been worked out as yet, but the type of hood used by
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway is fairly satisfactory.

ASH PANS (HOPPER BOTTOMS).

There are many of this type now in use, but frequently a hopper
ash pan supposed to be in perfect condition is found upon close ex-
amination to still allow room for some live coals to fall through.
It seems absolutely impossible to make a sliding or tilting door
which will not warp or crack and which will always come up tight.

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul engines are equipped with
one of the very best types of hopper ash pans now in use. They are
an improved Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway ash pan, and
are considered to be a great improvement over the original. The
doors open at the ends and are equipped with an automatic latch,
which is easily opened and yet can not be jarred open. About 40 of
these ash pans were inspected during the season and only one de-
fective door was found.

The hopper ash pans, which were in use by the Omaha Railway
early in the season of 1912, were found to be a very inadequate type
and in bad condition. The many forest fires that occurred along its
lines in 1908 and 1910 were undoubtedly very largely caused by these
ash pans. In the latter part of July, 1912, this road began to equip
its engines with a new ash pan, known as the swipe pan, which has a
sprinkler blowout. This type gives promise of proving very satis-
factory.

The inspection of locomotives in 1912 is summarized as follows :

Per cent.

Locomotives examined 651 100

In good condition 327 50

In fair condition 145 22

In bad condition 126 . 19

In shop for repairs 41 7

Ordered out of service 12 2

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Elliott. In regard to the inspection of engines, I do not think
we ought to require the State to do that at all, but the railroads them-
selves. Our law says that all engines must be equipped with ade-

40 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

quate spark arresters; if an engine sets fire along the road, it is prima
facie evidence that the spark arrester is not satisfactory, and the use
of the engine can be enjoined. We had a little trouble in 1911 with a
company that I had worked for for a number of years. We kept
getting reports that certain engines were scattering fire. I wrote the
superintendent and got a very nice reply, stating that he had taken
the matter up with the master mechanic, who reported that all the
engines were inspected every time they came in and that the best
spark arresters the road could get were being used. I simply sent
back a copy of the law, calling his attention to the fact that there were
still reports coming from our wardens and patrolmen along the rail-
road that certain engines were setting the fires. I told him that if
the engines continued to set fire, I would take steps to have them shut
down. Immediately we got action. The roadmaster was right out
along the road watching the engines and finding out just what the
causes were. We found that while some of the engines were scatter-
ing fire from sparks more fires were being set by the ashes thrown out
along the road in places where there was debris close to the track.
I do not think the responsibility ought to be put onto the State or
the railroad commission. I think it should be left to the railroads
themselves.

Mr. Allen. I might add a word to what Mr. Elliott says. I wrote
that sction in the Oregon law, and rather purposely avoided haying
anything done compulsory ; but apparatus must be adequate, and
upon complaint any magistrate must enjoin the operation of an engine
until it is proven guilty or not guilty. I never had much faith in
enforcing a law against a railroad company, because it is difficult to
prove anything. However, if you can shut down the engine for three
or four months while this proof is being gone over the railroad does
not like it.

Mr. Ha wes. At the meeting of the American Forestry Association
yesterday Secretary Fisher made a very interesting comment on the
possibility of the transcontinental railroads being electrified within a
few years owing to the development of water power. Will Mr. Allen
tell us what he knows about that subject and the general one of coop-
eration of the railroads in the Northwest ?

Mr. Allen. We consider electrification a logical future develop-
ment, but not so near at hand, as a general thing, that we can recog-
nize it in present plans. The present tendency is toward oil installa-
tion. The majority of our large roads burn oil through forest terri-
tory. It was forced on them in the first place by continual hammer-
ing by the Forest Service and the fire associations, but now they find
it pays. Saving of labor, time formerly consumed in engine cleaning,
and better steaming, as well as elimination of fire risk and damage
suits, more than compensate the initial cost.

Some roads owning coal mines or interested in fostering coal towns
feel obliged to use their own fuel and tell lumbermen their protests
are as unfair to industry as would be a request to stop using lumber
for cars and bridges. As a rule, however, these roads are good about
patrol and protective systems generally and are doing their best with
the spark-arrester problem.

On the whole, we consider oil fuel the solution of the question, and
what frightens us most is the fear that oil will go up in price as a

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 41

consequence and also because of the withdrawing from the market of
refinable oils needed in the increasing gasoline production. This is a
serious contingency.

Mr. Ha wes. I would like to ask Mr. Pettis what has been the ex-
perience of the railroads in the Adirondacks in regard to the use of
oil — the relative expense in the use of oil and coal, etc. ?

Mr. Pettis. The use of oil as fuel for steam development eliminates
sparks and cinders as a cause of fires. We know of no case where
fires have been caused in New York State through its use. In 1909,
when the public service commission issued its first order requiring
the use of oil, the Standard Oil Co. quoted a price of $0,024 per gal-
lon f. o. b. Albany. Last spring this price was materially increased.
The railroad officials state that it has been costing them about 40 per
cent more to generate steam with oil than with coal. The supervisor
of equipment in our public service commission, a man of wide experi-
ence, says that this may be true, but that the difference could be re-
duced to from 15 to 20 per cent if the firemen were more careful in
the use of the oil, i. e., did not waste it. The price of oil has ad-
vanced and may increase still further, but, on the other hand, the cost
of coal is increasing, especially in the East

During the oil-burning season last year there were only two fires
along the New York Central Railroad from Utica to Malone, a dis-
tance of about 170 miles, and I think both were caused by cigarettes
or cigars thrown from smoking-car windows. There were no fires
along the Carthage & Adirondack Railroad, which operates about 40
miles, nor along the Chateaugay division of the Delaware & Hudson
Railroad.

While the use of oil is effective, a verj^ large percentage of the fires
can be prevented if the locomotives are equipped with proper devices
to prevent the escape of sparks, coals, or cinders. Last year our law
was changed, and its application extended from the forest-preserve
counties to the whole State. The only objection of the railroad peo-
ple was that they did not want the word - ■ adequate " used in the defi-
nition of proper screens; so there was a provision put in the law that
these devices had to be approved by the public service commission.
Their argument was that whenever they had a damage case they did
not want to bring in all the experts in the country to prove what was
an adequate device. Now, before the railroads equip the engines, they
submit blue prints showing exactly how they are going to fix side
openings, grate rods, or the front end. Then they feel warranted in
going ahead. For instance, some time ago we went to the superin-
tendent of motive power of the New York Central, on which road
there are some 4,500 engines. He fully appreciated the fire dangers
and the expense due to fire claims. As a result he issued orders im-
mediately to have blue prints prepared for different types of engines,
and as the engines go to the shop the changes indicated are made, any
little defect being fixed up at once in the roundhouse or at the
terminals.

For the benefit of those of you who think that the number of fires
can not be reduced by this method, I would like to cite a few in-
stances. The old law limited the operation of inspected engines to
forest-preserve counties and on certain lines. There is a short line
from Saratoga to North Creek along which there would be no fires

42 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

for weeks, and then, all of a sudden, there would 10 or 15 a day. We
would look the matter up and find the company had run in an engine
which had not been inspected. In another case a short railroad had
rented an engine from the Delaware & Hudson Co. This company
gave the road a dead engine which had practically no screen in it at
all, and there were fires continually. Therefore, if you can have the
engines equipped properly, you will not have more than 5 per cent of
the fires you are now having.

Another thing about railroad cooperation — if you get hold of the
right man in the company you will get satisfaction. The company
has its right-of-way department, motive department, operating de-
partment, and legal department, and not one of them will spend 15
cents to save the other $1,500 if they can help it. Therefore you have
to go to the man higher up to issue orders and have your requests
taken care of. If you go to the general superintendent or some one
in a like capacity you will get satisfaction.

We wanted one line to pipe the overflows from the injectors into
the ash pans, in order that whatever water was left would kill the
fire in the ash pans. The company did not want to do this, but said
it would put in a sprinkler. A blue print was submitted to us and
was accepted. The company said that sprinklers were impracticable
to use with its cast-iron pans, but we insisted, and the company
yielded. A year ago last fall we told the road it could take the
sprinklers out ; it did so on some of the engines and left them in on
others. Last fall we again advised this road that it could take them
out, but we were told that it did not want to; that the sprinklers
kept the ash pans from freezing up in the winter and thus prevented
the engines becoming stalled on the road.

Let me make another suggestion. Do not dictate to a railroad what
devices it must use. It has clever men who know more about fixing
up engines than we do. Let each company work out its own plan, and
if the plan is good accept it. We are not requiring the same thing
on all roads, but we have a minimum requirement. We are reducing
the number of fires and are accomplishing a great deal.

I do not believe that the railroads will voluntarily do the necessary
amount of inspection. Also, after the railroads put these devices in
shape you want to have some law that will make the employees use
them properly. If wide fire-box engines are used, equipped with
doors, screens, or other appliances, make those fellows use these
appliances. In the case of the Lackawanna Kailroad we found the
engines running with the slides open. We called attention to it, and
in the first instance the engineers got a lay off of 10 days and later
of 30 days. Now we do not find any more open slides on the Lacka-
wanna.

COOPERATION BETWEEN ALL PROTECTIVE AGENCIES.

F. A. Elliott, State forester of Oregon, spoke on this subject as
follows :

Gentlemen : Up to 1911 cooperation between the various protective
agencies in Oregon, including the Federal Government, the State,
counties, railroads, and private owners, had been quite meager, al-
though Mr. Allen, as forester for the Western Forestry and Con-

FOREST PIKE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 43

servation Association, and Mr. Chapman, as the secretary of the
Oregon Forest Fire Association, had gotten a skeleton of the work
started, which has been a great help to me since my appointment as
State forester a little over a year and a half ago. In my first sea
son's work during the summer of 1911 the time was very limited, but
with the assistance of Mr. Chapman we organized several local forest-
fire associations, each of which includes holdings in one or two
counties. These associations cooperated with the Federal authorities
under Mr. Cecil, the Federal district forester, and we also got some
assistance from the county courts.

In 1912 we had a little more time for organization. We spent
nearly all of the winter of 1911 in getting timbermen and others
interested in fire protection, and, as jou all know, this is a difficult
task when it is pouring down rain ; most of them want to begin about
a month after there is real danger from fires. However, in coopera-
tion with Mr. Chapman, fire-patrol organizations covering seven
counties were perfected, thereby increasing the number of counties
in which associations existed to 11. The cooperation Ave have had
under the Weeks law has been a very great help in getting these
organizations together. For instance, last spring we organized one
association in Douglas County, which covers a very large area. The
central part of it is mostty farming country, and on either side, both
in the Coast Range and Cascade Mountains, there are heavily for-
ested districts. Between the farming districts and these large hold-
ings of timber are what we call the foothills, which are burned over
and covered largely with brush and second-grade timber; up to this
time they had received no protection Avhatever. As these lands came
especially under the provisions of the Weeks law, I was able to take
up the matter with the timbermen. I proposed that if they would
organize and agree to handle all fire fighting I would appoint the
man they would recommend as supervising warden for the county,
and I would also give them 10 Federal patrolmen paid by the Weeks
law fund. These men, together with 12 men hired by the association,
gave them a large force, and the county was looked after in much
better shape than it had ever been before. It cost them, I think,
about a cent an acre on the holdings represented hj the association.
This association represents possibly from one-fourth to one-third of
the timber in the county.

We organized another county which was largely timbered, and the
State furnished two men — a supervising warden and an assistant
supervising warden. These men were recommended by the associa-
tion and appointed by the State ; the State paid each of them $100 a
month, and the association $50 a month additional and expenses. In
that county, to get thoroughly equipped men who are acquainted
with logging and cruising and are competent to handle the work of
an association of this kind, we have to pay them a good salary. Two
Federal patrolmen paid from the Weeks law fund were turned over
to the association. The association itself hired 18 additional men, and
the county court appropriated $600 and turned it over to the associa-
tion for patrol work. It spent 3^ cents an acre for the protection of
its timber.

In one county in southern Oregon, where we have an organization,
I furnished the supervising warden and 3 or 4 Federal patrolmen

44 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

to some 12 or 15 men hired by the timber owners. The county court
cooperated with us in that it agreed to furnish $500 a month for the
three dry months for the purpose of fighting fires. This year it
got off very easily, because we had practically no fires there, and it
cost the county only $250 for the entire season. The protection cost
that association about 1| cents an acre. Of course, all of the timber-
men who enter the association come in on an acreage basis.

In regard to cooperation with the railroad companies we have, I
think, succeeded very well. While none of the companies this past
year put on a regular patrol, one or two had all their section foremen
appointed as State fire wardens, and their train crews were instructed
to stop and put out a fire if they were any distance from a telegraph
office or section house. If within a reasonable distance, the train
crews are to notify the telegraph operator, the agent, or the first
section crew.

The private owners who are especially interested in fire-protection
work in Oregon are generally large owners. We have had very little
success in getting small owners interested, although in a few cases we
have a number of men who own from 160 to 320 acres. The large
owners, as a general rule, are cooperating not only with the State but
with the Forest Service and the counties.

I want to give due credit to the assistance we have gotten from the
Weeks fund, and I hope Congress will make a further appropriation.
Just before I left home we had a meeting of the State Board of
Forestry, and it passed resolutions, which I brought to our Kepre-
sentatives, asking for such appropriation.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Sykes.. I would like to ask if the locomotives on the rail-
roads in Oregon are equipped with any fire-prevention apparatus ?

Mr. Elliott. On some of the logging roads, yes; but not on the
main lines. We have had more trouble with fires starting from the
logging roads, most of which burn wood. On the other hand, the
Southern Pacific, which is the principal line running through the
timbered portion of the State, burns oil altogether. The Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Co. has been very good in aiding us when-
ever possible along its right of way; the company inspects its spark
arresters carefully. I should add that some lumber companies are
converting their donkey engines and locomotives to oil burners.

Mr. Hawes. I should like to say in regard to the subject of co-
operation that in Vermont we have a law providing that if any land-
owner will build a lookout station on his land, we will put on a
watchman. We have had several such stations built by lumber com-
panies. I would like to hear from Mr. Sykes, president of the Em-
porium Lumber Co., as to what chances are for his company build-
ing such a station?

Mr. Sykes. We have no plans at present for the Vermont prop-
erty, which includes about 50,000 acres. When we bought it, some
eight years ago, it was an operating property, with seven sawmills
on it, all of which were connected by telephone. The wires have
since largely fallen down, so that they are not in operation, and there
is no forest work done on the line. We have had no fires in eight
years. It is remarkable we have been so fortunate.

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FlG. 1. — Massachusetts forest -An* observation stations.

FOEEST FIEE PEOTECTION BY THE STATES. 45

I think the Emporium Lumber Co. would cooperate with adjoin-
ing timberland owners toward establishing a lookout station some-
where on Stratton Mountain or at some other point. I consider this
a matter of great importance for the protection of the forests, and
will be willing to recommend to the company as soon as we hear from
you about it. I trust something can be done before the dry season
comes on this spring.

LOOKOUT SYSTEMS.

The morning session of January 10 was called to order by W. B.
Greeley, assistant forester, Forest Service, acting as chairman, at 10
o'clock.

Mr. Greeley asked that special subjects which the collaborators
wish to discuss in the afternoon session be submitted to the Chair,
provision having been made in the program for such discussions.

The first subject of the morning session was " Lookout systems."
M. C. Hutchins, State fire warden of Massachusetts, was called upon
to open the discussion.

Gentuemen : I desire first to give you a general idea of the con-
ditions with which we have to contend. The area of Massachu-
setts is 5,500,000 acres, of which from 60 to 70 per cent is wild or
forest land. We have a population of nearly 4,000,000, which means
that during holidays and Sundays a large number of people are
traveling through the woods or along the highways in their automo-
biles, constantly increasing the fire danger. We have over 2,500
miles of railroad main-line trackage, with 1,937 locomotives in use.
We also have 317 portable sawmills in operation throughout the
State, each one leaving one or more dangerous fire slashes.

Massachusetts appropriates annually $255,000 for the protection
of its forests ; $200,000 for the suppression of the gipsy and brown-
tail moths; $25,000 for forest fires; and $30,000 for reforestation,
chestnut bark disease work, and office expenses.

The fire loss in Massachusetts for the year 1911 was $537,749.
During the three preceding years a conservative estimate of the fire
loss would not be far from $300,000 each year. In 1912, with a rain-
fall of 7.36 inches less than in 1911 and 8.61 inches less than normal,
our reports show the fire loss to be only $80,836. The reports of our
lookout watchmen show that over 2,200 fires have been observed, of
which about 400 were permit fires or fires estinguished in their in-
cipiency by the forest wardens. The forest wardens reported 1,851
fires, over 1,500 of which were first observed by the men in charge of
the lookout stations. Of the latter, 51 per cent were extinguished
within an hour from the time they were observed, 21 per cent within
two hours, 15 per cent within three hours, 5 per cent within four
hours, 3 per cent within five hours, and but 5 per cent burned over
five hours, many of which were peat-bog fires.

We have in Massachusetts what is called the town forest- warden
system. Each town, of which there are 354, has a forest warden, who
is appointed by the selectmen of the town and approved by the State
forester. Each forest warden appoints necessary deputies, distributed

46 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

throughout the forest area of his town; there are 1,040 such deputies,
of whom 1,135, in addition to most of the forest wardens, have tele-
phone communication with the observation stations. Owing to our
forest-fire appropriation being limited, we have found that better re-
sults would be obtained by devoting our funds to the establishment
of observation stations rather than a paid patrol force. The State
has been divided into four forest-fire districts, each in charge of a
competent fire warden. These wardens are provided with automobile
runabouts, and practically all the patrol work in the State is done
by them. They have general supervision over the town forest
wardens and the observation stations in their respective districts, and
during the coming season will devote considerable time to the in-
spection of locomotive spark arresters and ash pans.

The portion of the State shown on figure 1 as districts 3 and 4
comes under the cooperative agreement with the Federal Govern-
ment. In this territory our fire loss in 1912 was about $35,000, as
compared with about $400,000 in 1911. We have within this territory
163 forest wardens and 770 deputies, 512 of whom are connected by
telephone with our observation stations.

We have had in operation during the past season 17 observation
stations, located on the highest elevations throughout the State. Each
station is in charge of a competent local watchman, who knows every
elevation, railroad, highway, and the exact location of every forest
warden and deputy. We have erected 30, 40, or 50 foot iron towers,
especially designed for forest-fire work. These are set on cement
piers, and at the top of each tower is an 8 by 8 foot wooden or steel
structure, as far as possible inclosed in glass. (See fig. 2.) The steel
of the 30-foot tower costs $120; the materials for the wooden struc-
ture at the top, including windows, cost about $75. The construction
and cement work is done entirely by our own men. Three men will
make the cement piers in about two days; four men will put up the
tower in from one and one-half to two days ; and two men will build
the wooden structure in about three days.

Each station is equipped with long-distance telephone connection
with the New England telephone system. We have had some delays
during the season, owing to being on party lines, but this has been
eliminated in twTo or three instances by having a line run to the cen-
tral office. Arrangements are now being made so that practically
every station will have its own private line for use the coming season.

The stations are each equipped with a map stand, elevated 3^ feet
from the floor, on which is a topographical sheet covering the ter-
ritory within a radius of 15 miles from the station, with the town
boundary lines plainly marked. These maps also have on them a
table of degrees for use in crossing lines, one station with another,
and each station is furnished with a large map of the State showing
where each 2-degree line drawn from that station will cross similar
lines from other stations. There is communication between the look-
outs, and our triangulation system of locating fires has worked out
very successfully between many of the stations. We have found
during the past season that it is absolutely impossible to thoroughly
cover a radius of 15 miles from our stations during hazy and smoky
weather. We shall, therefore, add several substations to be used dur-
ing the spring and fall, thus reducing our radius to 12 miles at most.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

47

Better results would be accomplished if this could be reduced to not
over 10 miles.

/S'-O —
ELEVAT/OM OF STEEL Ff?A/W£ FOR 30-0"T0W£X>.

Fig. 2. — Observation tower designed for Massachusetts Forest Department.

In selecting the watchmen for our towers we have made it a point
to employ local men who are familiar with the territory under their

48 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

supervision and who are personally acquainted with the town forest
wardens. These men are on duty from 7.30 a. m. to 6.30 p. m. Dur-
ing the portions of the season when not required for observation
work their time is devoted to building fire lines, clearing out trails,
repairing and trimming out their telephone lines, and visiting the
town forest wardens and deputies throughout their territory. Many
of our stations are supplied with a watchman's time clock. This is
punched every half hour, and has proved very effective. We also
check up our observers' reports with the reports of fires received from
the town forest wardens, in order that we may ascertain whether or
not they have promptly reported each fire.

The cooperative work carried on between the State and the towns
has been very gratifying. Several towns have contributed one-half
and others have contributed the entire purchase price of an observa-
tion tower. We shall erect four towers this spring that have been
purchased in this manner.

We have an annual appropriation of $5,000 for forest-fire equip-
ment. All towns with a valuation of $1,500,000 or less are entitled
to 50 per cent reimbursement from the State on all equipment of this
kind they desire to purchase not exceeding $500. The equipment is
approved by the State forester and placed under the supervision of
the town forest warden subject to inspection at least once a month
by the State fire warden or his authorized assistants. Our reports
show that the total amount expended by the State and towns for
such equipment in 1912 was nearly $24,000, including sums expended
by the larger towns that do not come under the reimbursement act.

There are two other matters I wish to speak of— the cooperative
work with the rural mail carriers and the boy scouts. As soon as the
order was issued requiring rural mail carriers to report all forest fires
we at once supplied each carrier with a list of the forest wardens to
whom he was to make report. We have had 85 fires observed and
reported by such carriers, and several fires have been extinguished
by them in their incipiency.

We have also taken up the matter of interesting the boy scouts in
the forest-fire work. There are about 7,000 scouts throughout Massa-
chusetts, divided into 250 separate companies. Early in the spring
we supplied each scout master or assistant scout master with a copy
of our fire law and instruction book, thus enabling them to instruct
the members of the different companies relative to the forest laws.
We have had no fires caused by boy scouts, and it is but fair to
assume that the educational work done through the scout masters has
prevented many fires.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Greeley. What is the relation between the lookout watch-
man and the patrol force? When the lookout observes a fire what
does he do ?

Mr. Hutchins. As soon as the fire is accurately located the observer
calls up the town forest warden or the deputy warden residing nearest
to the fire.

Mr. Wilber. Do you have any trouble with what you might call
false fire alarms — a man calling out the warden to go to a fire when
some one is burning brush?

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 49

Mr. Hutchins. Yes; we have had some trouble along this line
caused by our forest wardens not notifying the observers at times
when permits are issued.

Mr. Wilber. Who owns the property your towers are located on?

Mr. Hutchins. In some instances the State, in others private indi-
viduals. There has been no objection by private owners to our cut-
ting trails and running telephone lines through their property. Our
lines are practically all run on trees, and we use a heavy triple braid
No. 9 wire. This wire costs us $30 a mile, and three men will run a
mile of wire a day.

Mr. Wilber. Are the forest wardens in touch with telephones?

Mr. Hutchins. In most cases they are men we can get very
promptly. In case we are unable to get the forest warden we are
always sure of getting in communication with at least one of the
deputies. Our observers make it a point to get in personal com-
munication with the forest warden or deputies.

Mr. Wilber. Do you have trouble with the fall fogs or mist that
hangs over the hills ?

Mr. Hutchins. We experience this trouble more. or less through-
out the Cape country. We also had trouble at the Grey lock station
by being shut in with clouds, owing to the elevation.

Mr. Elliott. Our legislature will soon be in session, and we have
to go before it for another appropriation. I want to call your
attention to the difference between our State and Massachusetts. The
area of Massachusetts is something like 5,500,000 acres. We have
61,000,000 acres, of which there are probably 40,000,000 acres of
either timber or brush land which needs protection. We are getting
a little appropriation of $30,000. I buy my own automobile to
inspect the whole State. I want to get a map of Massachusetts and
a thorough report on that State to report to our legislature. I think
it will be good information for it.

Mr. Bane. There is one thing Mr. Hutchins has not touched upon ;
in fact, there are many things he has not had time to touch upon.
One thing we did that I think has not been mentioned was to get out
a forest wardens' handbook which contains the names of every
warden, his deputies, and the telephone number of each. We started
out with the idea of distributing these handbooks through the auto-
mobile association in the State. They are pretty enthusiastic people
over forestry, particularly from an esthetic standpoint, and where
we have a publication of this sort with the names of all the towns
alphabetically arranged, any automobilist going through the State,
If he is interested at all, should there by a forest fire, has an oppor-
tunity to be of assistance. With one of these books an automobilist,
if he comes across a fire, simply has to see what town he is in, then
stop off at the first farm house that has telephone connection and
report. The same use can be made of this book by those operating
electric lines. Eural mail carriers and the boy scouts are also
making use of it.

J. H. Foster, professor of forestry at New Hampshire College,
who has been intimately associated with the protective work under

13369°— 14 4

50 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

the Weeks law as a Federal inspector, was called upon to continue
the discussion of lookout systems. He said :

Gentlemen: To my mind lookout work is so important that as
time goes on other lines of fire protection will become less necessary.
I say this with a full understanding of the shortcomings of lookout
stations and with the full knowledge that there are times when
smoke and haze render them useless for short periods. In order that
lookout stations may render the best service they must, of course, be
efficiently equipped and maintained.

Last summer I visited a great many of the stations in New England
and was much impressed with the quality of the men employed as
observers. They were accustomed to the region about them, were
acquainted with the people, and most of them were experienced in
woods work. Furthermore, they enjoyed the life of isolation, which
is, of course, essential to satisfactory service.

I am sorry to say that in a number of cases I found that the dis-
trict chiefs neglected the lookout men under their direction. They
should keep in touch with the lookouts daily if possible. It is dis-
couraging for an observer never to see or seldom to have communica-
tion with his district chief. While it may be impossible for a district
chief to get to isolated stations often, he can telephone to the men,
which is not only encouraging to them but helps him to gauge the
efficiency of the service they are rendering. It is not enough for
the observers to make written reports to the district chief. They
should come personally in contact with him.

The need of easy communication from lookout stations to central
telephone offices is absolutely essential. The lack of satisfactory
communication in some instances has been responsible for bad fires.
It is perfectly obvious that unless an observer can communicate with-
out delay with the central telephone office and with his district chief
or a fire warden the lookout station might just as well not exist. I
know of one station with an excellent observer and in a region where
great service could be rendered, but because the observer could only
get the central station by relaying a message through a store he was
in one instance unable to report a fire until it was already discovered
by other people and beyond control. In some cases direct communi-
cation with central telephone stations is not possible at present even
where the lookout is a very important one to maintain.

The Kennebec Valley Protective Association in Maine is rendering
fine service in aiding the State in its fire-protective work. This as-
sociation has recently completed a double telephone line connecting
isolated portions of the Kennebec watersheds and so located that
lookout stations may be readily connected and brought into close
touch with the chief wardens in charge and the secretary of the asso-
ciation. Its work in other directions, such as furnishing funds to
the State in time of emergency, is also very valuable.

In New Hampshire the timberland owners' association is doing
effective work, not only by protecting large areas belonging to the
owners, but by helping the State forester and the Federal Govern-
ment to improve the entire fire service. Assistance rendered by this
association is doubly important because of the fact that its funds
can be used for any legitimate purpose and are often used to supply
needs which the State and the Federal Government can not supply.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 51

The association has built many lookout stations and equipped them
and has used its funds in other ways, such as building lines of tele-
phone to connect isolated points and paying for extra telephone
service.

I am very enthusiastic over £he lookout-station work which has been
developed in Massachusetts. .The ease with which one may com-
municate from one station to another and with central telephone
offices makes it evident that any fire must be quickly reported. It
is a policy of Massachusetts to have the observers come in close touch
with the town fire wardens. The district chiefs during periods when
there is no fire danger take the observers to the surrounding towns
and make them acquainted with the wardens. In this way many
important problems are discussed and plans made which help to
increase the efficiency.

A great deal has been said about railroad patrol and the protection
of property from railroad fires. I believe lookout stations can render
an extremely important service in this regard, and they are already
doing so to a certain extent. I believe the time should come soon
when lookout service may do away more and more with the need of
railroad patrol. A number of instances in New England show what
excellent results have been obtained in checking fires along railroads
by means of lookout stations. In Connecticut one of the stations in
particular is so situated that many miles of the Central New England
"Railway can be seen from it. The observer has been able to call up
the railroad station agent and report to him that a particular train
has just started a fire, and the station agent has been able to get the
section crew to the fire at once. Many miles of railroad can be seen
from some of the lookout stations in western and central Massachu-
setts and also from stations in New Hampshire, particularly Black
Mountain and the Mount Agassiz stations. In Maine the lookout sta-
tions are in a large measure located in a portion of the State where
railroad fires are the greatest danger. ■

With reference to brush permits, a number of cases came to my
attention last summer where the observer at a station was undecided
whether or not to report a fire which was obviously a brush fire and
in no danger of spreading. It would be well if fires set by warden
permit could be reported to the observer either by the fire warden or
by the person receiving the permit to burn brush.

Lookout-station work is comparatively new. It is being improved
every year, and I am confident that a greater degree of progress in
fire protection has been made as a result of lookout and patrol work
in the last two or three years than has ever been made before or could
be made by any other means.

TELEPHONE CONSTRUCTION.

C. R. Pettis, superintendent of forests of New York, led the dis-
cussion on this subject, as follows :

Gentlemen : Our appropriation for fire protection applies to for-
est lands in the Adirondack and Catskill preserves. The money may
be used for employing men for either patrol or fire fighting and their
expenses, purchasing supplies, building lookout stations and telephone
lines, or other necessary purposes. The financial aid from the Federal

52 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

Government has been used to pay the salaries of observers on lookout
stations.

The region protected is divided into five districts — four in the
Adirondacks and one in the Catskills. These districts include certain
towns known as " fire towns," of which there are 77 in the Adiron-
dacks and 19 in the Catskills ; their aggregate area is 7,200,000 acres,
including 1,644,088 acres of State land.

I think you are all convinced of the value of observation stations.
In New York I believe we would not be able to maintain any kind of
reasonable fire protection without them, and, of course, we can not
have effective stations without telephone connections. Stations are
being established as fast as our appropriations and facilities permit.
In this work we have had the cooperation and financial support of
private owners. In some cases we enjoy the free use of their tele-
phone lines or they have joined in building new ones; in other cases
complete stations have been built by the owners and we maintain
the observers.

The first work we did in constructing observation stations and tele-
phone lines was in the summer of 1909, when we established 11 sta-
tions. Since then we have been working on a comprehensive plan,
and to-day there are 49 stations. We hope eventually to have about
60 stations probably not more than 7 or 8 miles apart.

We have already constructed 227 miles of telephone lines, of which
58 miles was built the past year almost entirely by the ranger force
during the winter season. In some cases these lines are comparatively
short, built to connect the station with a commercial line or to form
a connecting link between existing lines, while in other cases they are
from 30 to 40 miles in length. On some of the longer lines we are
leasing a large number of phones which not only bring in a revenue
and help pay the maintenance charge, but also put the force in touch
with a greater number of people.

We build a two-wire line (metallic circuit) wherever we connect
with one, and similarly in the case of a one- wire line (grounded cir-
cuit). We clear out a space along our lines and always attempt to go
through green timber, if possible. If we have to go through fire-
killed timber outside of State land, we try to make some arrangement
with the owner to cut down the necessary trees so that they will not
be constantly falling on the line. Only in cases of necessity do we
erect telephone poles. We think it cheaper, if a telephone company
has a line of poles where we wish to establish a line, to make an at-
tachment contract; as a rule, there are unused pins which can be
rented. The customary price is 10 cents per pin per year.

No. 12 galvanized-iron wire is used for lines attached either to
poles or trees. This material costs approximately $6 a mile. When
lines are attached to trees we use Victor split insulators, the wire
going through the center of the insulator, around which a short wire
is wrapped, securely turned, and then attached to a tree by an ordi-
nary fence staple. The insulators are placed approximately 150 feet
apart, requiring 35 to the mile. The opening in the insulator is
sufficient to permit the wire to slide, but as the line is built with some
slack a tie around the insulator is made once in about every seven
insulators. This tends to distribute the slack and prevents the wire
from dragging on the ground. In case a tree falls on the line it is
not broken, but simply pulls up the slack. When the tree is removed

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 53

the slack is redistributed. It is desirable to run the line near the
trail in order to make inspection easy for the linemen. The lines
through the woods are not built straight, but in a somewhat zigzag
manner. This construction holds the wire out from the trees. If a
metallic circuit is constructed, the lines should not be so close together
that a tree might fall across both of them and thus make a short
circuit.

Special attention should be given to the matter of protection from
lightning. Mountain tops are very often " hit." A heavy protector
should be used in all cases. The 58-A of the Western Electric Co.
has proved very satisfactory. The observer should be provided with
several additional fuses. We have also found that the use of a switch
disconnecting the wire before it reaches the instrument gives an addi-
tional precaution ; it should be opened in case of thunderstorms.

In purchasing instruments it is desirable to specify a 2,500-ohm
ringer, as this increases the sound. Metallic telephone sets are being
tried and will probably be desirable. In any case the sets should be
carefully protected, not only from storms but from hedgehogs.

Subsidiaries of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (Bell)
are our chief operating companies, and whenever we connect with
their lines our agreements provide that we make the necessary con-
struction subject to their inspection. We have had no trouble at all
on this score, because we endeavor to build substantial lines.

The ' cost of construction varies in the case of a one-wire line
(grounded circuit) from about $10 per mile of tree line to $40 per
mile of pole line ; and in the case of a two-wire line (metallic circuit)
from $20 per mile of tree line to $60 per mile of pole line. Where
there is no forest growth we have in cases found it advisable to use
what the Western Electric Co. call No. 9 O. K. triple-braid galvan-
ized-iron wire, costing $30 a mile. I have heard of cases where this
wire has been in use for eight or nine years, lying on the ground, and
is still giving satisfactory service. It is particularly adapted to use
en mountain tops where there is nothing but barren rocks and it is
impossible to erect poles.

As Mr. Hutchins pointed out, it is very desirable, if possible, to
get a direct connection. Do not have your telephone wires so that
the man on the mountain station has to wait for somebody to run
across the road to telephone to somebody else, or where you can not
talk to the fire warden. If your station man is any good he may
tell his ranger or warden something in regard to the size of the fire
and how it is coming up, so that the ranger can get an idea of how
many men he needs to take ; those are the important things.

Wherever possible our lines are connected to lumber camps. In
fire fighting one man from a lumber camp is worth 25 men picked
up around a village. The lumber companies in nearly all cases have
telephones running into their camps. They give us free use of these
and switchboard service wherever necessary, and all we have to pay is
our long-distance telephone rental.

It never seemed to us quite fair to ask a commercial company to
build a line to the top of a mountain to get the business that would
come from the operation of a single telephone^ and therefore we went
ahead and built our own lines. We furnished our own instruments
and maintained these lines, and there is no additional expense to the
telephone company for the new business. We use the telephone prob-

54 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

ably seven months in the year and pay the regular full annual tele-
phone rental. That rental varies, according to the size of the tele-
phone exchange, from $18 to $36 a station a year.

Mr. Foster. May I ask if the telephone companies give you a re-
bate for a half-year or more ?

Mr. Pettis. They are willing to have a contract canceled on pay-
ment of one-half of the rental for the unexpired period. They have
offered that option.

In the case of two lookout stations we have our lines on toll-service
basis ; that is, drop the money in the slot when we use the telephone ;
they offer contracts for such service on toll lines only. In another
case, at Tupper Lake, we built our line from the top of the mountain
to the telephone central station, where we are on a regular toll
basis and pay whatever the prescribed toll rate is.

We have had most of our trouble with party lines. A great many
lines were so heavily loaded that it was not desirable to add another
telephone. One case of this kind was where we had four mountain
stations and five rangers on a long and heavily loaded line. In
this instance we have signed a contract with the Bell Telephone Co.
to attach our line to their poles, and have run a wire to handle our
employees, who now get service among themselves direct on our own
line or through central to others. Private owners have cooperated
with us very fully. We built from Schroon Lake to Underwood, a
distance of nearly 30 miles, a line which ran into the telephone central
at Schroon Lake; a private party paid one-half of the expense and
looked after all the maintenance.

The telephone companies have insisted that we pay business rates,
while we have tried to show them that we were not doing business,
but that the service is the same as that supplied a private house,
because our phone was at the habitation of a single man on a moun-
tain station. On some of our mountains we have two telephones,
one on top of the mountain and one down a short distance at the
camp. We have maintained that one telephone was an extension of
the other, for certainly one man, even though he does have two tele-
phones, could use but one at a time.

The telephone companies derive a great deal of revenue from the
State's fire-protective organization. All of our 49 mountain stations
are called every day by the district ranger. The tolls will vary from
about 20 cents to as high as 40 cents a call.

So much for telephone construction. Before concluding let me say
a few words about mountain stations. We have tried to make them
an attraction in the locality in order to get the tourists interested.
We have cleaned up the trails so that ladies can go up some of the
mountains, and we have posted signs so that tourists can not get lost.
The station is thus made much more attractive for the observer; he
is not so lonesome. All this aids the work.

I wish to point out a single instance as to the value of a mountain
station. During the dry period of last July, about noon one Sunday,
a fire was discovered by the observer on Adams Mountain. It origi-
nated in one of the most inaccessible portions of the Adirondack
forest, but in spite of this fact a fire warden with a small force of
men reached there within two hours. By 5 o'clock the following
morning the ranger was on the ground with a large force of men, and

FOREST FIEE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 55

the fire was controlled before it had burned over more than 5 acres.
The land on which this fire occurred had been lumbered within recent
years, and there was a large amount of slash on the ground. If the
observation station had not been there it is probable that thousands
of acres of timberland would have been burned over before the fire
could have been checked.

The time to fight a fire is before it starts. We supply our stations
with United States Geological Survey maps, but few of our men use
them. We select for an observer a man who has tramped all the
ridges and points and knows his own territory. When he learns of a
fire he calls up the proper persons and gets them on the job. They
get an automobile, or whatever is required, and put the fire out before
it gets well started.

Last year we had 383 fires in the forest-preserve counties. The
total acreage burned over was 6,990, of which 629 acres were State
lands, and the total damage was only $11,340. The average area per
fire was 18 acres, and the average damage about $30. Out of the area
under protection about one-tenth of 1 per cent was burned over, and
but a very small proportion of that was land upon which there was
much timber. A large proportion of our fires occurred around the
outlying sections of the Adirondacks. We are having most trouble
there, and also in the sparsely settled portions along the highways.

Mr. Greeley. Gentlemen, I have here some copies of a proposed
contract x between the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. and the
Secretary of Agriculture. We are extremely fortunate in having
with us to-day Mr. M. C. Eorty, commercial engineer of the American
Telephone & Telegraph Co., who has come here for the especial pur-
pose of discussing the provisions of this contract, which may apply
to the States as well as to the Federal Government, and such matters
pertaining to telephone contracts and rates in general as you may
wish information on. I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Eorty.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : Perhaps what I have to say can
be introduced in the best way by telling just how this present contract
has been developed and what the thoughts are as to the use of it, or of
similar contracts throughout the several States and in the various
portions of the country.

This particular agreement has been approved by the Secretary of
Agriculture and has also been approved by the American Telephone
& Telegraph Co., to the extent that we agree to advise its adoption
by the various associated telephone companies.

I may, in this connection, make a little explanation as to the rela-
tions between the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. and the
associated companies. The associated companies are separate and
independent organizations except as to the stock interest that the
American Telephone & Telegraph Co. has in all of them. That stock
interest runs, in different cases, from a minority interest to complete
or nearly complete control.

Contract forms similar to these will be forwarded to the associated
companies as soon as completed copies are received from the printer,
which I expect will be some time next week ; and I have no doubt that
the form will be adopted substantially as it stands, in so far as the
Department of Agriculture ma}' wish to have contracts executed.

1A copy of this contract form is contained in the Appendix, p. 80.

56 POEEST PIPE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

The contract has been drawn up specifically to meet the interests
of the Federal Forest Service. Nevertheless, we have had in mind,
in drawing it up, that there would be a desire on the part of the
various State foresters to arrange for somewhat similar contracts,
and, while the details will necessarily have to vary in the different
States according to local conditions, nevertheless I think it is safe to
say that the spirit of this agreement — the general spirit of cooper-
ation in which it has been written — will be carried out in connection
with any separate contracts that may be set up between the State
forest departments and the local Bell telephone companies.

The essential feature of this contract, as between the Secretary of
Agriculture and any associated Bell telephone company, is the agree-
ment of the telephone company to establish for forest purposes prac-
tically the same type of service that is now furnished for rural tele-
phone lines. The service may, however, by local arrangement be set
up on a one-party-line basis if there is objection to having other parties
on the forest lines, or there may be three or four or a dozen Forest
Service telephones on any one line. The plan is expressed in gen-
eral terms in this contract, with the idea that the schedule specifying
the compensation will cover the details and will be taken up in-
dividually in the territory of each telephone company.

Provision is made, in addition, for a reciprocal use of attachments
on Forest Service pole lines, and the pole lines of the Bell Telephone
Co. These attachments are to be interchanged without charge, sub-
ject to the condition that there shall be spare facilities available in
either case.

The telephone company also agrees to construct telephone lines
for the Forest Service in any locality it may desire; to install tele-
phones and perform maintenance work; and, in emergency, to sell
to the Department of Agriculture such telephone equipment, line
material, and supplies as can be reasonably supplied from local stock
rooms of the telephone company, this service to be furnished at cost,
including all supervision charges, plus 10 per cent, and the sales
to be made at actual cost plus 10 per cent. It is a question just how
far the Forest Service may desire to avail itself of this last pro-
vision, but it is at least desirable to have the arrangement set up in
advance, so that when an emergency comes there may be no delay
on account of special negotiations.

A further clause provides that the Department of Agriculture may
attach telephones for lookout stations on the telephone company's
pole lines and circuits without charge, but subject to certain restric-
tions that are enumerated, such telephones to be for emergency use.

Provision is also made for the connection of portable stations with
subscribers' lines, and for the designation of local telephone officials
who shall cooperate with the officials or employees of the Forest
Service in connection with all telephone work. The telephone com-
pany agrees to furnish maps, blue prints, drawings and specifications,
and recommendations in connection with the construction of forest
telephone lines, and also agrees to cooperate actively with the offi-
cials and employees of the department in providing emergency com-
munication by telephone during forest fires. This last provision
will mean a great deal, I imagine, in a case of a large fire, and the
intent of the section is to make sure that some one telephone man
shall know that it is his job to cooperate with the local forest people

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 57

and to make things go properly as to the use of telephone service in
controlling the fire.

The telephone company also agrees to keep any public telephone
exchange open at all hours on payment of the actual extra expense
involved. It may be that when a fire is burning furiously constant
telephone communication will be necessary. In such cases the tele-
phone company will keep the small telephone exchanges open all
night or on Sundays and holidays. A great many of the smallest
exchanges are open only until 10 o'clock, or about that time.

Another provision allows telephone calls made from subscribers'
stations or portable stations to be charged to any telephone of the
Forest Service, provided the telephone in question is either the one
called or is one connected with the local exchange. In some cases
there are local rules against reversing calls. This section makes it
always possible for Forest Service employees to reverse toll calls to
Forest Service telephones, and also permits them to have calls charged
from an emergency station to any Forest Service telephones connected
with the exchange at which the calls originate.

Another section provides that the telephone company will use its
good offices in arranging, so far as possible, with its subscribers in
or near any National Forest to give prompt notice to the telephone
company's central office directly serving such subscribers of any forest
fires discovered by such subscribers or of which they may receive
notice, and will* instruct its operators and other employees promptly
to communicate such notice to the local forest officials. This gives
you something in addition to the boy scouts and the rural mail car-
riers, and, I imagine, with a little careful work can be extended into
a very valuable patrol system.

Another section provides that the telephone company shall furnish
maps showing the arrangement and location of circuits, pole lines,
and exchanges of the telephone company in the neighborhood of any
National Forest.

Still another section provides that the telephone company shall use
its good offices to secure for the Department of Agriculture, upon
terms and conditions substantially similar to those provided for, suit-
able arrangements for the furnishing of similar service by such of
the connecting companies of the telephone company within its terri-
tory as the Department of Agriculture may in each case desire or
approve. This section simply means that the telephone companies
will use their acquaintance with the telephone companies over which
they have no actual control in the interest of the Forest Service. In
the case of connecting telephone companies that have been doing busi-
ness with the associated Bell companies for any length of time, there
will probably be very little difficulty in making any arrangements
that may be desirable.

A special provision in the contract which should be of particular
interest to the State foresters is covered by section 14 of Article I,
which states that the telephone company will " extend the telephone
facilities and service covered by this agreement to State authorities
and private timberland owners cooperating with the Department of
Agriculture in forest protection in so far as, in the judgment of the
telephone company, such facilities and service may reasonably be so
extended : Provided, That any special rates for exchange or toll-

58 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

line service set forth in the annexed schedule A shall in no case here-
under be allowed to such State authorities and timberland owners
for any purposes other than forest protection."

This clause was inserted to cover cases where State authorities or
private timberland owners were directly cooperating with the Federal
Forest Service in the protection of forests adjacent to existing
National Forests. It had not in mind the cooperation that exists
between the State forest departments and the Federal Forest Service
under the Weeks law. The latter condition may, however, be met by
the negotiation of contracts, substantially similar in general intent
to that before us, between the State forest departments and the
associated Bell telephone companies. However, such contracts must
be negotiated in detail with the associated telephone companies and
not with the American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

The only remaining section of particular consequence in the con-
tract is that which provides for the furnishing to the telephone com-
pany of right of way through National Forests under certain speci-
fied conditions.

As to specific telephone rates to be charged under this contract, the
present arrangements of the Forest Service with the associated com-
panies vary widely, and it is not expected that the adoption of the
new form of contract will necessarily require any modifications in
the existing charges. All such matters will be questions for local
negotiation and will be covered by the schedule in each case. It is
hardly possible for me to indicate what the attitude of the local tele-
phone companies will be in regard to any specific rates, although it is
the expectation, in a general way, that the charges for forest tele-
phones will be more or less in line with the charges made in each
locality for rural telephone service on lines where the subscribers
furnish their own instruments and the rural portion of each circuit.
Such charges vary widely in different parts of the country, ranging
from as low as $3 up to as high as $12 per station per annum for a
minimum of about six stations on any one line. A very common rate
is in the neighborhood of $5 or $6 per station. Additional charges
are made, of course, in cases where the telephone companies furnish
the instruments.

Mr. Pettis has raised a point in connection with the charges for
service rendered during a part of each year which may need some
explanation. From the telephone company's standpoint it is difficult
to figure that service of this kind, particularly where it is required
every year for a definite period, costs any less than service that is
continuous through the 12 months. The switchboard apparatus, cable
pairs, and outside wires, even when not actually in use, have to be
held in reserve and maintained; and operators and repair men have
to be provided to handle the maximum amount of work to be done
during any part of the year, and can not very well be laid off simply
because service at a few telephone stations is discontinued during the
winter months. The result is that the rates for so-called " short-
term " service have ordinarily been a compromise between this view
of the situation and the subscriber's point of view that he should not
pay for telephone service except when actually using it. Charges of

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

59

this kind become, of course, of less importance in cases where the
Forest Service furnishes its own circuits and instruments.

The only general statement that can be made in regard to rate
matters is to repeat what I have said before, that the present contract
has been conceived in a spirit of liberality and cooperation, and that
it is quite certain that the same spirit will be carried out by the
telephone companies into any individual negotiations that the State
foresters may undertake in their respective States.

CONSTRUCTION OF PROTECTIVE IMPROVEMENTS IN WISCONSIN.

J. G. Peters read the following paper from State Forester E. M.
Griffith, of Wisconsin :

Gentlemen : In 1910 there were only a few roads within the State
forest reserve. As a complete system of roads, fire lines, and tele-
phone lines was absolutely necessary in order to protect the reserve
from fires, this work has been pushed during the field seasons of
1911 and 1912 as rapidly as the men and funds at the disposal of the
forestry board would permit.

Within the reserve there were fortunately many miles of old
logging railroad grades. With a comparatively small amount of
work many of these have been made into very fair woods roads, which
will also be excellent fire lines. Others are so located that they can
not be used as roads, but most of them will be cleared of brush and
other inflammable material.

Approximately 159 miles of road were built, at an average cost of
about $118 per mile. Where old railroad grades could not be utilized,
roads had to be built through heavy brush or timber. The cost of
building. a typical piece of road on an old railroad grade was as
follows :

Character of work.

Total

cost;

distance,

8 miles.

Cutting brush

Removing ties

Removing rock and sod .
Plowing and dragging. . .

Board of men

Board of team

$56. 85
58.08
9.20
49.85
85.90
33.40

Total.

M3.2S

Cost
per mile.

$7.11
7.26
1.15
6.23

10.74
4.17

36. 06

On most of these old railroad grades the brush is very thick. This
must first of all be cut out to make a good wide road, then piled, and
later burned. The heaviest part of the work is removing the ties,
often birch, which have become firmly embedded in the turf. They are
piled up along the road and, when thoroughly dry, burned. After
the rock and sod have been removed the road is plowed and dragged,
and then with a little use it packs firmly.

It is interesting to compare the cost of a road built through very
brushv country with that of one built on an old railroad grade, es-

60

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

pecially as the work was done under the same forest ranger with
practically the same crew of men :

Character of work.

Total cost;
distance,
2.75 miles.

Cost per
mile.

Cutting brush

Removing stumps

Plowing and dragging.

Scraping

Shoveling and grubbin

Dynamiting

Burning brush

Board of men

Board of team

Total

SI 13. 95
44.85
32.20
70.05

125. 70
19.00
26.45

215. SO
86.95

734. 45

$41.44
16.31
11.71

25.47
45.71
6.91
9.62
78. f 9
31. (2

267. 08

Approximately 118 miles of fire lines have been made, at an average
cost of $87.70 per mile. Most of the fire lines follow the old railroad
grades. Many of them are really secondary roads, and can be used
as such when desirable. However, in a great many places it has been
found necessary to construct fire lines where there were no railroad
grades, and in such cases the fire line has always been built so as to
connect two lakes, or a lake with a river, road, or other boundary,
from which the fire could be fought. The forest reserve contains sev-
eral hundred lakes besides a number of rivers and many smaller
streams, which makes it a comparatively easy matter to divide the
reserve, by means of roads and fire lines, into a large number of
blocks or districts, so that a forest fire can be held in the district in
which it starts.

Fifty-six miles of telephone line has been constructed, at an average
cost of $36.77 per mile. The detailed cost of an average line was as
follows :

Character of work.

Total cost;
distance,
9 miles.

Cost per
mile.

Cutting and skidding poles to road .. . .
Digging holes, hauling and setting pole

Stumpage value of poles

Stringing wire

Cost of wire :

Cost of knobs

Cost of nails

Totel

$78. 30
75.60
40.50
49.12
43.38
2.70
.54

290. 14

$8.70
8.40
4.50
5.46
4.82
.30
.00

32.24

Our telephone lines extend from a headquarters camp to ranger
cabins, lookout towers, and near-by towns ; a switchboard at the head-
quarters camp makes it possible to connect any of the lines.

During the summer of 1912 four 55-foot steel lookout towers were
built on some of the highest hills within the forest reserve, so located
that nearly the entire area of forest-reserve lands in Oneida and
Vilas Counties can be observed.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 61

The average cost of constructing the towers has been $136.90,
the detailed cost of a typical one being as follows :

Cost of tower $66.32

Labor setting up tower . , 52. 51

Cement for foundations 9. 55

Lumber for platform 3.05

Total 131.43

From any of the towers the country can be seen for 10 miles in
almost any direction, and during dry weather an observer is sta-
tioned at each, who reports immediately by telephone any fire or
smoke that may be seen.

Old dead stubs are one of the most prolific means of spreading
forest fires, as the fire quickly runs up the dead bark to the top of
the tree, and a slight wind will carry the burning bark for long dis-
tances across roads, fire lines, streams, or other barriers. Stubs
of this kind, chiefly birch, have been cut back for 6 rods on each side
of 83 miles of roads and fire lines, at an average cost of $5.34 per
mile.

Where the slash from old lumbering operations is very heavy,
and especially where it adjoins timber or other valuable property,
it is necessary to pile and burn it. Over 1,335 acres of dangerous
slashings have been destroyed, at an average cost of $4.88 per acre.
The reason the cost was so high was on account of the work being
done on the worst areas where the slashings were heaviest, and also
because the lumbermen had made no attempt to pile the slash.

SLASH DISPOSAL.

W. T. Cox, State forester of Minnesota, addressed the conference
on this subject, as follows :

Gentlemen : The forest service in Minnesota has two big prob-
lems— -in the summer, fire patrol, and in the winter, slash disposal.
The summer force i;s reduced in the fall to about one-half. We find
it necessary to retain the complete force of district rangers and
from one to three assistants in each district to look after slash dis-
posal. There are over 1,500 logging camps operating in the northern
part of Minnesota this winter, not including the small hardwood
operations. It can readily be seen that it is a big job for the rangers
to handle this enormous amount of work and to go around to all of
these different operators, a number of whom are small contractors,
many being irresponsible and requiring supervision. The larger
outfits, of course, can be supervised less closely, because they are
responsible people, and we can get back at them if they fail to dis-
pose of the slash properly. The law is a very broad one and most
satisfactory. It leaves to the discretion of the forest department
the whole mater of how the slash shall be disposed of. The old law
stated that the slash must be burned, and set a date before which it
must be fired. That law was inoperative not only because of the
failure of the State to provide the men to enforce it, but also be-
cause it was so drastic that it could not have been enforced; it was
an impossibility and would have put the loggers out of business.

62 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

We have many different conditions in the State, various types of
forest and kinds of soil, and they all have to be considered in making
rules regarding slash disposal. I might mention some general rules
or practices in regard to the handling of slash. In the northeastern
part of the State there is considerable spruce and cedar, and the soil
between the hills is very rocky and swampy. Under such conditions
we require the operators — largely small contractors — to lop their
slash and make fire lines around it; in general, no burning is required.
This kind of work can be done for approximately 20 cents a thousand
board feet, or its equivalent, since the slash is cut into poles, posts, and
similar products. In this part of the State there are also large areas
of mature white and Norway pine, growing mainly on the rocky
ridges. Here we require the slash to be burned in winter as logging
proceeds. There was a great deal of opposition to this at the start,
because it looked like a very drastic measure. But we have had meet-
ings with the lumbermen, and they now feel that it is their own work,
which it really is. They have finally come around to our point of
view, and many of the larger companies are burning the slash clean
at a cost of from 5 to 20 cents a thousand feet. The lumbermen, as a
rule; are reasonable, and at one of the meetings they agreed as a body
to expend in slash-disposal work not to exceed 30 cents a thousand
feet for their operations in order to reduce the fire risk. Some com-
panies state that they are burning the brush at a profit, because it
reduces the cost of skidding and they now find all of the logs. We
want the brush burned in the winter or early spring while the cutting
is actually going on, because if it were piled for burning later on the
light soil or dun characteristic of this very rocky country would likely
be burned off and destroyed, practically ruining the country.

In other sections of the State we employ different methods. For
instance, in the sand-plain country of central Minnesota there is no
reason why the brush can not be piled as logging proceeds and burned
in the spring. Some loggers claim they can dispose of it more cheaply
in this way, but others consider that they can burn it as logging pro-
ceeds just as cheaply, or at even less expense.

In some parts of the State, where the soil is heavy and the growth
of pine dense, it is almost impossible to burn the slash in winter. As
a matter of fact, this kind of land is bound to be used for agricultural
purposes in the near future, and the companies are cutting it as clean
as practicable, with a view to selling it to settlers for immediate farm-
ing. In this case we require that the slash be burned clean, without
any effort to save the young timber. That applies only to certain
limited parts of the State, but we think it desirable.

There are all sorts of gradations between the three principal meth-
ods of slash disposal — clean burning, piling for burning later, and
burning as cutting proceeds by starting fires and throwing the slash
on. Often it is very desirable to save the hardwood where pine is
being cut and there is a valuable stand of birch, large poplar, and
elm. In such cases the cost of slash disposal runs up rather high, but
where the companies own the land they are willing to bear the ex-
pense, even when it amounts, as in some instances, to a cost of 40 cents
a thousand feet. On the other hand, where the operators own only
the stumpage it is more difficult to get them to dispose of the slash
properly, especially since they are apt to injure the remaining timber
and bring about damage suits with the owner of the land.

FOKEST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 63

The character of the trees has an important bearing on slash dis-
posal. For instance, in a thick stand of half-grown white pine, about
14 inches in diameter, there will be a great many limbs and branches.
When these are cut the amount of debris is heavy, and it costs at least
three times as much to dispose of the slash there as it would in a
more open stand of mature white pine.

One of the small things that is really important is the matter of
a torch for burning the brush. It has been very difficult to convince
the loggers that the torch was a desirable implement. As there is a
great deal of birch in that country, they had been in the habit of
gathering the bark and starting fires in the piles. They have found,
however, that the expense can be reduced considerably by the use of
a torch; and they are now having torches made similar to the one
used in the Forest Service, consisting of a large pipe designed to con-
tain waste saturated with oil, attached to a smaller pipe, which is
used as a handle. The torch should hold about 1| quarts of oil. It
is strong and effective, and saves a great deal of time.

In regard to getting compliance with the law, the larger companies
are all right, because the law authorizes the State to go ahead and
burn the brush if they do not do it satisfactorily and collect the cost
in a civil suit or as a lien on the land. However, with the irresponsi-
ble operator who has no property and is liable to be in Minnesota
only during the fall and early winter and in Canada in the spring,
we find it necessary to adopt somewhat different tactics. These men,
as a rule, are contractors, and we reach them by requesting the com-
pany from whom they receive the contract to hold back a sufficient
amount of their money until the district ranger has certified that the
slash is properly disposed of. If they still fail to do the work satis-
factorily, the ranger or patrolman may go ahead and do it, using as
much of the money that is reserved as the work actually costs. A
number of companies have agreed to follow this plan.

One of the reasons why we have got the lumbermen to see this
matter of slash disposal in the right light is probably due to the
working out of the law in the Minnesota National Forest. The dis-
posal of slash was taken up early by the Federal Government on this
Forest, and has worked out very satisfactorily. Conditions have been
favorable, the work has been done cheaply, and the results are known
to most of the loggers throughout northern Minnesota.

We have more or less difficulty regarding old slash, because the
law was not made clear on this point. I believe the law gives us au-
thority to require companies to go back over their cuttings and dis-
pose of old slash. But this would be unfair, and in many cases it
would be impossible to locate the responsible parties. Consequently
we have interpreted rather broadly that feature of the law and have
taken it to mean operations carried on after the passage of the law.

It is a difficult matter to educate a force of men to give uniform
instructions regarding slash disposal. Even with our comparatively
small number of district rangers, it requires a great deal of careful
work and frequent inspection to get them to work in unity. One
company may be operating in two or three districts, receiving instruc-
tions from as many different rangers. These instructions must be
consistent, and they are issued only by the district rangers. A sep-
arate notice is issued for each land description, which is handled as
a unit. There is a double object in this. The conditions vary in

64 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

different parts of the cutting area, but there is also another reason
in that, when necessary, we can bring action separately for each notice
issued.

In addition to the lopping of slash, the law requires that slash
resulting from the construction of roads, trails, and ditches be dis-
posed of. The State itself is doing considerable ditching through the
tamarack and spruce swamps; several thousand miles of ditches are
being built, some of them veritable canals. Of course, a great deal
of debris results from this work. The State, county, and town roads
must also be looked after. It is almost as big a task for the rangers
to look after road and ditch slash as the logging slash, because it is
hard to convince these petty officers that it is their duty to dispose
of the debris. The State roads and ditches are, of course, more easily
handled.

The whole object of brush burning at present is to reduce the fire
risk. We aim, as soon as practicable, to give more attention to the
reproduction of forests, but so far as burning and lopping are con-
cerned, protection is still the one idea. While our law has been in
operation not quite two years, it has resulted in a broad belt of
country being rendered rather safe from fire. Naturally, there are
still many areas of old slash, as well as stands of young timber and
small reproduction, which are in danger, but we feel that we are
gradually bringing about favorable conditions.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Foster. Mr. Cox, have you found it necessary to take to court
any case of noncompliance with the law ?

Mr. Cox. Yes; with the result that the operators disposed of the
brush very satisfactorily rather than pay the fine, and at a great deal
higher cost than would have been necessary in the first place. Oper-
ators may be fined for noncompliance with the law, and they must
pay the cost of disposal in addition.

Mr. Pettis. From what you know of the Adirondacks would you
recommend spruce slash burning in our operations ?

Mr. Cox. No ; I think that lopping and the fire line are the proper
precautions there, just as in Minnesota. I think the conditions are
very similar.

Mr. Pettis. Why do you have such a wide difference in the cost of
slash disposal? Is it due to the time of year?

Mr. Cox. Yes; and the men who are doing it. I believe more
depends on the men than on anything else.

Mr. Pettis. Are any of the lumbermen opposed to slash burning?

Mr. Cox. Very few.

Mr. Pettis. One of the chief reasons the Adirondack lumbermen
offer for their opposition to top lopping is that it kills reproduction ;
that is, the actual lopping and the shade from the lopped branches
kill the young trees.

Mr. Cox. As I already have said, I think one of the reasons why
we are able to get the lumbermen to see slash disposal in the right
light is because of the successful working out of the law in the Min-
nesota National Forest.

Mr. Rane. How do they handle the slash on that Forest?

Mr. Cox. It is piled and burned, either as the cutting proceeds or
very soon after.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 65

Mr. Eane. In your experience do you think burning as the oper-
ation is going on is as cheap a method as any ?

Mr. Cox. It is the cheapest in certain types of forest, especially
in our stands of white and Norway pine.

Mr. Pettis. Have you had any fires escape in places where slash
was being burned?

Mr. Cox. Yes; quite a number, but we have always extinguished
them before they became destructive.

Mr. Peters. Do you feel that the law needs amending in any im-
portant particular?

Mr. Cox. In my judgment it does not. I believe there is no im-
portant feature lacking in it.

Mr. Peters. You believe it is a good plan to leave the method of
disposing of the slash to the discretion of the forest department?

Mr. Cox. Yes. I see no objection to this plan; it has worked out
a great deal better than I thought it would. The New York law,
as I understand it, makes the lopping of evergreen trees in all cut-
ting operations a hard-and-fast requirement.

Mr. Pettis. We require lumbermen to lop the branches of ever-
green trees in all of the 96 " fire towns." Last year there was some
objection to the law, and we started an investigation. We held hear-
ings at three different places; a large number of lumbermen and
many others attended. The result is that we are confirmed in the
opinion that top lopping is a good thing. We found cases where
fires had occurred both in lopped tops and in unlopped tops, and
we were thus able to make comparisons. One argument of the lum-
bermen was, as I already have said, that the lopping and scattering
of branches kills reproduction. They also argued that if the tops are
not lopped a fire will run underneath them and simply burn the
weeds, and that the tops being raised off the ground — on stilts, as it
were — will not catch fire. Our investigations scarcely proved this
contention. A fire does not run as rapidly in lopped tops as in un-
lopped tops, and if one starts you are able much more quickly to make
a fire line, because the branches are cut off and it is only necessary to
separate them.

We have the same trouble which Mr. Cox pointed out in connec-
tion with operators who may be working in two or three different
counties. Some of our forest rangers may be overzealous, while
others are more reasonable. It is a hard job to keep 72 rangers all
lined up to see the same thing alike.

The lumbermen make their greatest objection to lopping small
trees. This has been a benefit in that fewer small trees have been
cut, but I believe that the law will be amended to provide that tops
shall be lopped up to approximately 3 inches in diameter, and that it
will not be necessary to lop the tops of the smaller trees. Limbs on the
part of a tree under 3 inches in diameter will not be more than 2 or
2| feet long, and they will keep the top raised but a short distance
above the ground, which, I think, will not seriously retard the rate
of decay. Such a law will, I believe, be sufficient to accomplish the
purpose of slash disposal and will save the lumbermen a great deal
of money.

The cost, according to the testimony of the lumbermen, varies.
If a man is in favor of lopping he will tell you it costs about 25

13369°— 14 5

66 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

cents a thousand feet; if opposed, from 60 to 75 cents a thousand.
The cost, so far as it depends on the amount of road to be constructed,
will be decidedly increased if the roads are on low ground, where
there is a large amount of small timber. In some cases, I think, the
operators when they build roads through swamps charge too much
of the cost to top lopping, for they cut the branches off and use them
for road building but charge it to top lopping.

Mr. Cox. In Minnesota we found that the operators figure simi-
larly where they are cutting pulpwood, poles, and posts. They figure
the cost of swamping practically all against lopping, although they
have to trim the trees anyway in order to get these materials out.

Mr. Pettis. There are two other advantages the operators do not
always consider. In the first place, they are removing a great deal
of timber they never took before. Now that they have to cut the
branch off they frequently take the pulpwood up to 2^ inches in
diameter in the top, whereas before it was only taken in some cases
to 5 inches. Some of the lumbermen who have watched the opera-
tions are willing to admit that the increased amount of material
which they take out will offset the increased cost. There are others
who contend that lopping the tops reduces the cost of making trails,
because when all the tops are cut a log can be skidded anywhere.
During the investigation a prominent lumberman, who was making
an argument against the top-lopping law, stated that getting the
material close to the ground increased the fire danger. He further
stated that he was taking pulpwood to about 4 inches at the top end.
When asked if the fire danger would be reduced by not taking the
pulpwood out to such a small diameter he said that it would, but he
could not afford to leave the material in the woods.

FIRE FIGHTING.

The final session of the conference was called to order in the
afternoon by C. R. Pettis, superintendent of forests of New York,
acting as chairman.

J. E. Barton, State forester of Kentucky, who was unable to be
present, sent the following paper on fire fighting :

Gentlemen : With forest fires, as with fires in cities, the essence of
successfully fighting and controlling them is a thoroughly trained
and dependable organization. To the inexperienced a forest fire is a
fearful thing before which men are helpless; this attitude breeds
panic, so that effectual work for the control of the fire is out of the
question. The experienced man soon learns that forest fires can be
classified, have certain more or less fixed phases, and can be success-
fully fought and controlled. Confidence in these facts, which experi-
ence has shown to be true, is nearly half the battle. The means and
methods of the actual work of control are largely a product of the
immediate exigencies which his calm and experienced judgment sug-
gests. Hysteria in the face of any fire means ineffectiveness. So that
in fighting forest fires I feel the necessity in the first place of a well
organized and disciplined force wherever possible, or at least it is
essential that the men who direct and oversee the work shall have the
requisite training and experience.

In the actual fire-fighting operations there is one general principle
which suffices, namely, the fire must be reduced to the smallest pos-

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 67

sible " front, " so that its advance may be eventually checked. This
is what the rangers on the National Forests usually call " running the
fire to a peak. Generally in coniferous forests this is accomplished
by cutting rights of way and digging trenches ahead of the fire, and
oftentimes back-firing from the trenches. The trenches are eventu-
ally completed around the entire fire, a close patrol maintained to see
that the fire does not escape beyond them, and dangerous burning
stubs or rotten trees within the fire zone are cut down. In the hard-
wood region the same general method is employed ; but here the fires
are ground fires, ordinarily, rather than top fires. Top fires burn
more rapidly, so that the work must be planned and carried out far
enough in advance of the " front " to give effective results.

In the Northwest there are a few fire-fighting tools which experi-
ence has demonstrated are the most satisfactory for general purposes.
These are the long-handled shovel, ax, mattock (grub hoe), and cross-
cut saw. Various other tools have been tried under special local
conditions, but these four seem universally most efficient. A short
time ago one of the men on the Coeur d'Alene' Forest devised a com-
bination ax, mattock, and shovel, and the resulting tool was very satis-
factory, according to the latest information I have. The cost of mak-
ing it was the chief objection. Recently various devices and fire ex-
tinguishers have been experimented with, and under certain condi-
tions have proved very efficient. The difficulty with force pumps in
many situations is the lack of water, and the same difficulty exists
with regard to fire extinguishers where water is one of the chemical
agents. In a mountain country the transportation of water and sup-
plies for chemical fire extinguishers is an exceedingly important con-
sideration.

In the eastern hardwood region other instruments and tools are
possibly more effective than the ax, mattock, shovel, and crosscut
saw. Where leaves and dead foliage serve to feed the fire, rakes and
hoes will be found efficient instruments, and water buckets of canvas
can be readily used and easily transported. Also force pumps and
chemical fire-extinguishing apparatus of various sorts will be more
serviceable and effective here than in the West.

The organization, equipment, and maintenance of fire crews in case
of large fires is a matter calling for considerable executive ability
and ingenuity. Usually small crews of from 8 to 10 men, with a
foreman, will be found most satisfactory. It is essential that the
fire-fighting force be well organized and systematized and that the
commissary be carefully looked after. The commissary, unless well
conducted, proves one of the most expensive parts of the whole op-
eration, and careful supervision here usually more than pays for
itself.

In Kentucky the fiscal courts of the various counties are authorized
to provide funds for fire fighting, but are not compelled to do so.
The funds must come largely from the general appropriation for
the board of forestry until the system is fairly well grounded in
the State. At present there are no cooperative associations of indi-
viduals or land and timber owners with funds at their disposal for
fire protective purposes, although some firms and corporations have
undertaken this work. It is hoped and expected that such associations
will be rapidly formed within the State.

68 FOKEST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

RELATION OF COOPERATIVE FIRE PROTECTION UNDER THE WEEKS
LAW TO THE ACQUISITION OF LANDS UNDER THE LAW.

W. L. Hall, assistant forester, Forest Service, gave the following
address on this topic :

Gentlemen: I assume that all members of this conference are
acquainted with the purchase provisions of the Weeks law, so I
will take no time to explain them. Purchases have begun both in
the White Mountains in New Hampshire and in the Southern Appa-
lachian States. In the White Mountains there is but one purchase
area, comprising about 670,000 acres. In the Southern Appalachians
we have designated 17 purchase areas, including 5,300,000 acres. On
the map (figure 3) you will see outlined the areas in which the
Government is now considering purchases in the Southern Ap-
palachians. The reason why these areas were chosen for the be-
ginning of purchases is simply the necessity of restricting purchases
to certain localities. We have a limited amount of money with which
to buy land. On the 30th of June, 1915, our appropriation will
cease as far as it is now made. The money has been made available
until expended — that is, $8,000,000 of it — so you see, having a defi-
nite sum with which to work, it is necessary to fix certain limits
within which we will consider purchases. We are, in fact, not ex-
pecting to purchase anything like all of the lands within the areas
indicated as purchase areas on the map. The black areas show the
lands which have been acquired or are being acquired. It is neces-
sary for us to select those parcels of land which are going to be of the
greatest value for the Government to control in the future. Our
land must therefore be so grouped in purchasing that we will not,
when the money is spent, be left with merety small bodies of land in
any one locality ; they must be fairly compacted together, so that they
can be administered and so that such principles as we wish to apply
in handling these forests may be applied.

It is a difficult and delicate question to determine how far we
should go in any one locality in buying lands. Our mistake is likely
to be, I fear, that we will go too far, scatter our purchases too much,
and be left, when our appropriation is ended, with scattered bunches
of lands which we will have difficulty in taking care of. We are
therefore working against that difficulty all the time, and if we make
a mistake it will not be because we have not seen the danger.

As we now view the matter, our best course is to establish bodies of
land as well grouped as possible of from 25,000 to 100,000 acres each,
and to have these bodies as well distributed as possible over the South-
ern Appalachian region. The areas indicated on the map as purchase
areas merely help us to carry out that part of the program. When
we have done that, and while we are doing it, a certain amount of ad-
ministration is, of course, necessary. We have already acquired
and paid for certain lands ; they belong to the Government, and under
provision which has been made by Congress we can take care also of
lands while under contract for purchase ; therefore, as soon as a pur-
chase contract is entered into for any body of land that land becomes
subject to our protection. The same is true of lands on which con-
demnation proceedings have been begun.

-14. {To fnoe pagp T.8.)

Fig. 3. — Map of areas in the Southern Appalachians in which purchases am twins made under the Weeks' law.

FOREST PIBE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 69

The land for which the Government assumes responsibility we
shall attempt to protect from fire. I suppose we shall not have to ask
the States or private timberland owners or their associations to help
us in that work. As far as we can see, this work of protection belongs
to the Federal Government. It is buying these lands for the purpose
of keeping out fires, in part, and naturally it is the duty of the Gov-
ernment, as we see it, as soon as the lands are in our hands to take
care of them. We also expect to make improvements on them in the
way of roads, trails, telephone lines, and lookout stations.

There is one further thing that may be done : There will always be
a lot of private lands adjoining the Government's purchase. It is
likely in some cases we may work out cooperative agreements with
private owners to place their lands under the Government's jurisdic-
tion, so far as protection is concerned. That is the plan that is being
followed upon the National Forests.

Aside from that there is another thing which occurs to me that can
be done, although it lies entirely in the future, and that is that the
Forest Service ought to encourage as much as possible the organiza-
tion »in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of fire protective asso-
ciations. In the White Mountains there is such an association, but in
the Southern Appalachians there is none, and I believe that the Gov-
ernment should assume some responsibility in encouraging that sort
of thing throughout the Southern Appalachian region. With such
associations in existence it may be possible for the Government to
extend its influence through the associations over a great deal of terri-
tory which it can never hope to acquire. I do not believe that the
Government can go much further than that.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Cox. I would like to ask if the areas already purchased are
being administered to any extent?

Mr. Hall. Yes ; we have attempted to keep out fires.

Mr. Holmes. Mr. Hall, you spoke about timber protective associa-
tions in the Southern Appalachians. About a year ago we tried
pretty hard to get up a meeting of timberland owners in western
North Carolina. I wrote to nearly every owner, but there were only
two or three firms that showed any interest at all. I would like to
ask how far the Government would encourage an association —
whether it would help by protection, or whether it would help in
getting up meetings, or things of that sort ? Would the Government
be able to assist financially an association extending over the western
part of North Carolina ?

Mr. Hall. I do not suppose we could arrange to protect private
lands, unless under some cooperative agreement whereby the owners
and the Federal Government would protect jointly the lands of all
parties to the agreement.

With regard to whether such associations can be organized, it
seems to me that it is merely a matter of keeping at it. Your first
attempt may fail, but if you keep on you are likely to succeed.

Mr. Greeley. I can see no difficulty in carrying out in North Caro-
lina with a landowner the same kind of an arrangement that has been
put into effect in Idaho, Montana, and several other States, under

70 FOREST "FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

which the Forest Service cooperates directly with timberland asso-
ciations in the protection of specified localities. There is laid out a
fire protective unit, and in which the Government may own 25 per
cent of the land and the association may own the other 75 per cent.
We join forces with the association in protecting that unit as a whole,
because the fire danger there is a common one, and if a fire starts it
is just as likely to burn our land as theirs. I can see no reason why
the same thing can not be done in the South when the Government,
has established National Forests there. That would be your position,
would it not, Mr. Hall?
Mr. Hall. Yes; entirely.

ADDRESSES BY REPRESENTATIVES OF STATES WHICH ARE PRO-
SPECTIVE COOPERATORS UNDER THE WEEKS LAW.

J. H. Finney, chairman of the forestry committee of the Southern
Commercial Congress, told of the work of his committee, as follows :

Gentlemen: The Southern Commercial Congress, which has its
headquarters in Washington, has been doing for the last four or five
years a tremendously important work in the way of publicity con-
cerning the resources of the South. It is a movement for a better
understanding of the South and its problems. Its slogan is "A
greater Nation through a greater South " — a movement that is main-
tained by voluntary contributions, mainly from people who are con-
cerned in the South's highest and best development.

To further this work the congress has within the past few months
increased its activities by organizing various committees, dealing
with the most important topics or problems. You can readily see
that such committees, composed, as they are, of people in the Southern
States, can do more effective work locally and stir up more local
interest in the problems than if the work were all done in Washing-
ton ; but, of course, the work is directed from Washington, and there-
fore the Southern Commercial Congress keeps in close touch with
everything that is being done. Among these committees is the for-
estry committee, of which I have the honor to be the chairman. This
committee is composed of one man in each of the 16 Southern States,
and that man has appointed in his State an advisory board of five or
more men, so that we have in this way over 100 men and a thoroughly
live membership that can work in cooperation with what we outline
from this point as the proper sphere of our activity.

We realize that the South is perhaps more indifferent to the forest
problem than any other section of the country. While it does not
absolutely ignore the existence of the problem, the people are indif-
ferent to it. This is, of course, a severe indictment, but it is prac-
tically a true one, or has been until the last two or three years. We
believe that this agency of ours is going to be an effective means of
getting the Southern States to cooperate not only between them-
selves but with the National Government for better forest conditions.
As I conceive it, the South must have competent State foresters, better
laws as regards fire protection, better methods of handling the forests,
an equitable system of forest taxation, restriction of cut perhaps,
State forest reserves, and anything else that may be with propriety
worked for toward the betterment of forest conditions and that will

FOREST EIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. il

make for the perpetuation of this tremendously important asset of the
South.

Our committee is working to get on the statute books of the South-
ern States laws which will at least be a step toward ideal forest
conditions. Just how to do this work effectively is, of course, a
serious problem. We have got the right men in each State, and these
men are quite willing to do what we ask of them. I have offered to
go to any of the 16 Southern States and talk to the legislature on the
forest problems of the State as a business man sees them. I plan to
study the local problem intelligently, present it as well as I can, and
urge the enactment of laws for remedying conditions that are worse
in the South than in any other section of the country. If the legis-
lature invites me to talk they will probably listen to what I have to
say, and if an intelligent plan is put up to them for consideration it
seems to me that we can, through our local committeeman and his
advisory committee in that particular State, bring influence to bear
that will help to get the proper laws on the statute books.

We are intensely interested in doing something to remedy the
appalling forestry conditions of the South. We will do whatever we
can with you or through you or to help you in your work or whatever
we can to influence the various legislatures.

J. S. Holmes, State forester of North Carolina, was next called on.
He said :

Mr. Chairman : North Carolina has so far enacted very little forest
legislation. We have made no State appropriation for fire protec-
tion, so that we are unable to cooperate with the Department of Agri-
culture under the Weeks law. I hope, however, that we are going
to be able to come in this year.

Our legislature is convening this week, and a bill drawn up by a
strong committee of the North Carolina Forestry Association, and
backed by that association, will be introduced shortly. This bill will
provide for a fire-warden system under the direct control of the
State forester, who will be empowered to appoint wardens in town-
ships where they are needed. These wardens will be paid by the
State for the time they are actually employed. Other features of the
bill require persons to give notice before firing and to watch fires
until they are out, railroads to clear off their right of way, and loco-
motives to use spark arresters.

If we can get this law, or even a part of it, together with a small
appropriation — and it will be small — we shall then be able and
anxious to cooperate with the Federal Government in fire protection.

Our forestry association has been organized only two years, but
we have had two well-attended conventions, showing a large and
increasing interest. Our third annual convention will be held next
week, and I am looking forward to seeing still more interest mani-
fested.

J. A. Viquesney, forest, game, and fish warden of West Virginia,
spoke as follows:

Gentlemen : I have endeavored to be a good listener for the past
two days. Had I known these speakers were so interesting, I would
have tried very hard to induce every member of the legislature of
my State, now in session, to come here and listen.

72 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

I feel certain there would be no trouble to get proper legislation
to qualify under the Weeks law if they properly understood the ad-
vantages to be derived therefrom. If I can transmit to them the
good impressions I have received from these discussions, I feel cer-
tain there will be no trouble in the matter. I am going back to the
legislature to do the best I can.

Up until five years ago there had been no effort in West Virginia
to control forest fires. Since that time we have been doing all pos-
sible under the system we have, and although it is imperfect we
have done much good. In the year 1908, from data collected by the
Federal Forest Service, there was $3,000,000 damage done to forests
in the State by fires. In the last four years this damage has only
amounted to a few hundred thousands, and I think enough impres-
sion has been made by the little work we have already done to induce
the legislature at this session to grant some appropriation whereby
we can qualify under the Weeks law.

J. M. Gooehloe, of Virginia, gave the following talk :

Gentlemen : There has been practically nothing done in my State
toward protection from forest fires. There is no organized effort
anywhere in the State that I know of. We have great boundaries
of timberland, and fires do considerable damage. I am truly glad
that Gov. Mann sent me here to attend this conference, and when I
go back home I shall urge him very strongly to give fire protection
a great deal of consideration. I believe we ought to be in line with
the more progressive States in this movement, and we ought to pass
laws that will enable us to secure the cooperation of the Federal Gov-
ernment in fire protection under the Weeks law.

J. B. Mowey, commissioner of forestry of Ehode Island, followed
Mr. Goodloe. He said:

Gentlemen: It has been a great help and inspiration to me to
attend this conference. I certainly appreciate the spirit with which
the Forest Service is cooperating with the States^ and I propose to
do all I can to make Rhode Island enjoy this cooperation, for which
I have already applied at this conference.

We have had a forest-warden system since 1909, and in 1911 a law
was passed providing for 10 lookout stations in the State, 2 in each
county. The law provides that any two or more adjoining towns,
or any two or more private owners, may join in establishing a sta-
tion, and the State will pay the cost of maintenance. Some of the
towns have already appropriated money for the purpose.

We have difficulty in getting this work under way for the reason
that in our State the counties cut a small figure politically. We are
practically under town government, and when I have suggested that
a tower should be built on the highest hill overlooking the county,
there has been a tendency on the part of some towns to fail to coop-
erate. Some of them have said, " This tower is not in our town, and
therefore we do not see why we should take any interest in it." How-
ever, I think that their attitude in the matter will soon change and
that towers will be built in accordance with the law within a short
time. I believe we will get one or two towers this spring.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION" BY THE STATES. 73

FIRE PROTECTION UNDER THE WEEKS LAW FOR 1913.

The last address of the conference was made by W. B. Greeley,
assistant forester, Forest Service, as follows:

Gentlemen : I will attempt only a brief summary of the important
considerations which influence the Forest Service in conducting its
protective work in cooperation with the States. I will try to give
you our point of view on some of the specific aims which the Service
is seeking to attain.

It has been stated previously in this conference that the work to
be accomplished under section 2 of the Weeks law is primarily
educational. Two hundred thousand dollars would not go very far
in actual fire protection. Much can be done with that amount, how-
ever, in demonstrating in many parts of the country what is possible
under systematic fire protection. By the education and encourage-
ment of local interests we can double or triple every dollar of Gov-
ernment money expended. Broadly speaking, for every dollar of
public funds expended under this law the expenditure of four or
five other dollars has been secured through the stimulus given to the
whole protective movement.

Since our purpose is primarily educational, we must restrict closely
the extent of our cooperation with any one State. It has been a
matter of real regret that we could not increase the allotments to cer-
tain States whose effective and clear-cut lines of protective work
needed only a little more money to make the system extremely
efficient. In deciding such cases we have felt that we must adhere
to the broader goal before us; and rather than attempt to develop
protection to its maximum efficiency in any one part of the country,
stimulate as many different parts of the country as possible to under-
take and develop this work.

Mr. Graves said yesterday morning that the appropriation for
this purpose was an experiment in a new public policy— assistance by
the Federal Government to the States in preserving favorable con-
ditions on the headwaters of navigable streams. We decided at
the outset that to make this experiment conclusive it should extend
over at least three years. Our fund has been handled with this
aim in view. In carrying out this policy it has seemed unavoidable
to reduce somewhat the allotments made last year to certain States.
Again, we are guided by the same broad principle of helping the more
advanced States less that we may enable the new States to make a
start. In our allotment for the present calendar year $15,000 has
been reserved for new States, which we hope will cooperate with the
Forest Service during the coming fire season. We have also re-
served $20,000 for emergencies. This little nest egg will be drawn
upon to help any State during a critical period like our fire season
of 1910.

The Forest Service desires greatly to extend its cooperation to
other States. We are particularly anxious to have some of the
States in the Southeast enlist in this big national movement. Thus
far our cooperation has crossed Mason and Dixon's line only in the
case of Maryland. We hope this year to include Kentucky, and are
extremely anxious that other Southeastern States, like the Virginias,
the Carolinas, and Tennessee, to which the perpetuation of the

74 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

lumbering industry is a, question of the first importance, qualify for
cooperation by meeting the requirements of the Weeks law. The
experience of the Forest Service is at the service of any of these
States as far as we can aid them in perfecting their protective legis-
lation and field organization. The same applies in equal degree to
States in the North, like Rhode Island, Ohio, Michigan, and others
which are considering cooperation with the Forest Service.

In this connection I believe that the question of navigability can
be made more specific than it was left yesterday morning. We can
not accept as navigable streams which serve only for log driving or
the transportation of rowboats and skiffs. Any more extensive use,
however, such as the transportation of barges or launches of any size,
will be considered as establishing the navigability of the stream for
our purposes in the administration of this act. Within these limits,
our point of view on the question of navigability, as applied to
watersheds in new States which desire to cooperate, will be broad
and liberal. We will accept as navigable, streams navigated only
to the limits of tidewater. I think we may accept short tributaries
to the lower courses of large rivers like the Mississippi, which have
no important effect upon the flow of water in the main stream but
may influence the silting of its channel. I doubt whether we would
be justified in the cooperative protection of coastal plains or bottom
lands adjoining the lower portions of large streams but not in them-
selves forming watersheds tributary to such streams. We will,
however, be entirely open to conviction on such questions, and we are
ready to give the State concerned the benefit of the doubt.

The fact that the adoption of this Federal policy is an experiment
makes it essential that its results justify the action taken by Congress
and the continuance of the policy which this action embodies. We
have therefore felt it necessary to safeguard the expenditure of the
funds appropriated under this act with more strict requirements and
to exercise closer supervision than might appear necessary. It has
not been our purpose to insist upon the adoption of our ideas on the
conduct of protective work as against those of the men on the ground
who are better acquainted with local conditions. Our aim is simply
to make sure that the broader features of this work are maintained at
a high standard of efficiency. When the time comes, as it will within
a few weeks, for us to report to Congress on the expenditure of this
money we must be able to say convincingly that we know that the
objects sought in the act have been accomplished. Hence we have
laid down certain requirements which may seem to go beyond the
reasonable in a certain control of these expenditures. I wish simply
to make clear that our object is to make the broad foundations of
this work so sure that there will be no question of continuance, as far
as they may be determined by the effectiveness of what has thus far
been done.

In certain States we have asked that a portion of the allotment be
expended for the maintenance of lookout watchmen. Where specific
measures of protection have been shown to be particularly efficient,
we believe it to be a proper function of the Forest Service to in-
fluence the States, and in some instances to require them to adopt
such measures. We believe that we should not simply serve as a
clearing house for ideas and methods, but that we should make the

F0KEST FIEB PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 75

best ideas and methods effective by putting them into effect as far as
they are locally applicable.

In our requirements as to the number of patrols and of lookout
stations in certain States we aim also to establish the foundations
for permanent protective systems. It would be a great mistake to
allow this work to be stopped if the participation of the Forest
Service in it had to be dropped from lack of appropriations. It
would be a great mistake to organize it on a temporary basis or to
give this whole movement toward conservation in one of its most
practical aspects a temporary or spasmodic character. So we have
sought, as far as our influence is able, to direct the efforts of the
States toward permanent as well as effective protective systems.

We have asked a few States to spend a part of their allotment
outside of the a.rea where protective work has hitherto been concen-
trated. Here again the purpose is to emphasize the educational fea-
tures of this work. Some of the States, by statutory limitations, are
required to spend their funds in certain prescribed portions of the
State, leaving the rest of their area without assistance in fire pro-
tection. In other States the activity of timber owners has resulted
in the effective protection of certain districts, while others are left
unprotected. Under these circumstances it has seemed to us a duty
of the Federal Government to require such a distribution of this
fund as would extend the educational benefit of the work into the
parts of States where no protective work is now being made.

Likewise we have asked the States to secure reasonable assistance
from the timber owners whose property is benefited and from the
railroads, which usually create the single greatest fire risk, as a condi-
tion to securing Federal assistance. TKis requirement also is de-
signed to aid the progress of the State protective work along educa-
tional lines as an incentive to greater interest by the private owners
of timber or to more effective State legislation.

In all of these things we have aimed to make no requirements
which would retard the normal, healthy development of fire pro-
tective work in any State. If we have done so in any instance, we
will endeavor to be entirely open-minded in adjusting any of these
requirements to local conditions and giving the State foresters ade-
ouate authority to get the best results without long-range restrictions
from Washington.

Your discussions have left little to be said on the cooperative work
for the next year. There is one point, however, which I wish to
emphasize strongly ; that is, more general cooperation on the part of
all interests and agencies involved in this big problem. My own
experience in fire-protective work in the Northwest indicated that
little real progress in the broader features of protective work could
be made until we got a great many shoulders at the wheel. The
success of the protective work in Idaho and Montana with which I
have been particularly familiar has been measured largely by the
extent to which we were able to get all interests to pull together.
First, the private owners got together and we had protective asso-
ciations, a tremendous step forward. Secondly, the private owners
and the Forest Service got together in the joint protection of lands
in and surrounding National Forests. Thirdly, the State was brought
into the game in alliance with the private owners or with the Forest

76 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

Service, or both. Now in several of the Northwestern States this
three-cornered cooperation is working out with varying degrees of
efficiency, but in the main getting better every year. A fourth ele-
ment of almost equal importance was the railroads; and one of the
big gains made in protective work in the Northwest was when some
of the main railway systems made cooperative arrangements with
the Government for joint effort to reduce the fire risk and fire losses
along their lines. Much has yet to be done in this region, but the
foundations for effective cooperation along all of these lines have been
pretty well laid. I feel that the same kind of cooperation must be
worked out on all of the large timbered regions before we can get
very far in the actual control of the fire problem.

There are, of course, still other elements which must be brought
into line. Publicity is essential. You must get at the campers and
hunters, at the children in the schools, at the laborers in the logging
camps, at the congregations of the churches through their ministers,
as Mr. Allen has done. While we may do this specific thing well or
that specific thing well and the results are good as far as they go,
the really big problem is to get everyone who contributes to the fire
risk, directly or indirectly, educated and waked up.

My suggestion is therefore that in all of the States special effort
be made to strengthen cooperation with these various elements which
should all be helping and whose help, if they all pull together, will
be powerful. We believe that the results of these two years justify
Congress in making further appropriations for Federal cooperation
in this important work. We look forward to continuing this work
with you and to making it better and more effective by mutual
counsel and advice every year.

APPENDIX.

ROSTER OF ATTENDANCE.

E. T. Allen, Forester, Western For-
estry and Conservation Association,
Portland, Oreg.

I. W. Bailey, Assistant Professor of
Forestry, Harvard School of For-
estry, Cambridge, Mass.

H. P. Baker, Dean, New York State
College of Forestry, Syracuse, N. Y.

J. F. Baker, Professor of Forestry,
Michigan Agricultural College, Bast
Lansing, Mich.

F. W. Besley, State Forester, Balti-
more, Md.

J. M. Briscoe, Professor of Forestry,
University of Maine, Orono.

R. S. Conklin, Commissioner of For-
estry, Harrisburg, Pa.

W. T. Cox, State Forester, St. Paul,
Minn.

G. Dawe, Managing Director Southern
Commercial Congress, Washington,
D. C.

F. A. Elliott, State Forester, Salem,
Oreg.

W. O. Filley, State Forester, New
Haven, Conn.

J. H. Finney, Chairman Forestry Com-
mittee, Southern Commercial Con-
gress, Washington, D. C.

John Foley, Forester, Pennsylvania
Railroad Co., Philadelphia, Pa.

J. H. Foster, Professor of Forestry,
New Hampshire College, Durham,
N. H.

Alfred Gaskill, State Forester, Tren-
ton, N. J.

J. M. Goodloe, Big Stone Gap, Va.

G. A. Gutches, Indian Office, Washing-
ton, D. C.

A. F. Hawes, State Forester, Burling-
ton, Vt.

E. C. Hirst, State Forester, Concord,
N. H.

J. S. Holmes, State Forester, Chapel
Hill, N. C.

M. C. Hutchins, State Fire Warden,
Boston, Mass.

Newbold Hutchinson, Georgetown, N. J.

R. C. Jones, Assistant State Forester,
Baltimore, Md.

F. F. Moon, Professor of Forest Engi-
neering, New York State College of
Forestry, Syracuse, N. Y.

J. B. Mowry, Commissioner of For-
estry, Chepachet, R. I.

C. R. Pettis, Superintendent of Forests,
Albany, N. Y.

F. W. Rane, State Forester, Boston,
Mass.

H. A. Reynolds, Secretary Massachu-
setts Forestry Association, Boston,
Mass.

P. S. Ridsdale, Secretary American
Forestry Association, Washington,
D. C.

M. C. Rorty, Commercial Engineer,
American Telephone & Telegraph
Co., New York, N. Y.

E. Secrest, State Forester, Wooster,
Ohio.

G. O. Smith, Director TJ. S. Geological
Survey, Washington, D. G, (repre-
sentative from Kennebec Valley Pro-
tective Association of Maine).

E. A. Sterling, Consulting Forester,
Philadelphia, Pa.

W. L. Sykes, President Emporium
Lumber Co., Buffalo, N. Y.

J. A. Viquesney, Forest, Game, and
Fish Warden, Belington, W. Va.

C. P. Wilber, State Fire Warden,
Trenton, N. J.

George H. Wirt, Forest Inspector,
Pennsylvania Department of For-
estry, Harrisburg, Pa.

Representatives from the Forest Service charged with the administration of the

Weeks Law.

E. H. Clapp, "Forest Inspector.
H. S. Graves, Forester, U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture.
W. B. Greeley, Assistant Forester.
W. L. Hall, Assistant Forester.

In addition to a number of other members of the Forest Service in Wash-
ington.

77

L. S. Murphy, Forest Examiner.
J. G. Peters, Chief of State Coopera-
tion.
R. Y. Stuart, Forest Inspector.

78 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

FORM OF FIRE-PROTECTION AGREEMENT.

The form of agreement between the Secretary of Agriculture and the State
for the protection from fire of the forested watersheds of navigable streams is
as follows :

United States Department of Agriculture.

Agreemeivt for the protection from fire of the forested watersheds of navigable
streams under section 2, act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat., 691).

This agreement, made by and between the Secretary of Agriculture of the
United States, under authority of section 2 of the act of Congress approved

March 1, 1911 (36 Stat, 691), and the State of by and through its State

Forestry Commission, witnesseth :

That whereas the said State has requested the cooperation of the said Secre-
tary in the protection from fire of the forested watersheds of navigable streams ;
and

Whereas the said State has provided by law for a system of forest-fire pro-
tection ;

Now, therefore, the said parties do mutually promise and agree with each
other as follows :

1. To establish and maintain a cooperative fire-protective system covering any

or all private or State forest lands within the State of and situated upon

the watersheds of navigable rivers ; and to furnish for this purpose Federal and
State patrolmen or to take such other protective measures as may be deemed
advisable, under the conditions hereinafter provided.

2. The State commission shall furnish maps showing the watersheds and
areas which are proposed to be protected under this agreement. The coopera-
tion shall be limited to such watersheds and areas in so far as they shall be
approved by the Secretary. The said commission shall indicate the periods
during which protection from forest fires is proposed under this agreement; the
number of patrolmen, with their stations, which will be employed by the State ;
the character and extent of other protective measures which it is proposed to
put into effect at the expense of the State ; and the localities in which it is
desired to place Federal patrolmen furnished by the Forest Service.

3. The State forester of , acting as an employee of the State commis-
sion, shall be appointed collaborator in the Forest Service of the United States
Department of Agriculture at a salary of one dollar ($1) a month, and acting
in such capacity shall have direct charge of the force of Federal patrolmen
employed under this agreement. The State forester shall select the Federal
patrolmen, subect to approval by the Secretary, instruct them in writing as
to their duties, supervise their work, and certify to their services on pay rolls
of the Forest Service.

4. The Federal patrolmen so selected shall be appointed as temporary laborers

in the Forest Service at a per diem rate not exceeding dollars ($ ) ;

provided that they shall be employed exclusively in the protection of areas on
the watersheds of navigable rivers which shall have been approved by the said
Secretary.

5. This agreement contemplates the employment under ordinary conditions

of fire hazard of not to exceed Federal patrolmen, or in case of emergency

of not to exceed Federal patrolmen in the discretion of the collaborator,

provided that in case of serious emergency the latter number may be increased
with the approval of the Forester.

6. The State commission shall secure for the Federal patrolmen furnished
under this agreement, by appointment as deputy State fire wardens or other-
wise, without additional compensation, such police powers for the prevention
and control of forest fires as may be granted under the laws of the State of

, and shall equip such Federal patrolmen with such fire-fighting tools or

devices and shall authorize them to employ such assistance in fighting fires as
its funds and the State fire laws and regulations will permit.

7. The total sum to be expended by the Federal Government during any
calendar year for the purposes of this agreement may equal but shall not

exceed dollars ($ ) ; but in no case shall the amount expended by

the Federal Government in any Federal fiscal year exceed the amount appro-
priated by the said State for and expended by it during the same period for
the purpose of protecting from fire forested watersheds of navigable streams in

FOKEST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 79

said State. This agreement contemplates an expenditure of State funds of at

least dollars ($ ) ; and in the event of such expenditure falling below

said amount the Federal expenditure will be decreased proportionately.

8. Payment for the services of Federal patrolmen employed under this agree-
ment shall be made at the end of each calendar or fractional month on vouchers
certified by the State forester as collaborator, and forwarded to the Forester,
Forest Service, Washington, D. C, provided that no patrolman will be employed
except during the real danger season from forest fires on the watersheds and
areas approved by the Secretary under this agreement.

9. The said Secretary and his authorized representative shall have full au-
thority to inspect the protective areas and the force herein authorized, and at
his option, by giving the State commission written notice, may withdraw his
approval of any such area or portion thereof, or terminate the employment of
any Federal patrolman or patrolmen or of the State forester as collaborator
in the Fest Service.

10. The State forester shall be responsible for seeing that each patrolman
keeps a vigilant lookout for forest fires in or threatening his district, and that
he makes every possible effort to extinguish such fires as occur, whether they
are on lands belonging to the State, the Federal Government, or a private owner,
provided that during the patrol period when in the judgment of the State
forester patrol is unnecessary the patrolmen may be used on other fire-protection
work. The State forester or his representative shall from time to time make
such personal inspection of the cooperative fire-protection work done under this
agreement as may be necessary to promote the effectiveness of said work.

11. The said State forester shall, with respect to all private forest land
afforded protection against fire under this agreement, use every proper means
to bring about the active cooperation of the owner in such protection, including
aid from him in the form of hire of one or more patrolmen, construction of
permanent improvements, and the like.

12. Both the State commission and the Forest Service of the United States
Department of Agriculture shall have equal right to publish the results of the
cooperation under this agreement : Provided, That any results intended for
publication, except press notices of momentary or local interest, be approved
by the commission and by the Secretary. In all such publications it shall be
plainly stated that the results were secured through cooperation between the
commission and the Secretary.

13. This agreement shall become effective on the day of , 191 ,

and shall continue in force thereafter, subject, nevertheless, to the availability
of funds appropriated by Congress by the act of March 1, 1911, for the purposes
herein mentioned, and to any amendments which may be made hereof by mutual
agreement of the parties; and it is expressly understood that this agreement or
any modifications hereof may be terminated by either party upon thirty (30)
days' written notice to the other.

In witness whereof the said commission has hereunto caused its name and seal

to be affixed by its proper officers, on the day of , 191__, and the

said Secretary has hereunto set his hand and affixed his official seal on the date
below written.

President State Forestry Gommission.

Secretary of Agriculture.
Signed and sealed by the Sercetary of Agriculture this day of , 191__.

RURAL MAIL PATROL ORDER.

Post Office Department,
Fourth Assistant Postmaster General,

Division of Rural Mails,

Washington, June 8, 1912.
To the Postmaster.

Sir: Your attention is directed to the following order issued by the Post-
master General under date of May 31, 1912 :

" Order No. 6315.

" The following instructions are promulgated for the guidance of the postal
employees concerned :

80 FOEEST FIRE PROTECTION" BY THE STATES.

" In accordance with the request of the Secretary of Agriculture, this de-
partment has arranged a plan of cooperation with State and National forest
officers whereby rural and star-route carriers shall report forest fires dis-
covered by thern along their routes to persons designated by the State and
National authorities to receive such intelligence.

" Cooperation with State officers will be given in the following States :
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee,
Kentucky Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and
California.

" The national forest officers will be cooperated with in the following States :
Florida, Arkansas, South Dakota. Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona,
Utah, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California.

" The State and National authorities will inform postmasters as to whom
the discovery of fires should be reported, and each rural carrier should be
directed to cooperate to the fullest extent with such authorities in the manner
agreed upon, namely, that the carrier shall report a fire to the nearest State
fire warden or National forest officer on his route, or, if no such warden or
officer lives on the route, to arrange through some responsible citizen to have
him notified, by telephone, if possible. Star-route contractors and carriers are
included in the plan of cooperation and should be requested to report the
discovery of fires in the same manner as will be done by the rural carriers.

" Postmasters in or near national forests are also directed to report fires
to the nearest forest officer."

Respectfully, P. V. De Graw,

Fourth Assistant Postmaster General.

FORM OF TELEPHONE AGREEMENT.

The form of agreement between the Secretary of Agriculture and the asso-
ciated telephone companies of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. is
as follows:

This agreement, made this day of 19__, by and between

, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the

laws of the State of (hereinafter called the "Telephone Company"), of

the first part and the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States (here-
inafter called the " Secretary ") of the second part,

WITNESSETH :

Whereas the Telephone Company operates a general public commercial tele-
phone exchange and toll-line system, which includes certain exchanges and toll
lines located in the neighborhood of certain National Forests under the jurisdic-
tion of the Secretary and situated in whole or in part in the territory of the
Telephone Company ; and

Whereas the Secretary desires to utilize, as an aid to the administration,
protection, and preservation of said National Forests and in fire prevention and
control, certain special telephone facilities which the Telephone Company is
able to supply, and the Secretary also desires to procure from the Telephone
Company, in connection with fire prevention and control and in the administra-
tion of said National Forests, f elephone exchange and toll-line service ; and

Whereas the Telephone Company is willing to furnish for the foregoing pur-
poses the special telephone facilities and the telephone exchange and toll-line
service hereinafter mentioned, and is also willing, to the extent and in the
manner hereinafter set forth, to cooperate with the Secretary and to enlist as
well, so far as possible, the cooperation of the Telephone Company's subscribers
in the vicinity of said National Forests, in facilitating and supplementing the
operations of the Secretary in fire prevention and control :

Now, therefore, in consideration of the premises and of the covenants and
agreements hereinafter set forth, it is agreed by the parties hereto as follows:

Article I. The Telephone Company will, as the Secretary may during the
continuance of this agreement from time to time request —

1. Connect, by telephone line or lines of suitable type, with the central office
of the Telephone Company in any exchange then established in any municipality

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION" BY THE STATES. 81

or settlement adjacent to or in the neighborhood of any National Forest tele-
phone stations in such number, on any one such line, and at such locations,
within or adjacent to said National Forests and outside the limits of such an ex-
change, as the Department of Agriculture may require; equip each such line
at the terminal thereof in such an exchange with such of the Telephone Com-
pany's standard terminal apparatus as will reduce to a practical minimum the
chances of central-office trouble interfering with the operation of such a line;
and furnish thereover local exchange, local toll, and long-distance telephone
service under the terms and conditions and at the rates set forth in the an-
nexed schedule marked "A" 1 and hereby made a part hereof ; provided, that
the Department of Agriculture will, at its own . expense, equip, install, and
maintain, as herein provided, each of such telephone stations, and furnish and
maintain, as herein provided, that portion of each such line which may extend
to and between such stations and a point, to be designated by the Telephone
Company, ordinarily at or near the central office of the exchange with which
each such line may be connected or, in case of an exchange operated within a
municipality, at or near the limits thereof, the Telephone Company to furnish
and maintain that portion of each such line which may extend to and between
said junction and the switchboard of the Telephone Company's said central
office.

2. Furnish, for use by the Department of Agriculture in equipping any of
the foregoing telephone stations, sets of telephones, with the necessary station
equipment, appropriate for use hereunder and of any standard types then fur-
nished by the Telephone Company to its subscribers and lessees in the exchange
serving any such telephone station, each such set to be furnished upon the
terms and conditions and at the annual rental specified in the annexed Sched-
ule "A."

3. Furnish to the Secretary, in addition to the class of service hereinabove
described in section 1, in any public telephone exchange then operated by the
Telephone Company, such of the Telephone Company's regular classes of ex-
change and toll-line service, and such other service regularly furnished by it
to the public as such exchange may supply and under the terms and conditions
and at the rates expressed in said Schedule "A."

4. Furnish without charge, for the attachment of any telephone circuit fur-
nished and maintained hereunder by the Department of Agriculture, space on
any of the Telephone Company's pole lines located within any National Forest
contemplated hereby or extending therefrom to the nearest exchange of the
Telephone Company, or, in case such an exchange is located in a municipality,
then to a point, to be designated by the Telephone Company, at or near the
limits of such municipality ; provided, that any such attachments to the Tele-
phone Company's pole lines shall in all cases be made under its supervision and
direction and in accordance with its standard specifications and engineering
practices, and then only whenever, in the judgment of the Telephone Company,
spare facilities for such attachments exist.

5. Construct for the Department of Agriculture in, through, and adjacent
to any National Forest contemplated hereby such telephone pole lines as said
department may require for use hereunder, string telephone circuits thereon,
install the necessary telephone-station equipment to be used in connection with
such circuits, keep such pole lines, circuits, and station equipment in repair,
and in cases of emergency sell to the Department of Agriculture such telephone
equipment and line material and supplies as can reasonably be spared from
local stock rooms of the Telephone Company. All of the foregoing services to
be performed by the Telephone Company for the Department of Agriculture at
actual cost, including reasonable and proper charges for supervision plus ten
per cent (10%). and all of the foregoing sales to be made at actual cost at

1 Schedule "A" must be negotiated with each local telephone company within whose
territory the Secretary desires telephone service on the basis of those concessions which
each party to the agreement is actually able to make within the territorial limits of such
local company. Thus, Schedule "A" may modify the main terms of the agreement to
any extent and in any particular necessary to adjust them to local conditions.

State foresters particularly should bear this clearly in mind, since only where the
State has valuable concessions to make to the local company can it be expected that
equally valuable concessions in the form of reduced rates and the like will be granted
by the company.

13369°— 14 6

82 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

point of delivery pins ten per cent 110%) ; provided, that the Telephone Com-
pany shall not be bound hereunder to begin the construction of any line re-
quested by the Department of Agriculture until the expiration of a reasonable
time after the receipt by the Telephone Company of such request, which shall
not be less than the time usually taken by the Telephone Company in preparing
for the construction of its own lines.

6. Permit the Department of Agriculture, without charge and at its own
expense, to attach to and maintain on the Telephone Company's poles, at such
reasonable lookout points as may be agreed upon by the respective representa-
tives of the parties hereto, designated as hereinafter provided, lock boxes
equipped with sets of telephones, and to connect such sets of telephones directly
with the Telephone Company's circuits attached to such poles, with the right to
the Department of Agriculture to use such sets of telephones, in cases of emer-
gency only, for telephonic communications over such circuits ; and the Telephone
Company will also, in such cases, allow the Department of Agriculture to con-
nect its portable emergency sets of telephones, for like purposes, with the Tele-
phone Company's circuits located within or adjacent to any National Forest con-
templated hereby ; provided, that the right herein granted to connect such lock
box telephone sets with such circuits may be refused by the Telephone Company
when such connection would involve the use hereunder of a toll circuit connect-
ing together any two public telephone exchanges, and that connections of lock
box telephone sets shall be made hereunder with subscribers' circuits only after
any necessary consents of other users of such circuits have been obtained. The
Department of Agriculture hereby agrees that any connections of emergency
telephone sets with the circuits of the Telephone Company hereunder, shall be
made by the Department of Agriculture upon its own responsibility, and said
department shall hold itself liable to the subscribers and patrons of the Tele-
phone Company for any claims of loss, damage or injury resulting from such
connections.

7. Designate local officials or employees to cooperate with the officials or
employees of the Department of Agriculture in the work of constructing, equip-
ping, and maintaining any telephone pole lines and circuits, and in the work of
installing and maintaining any telephone station equipment, which the Depart-
ment of Agriculture may undertake to provide and maintain hereunder ; furnish
engineering and other advice and information, together with plans, drawings,
blue prints, specifications, and recommendations with reference thereto; actively
cooperate with such officials or employees of the Department of Agriculture in
providing emergency communication by telephone during forest fires; and in
behalf of and as agents of the Department of Agriculture in securing the prompt
delivery of any telegrams transmitted by telephone during such fires to or for
any employee of the Department of Agriculture.

8. Keep open at any or all hours, under special conditions of emergency or
public necessity, in any exchanges contemplated hereby, such of the Telephone
Company's central offices not regularly open at all hours, as may at such time
be designated by the Department of Agriculture, such special service to be per-
formed by the Telephone Company for the Department of Agriculture at the
actual cost thereof in each case.

9. Allow any employee of the Department of Agriculture to charge, to any of
its telephone stations served hereunder by an exchange of the Telephone Com-
pany, any message which such employee may transmit from any lock box or
portable emergency telephone set herein provided for, or from the telephone sta-
tion of any subscriber of the Telephone Company, provided, that if the telephone
station accepting such a charge is not the station called, it shall be a station
connected with the exchange at which the call originates.

10. Require its employees to strictly observe all the rules and regulations of
the Department of Agriculture relating to the care and protection of the National
Forests; exercise due care and caution to avoid injury to growing timber: and
give prompt notice to the Department of Agriculture of any forest fires discov-
ered by them, or of which they may receive notice, when engaged in any work
in said forests.

11. Use its good offices in arranging, so far as possible, with its subscribers in
or near any National Forest to give prompt notice to the Telephone Company's
central office directly serving such subscribers of any forest fires discovered by
such subscribers or of which they may receive notice, and instruct its operators
and other employees promptly to communicate such notice to the local forest
officials.

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES. 83

12. Furnish to the Department of Agriculture maps showing the arrangement
and location of the circuits, pole lines, and exchanges of the Telephone Company
in the neighborhood of any National Forest contemplated hereby.

13. Use its good offices to secure for the Department of Agriculture, upon
terms and conditions substantially similar to those herein provided for. suitable
arrangements for the furnishing of service similar to the service herein provided
for, by such of the connecting companies of the Telephone Company within its
territory as the Department of Agriculture may in each case desire or approve.

14. Extend the telephone facilities and service covered by this agreement to
State authorities and private timberland owners cooperating with the Depart-
ment of Agriculture in forest protection in so far as, in the judgment of the
Telephone Company, such facilities and service may reasonably be so extended ;
provided, that any special rates for exchange or toll-line service set forth in
the annexed Schedule "A" shall in no case be allowed hereunder to such State
authorities and timberland owners for any purposes other than forest pro-
tection.

Article II.1 The Secretary will*

1. Upon request, from time to time, when compatible with the public interest,
grant or cause to be granted to the Telephone Company, its successors and
assigns, easements for rights of way for periods of fifty (50) years from the
date of the issuance of such grants for the construction, operation, and main-
tenance of any telephone lines which the company may have constructed, or
may in future desire to construct, over, across, and upon any of the National
Forests of the United States, or any land under the jurisdiction of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, including the right to cut down or trim any trees which
may interfere with or endanger such lines; provided, that the grant of such
easements to the Telephone Company, under the act of March 4, 1911 (36 Stat.,
1235), shall be subject to general regulations issued thereunder by the Sec-
retary of Agriculture in force at the time such grants are made.

2. Permit the Telephone Company, without charge, to attach the telephone cir-
cuits of its general commercial telephone system to the pole lines of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, now or hereafter located within any National Forest con-
templated hereby or extending from such National Forest to, or to points near
any public telephone exchange of the Telephone Company ; provided, that such
attachments shall be made in accordance with the rules and regulations of
the Department of Agriculture, and shall be permitted only when and where,
in the judgment of the Department of Agriculture, spare facilities exist.

3. Sell to the Telephone Company, in accordance with the regulations of
the Department of Agriculture, for the construction and maintenance of the
latter's lines, either within or outside of the National Forests, timber from such
of the National Forests as are traversed by or are adjacent to such lines.

4. Use or require to be used upon all telephone circuits furnished and
maintaned by the Department of Agriculture for use hereunder, in connection
with the exchanges and lines of the Telephone Company, only such telephone
transmitters, receivers, apparatus, appliances, equipment, and material as shall
in all cases be of a standard approved by the Telephone Company as suitable
for the purposes of this agreement.

5. Equip at all times with such protective devices, and keep in such repair
and maintain in such a manner as shall conform to the standard requirements
of the Telephone Company for the performance of such work by its employees,
all telephone transmitters, receivers, apparatus, appliances, equipment, material,
wires, and circuits maintained by the Department of Agriculture and used
hereunder directly or indirectly in connection with the exchanges and lines of
the Telephone Company.

6. Protect, in accordance with the standard specifications and engineering
practices of the Telephone Company, from all danger of or exposure to crosses
or contact with or induction from high tension electrical circuits, all telephone
circuits maintained by the Department of Agriculture and used hereunder in
connection with the exchanges and lines of the Telephone Company or attached
to its poles.

7. Observe, in the use of the telephone stations and circuits furnished or used
hereunder in connection with the exchanges and lines of the Telephone Com-

1 Since the form of agreement was perfected Congress has given the Secretary of Agri-
culture authority to grant free poles to telephone companies whenever he may deem it
necessary for the protection of the National Forests.

84 FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

pany, all reasonable rules and regulations of ilie Telephone Company gov-
erning the use of its subscribers' stations and not inconsistent with the pro-
visions of this agreement.

8. Permit to the Telephone Company, at all reasonable times, access to any
telephone station equipment or telephone circuit, used hereunder in connection
with the exchanges or lines of the Telephone Company, for making such in-
spections or such service tests as may be requisite for the purposes of this agree-
ment.

9. Pay, in accordance with the terms and conditions, and at the rates set
forth in the annexed Schedule "A," all charges for local exchange, local toll,
and long-distance telephone service furnished hereunder by the Telephone
Company, and also pay, in accordance with the provisions hereof, all other
charges of the Telephone Company for any other services performed hereunder,
or for instruments, equipment, material, and supplies furnished to the Depart-
ment of Agriculture by the Telephone Company.

10. Designate officials and employees with authority to assist and cooperate
with the designated officials and employees .of the Telephone Company in the
construction and maintenance of the telephone lines furnished and maintained
hereunder by the Department of Agriculture, and in generally effectuating the
provisions of this agreement ; and with the further authority to requisition
or obtain, in behalf of the Department of Agriculture, any telephone circuits,
apparatus, appliances, equipment, and material for use in emergencies, the
construction, maintenance, or repair of telephone lines used hereunder, or any
benefit or thing accruing to or to be derived by the Department of Agriculture
under or by virtue of the provisions of this agreement.

Abticlb III. It is expressly understood and agreed between the parties hereto
that :

1. This agreement does not contemplate the use hereunder, in connection
with any regular service of the Telephone Company, of any telephones and
station equipment not furnished by it, except in cases of emergency, and the
use of any such telephones and equipment is so permitted only in view of the
public demand and necessity therefor.

2. No part of the facilities and service furnished hereunder by the Telephone
Company to the Department of Agriculture shall be used in connection with
any service for which a charge or compensation shall be received or collected
by the Department of Agriculture from any person, firm, or corporation without
the express approval and consent in writing of the Telephone Company.

3. No telephone transmitter, receiver, apparatus, wire, or circuit furnished
to or used hereunder by the Department of Agriculture in connection with the
exchanges and lines of the Telephone Company shall in any case, without its
express approval and consent in writing, be connected directly or indirectly
with any telephone transmitter, receiver, apparatus, wire, circuit, or service
other than that of the Telephone Company, nor shall any telephone station
served hereunder by an exchange of the Telephone Company be located outside
its territory without such approval aud consent.

4. Upon the termination of this agreement as hereinafter provided all con-
nections of the telephone circuits furnished and maintained by the Department
of Agriculture, theretofore made with the general commercial telephone system
of the Telephone Company, may be discontinued and severed by either party
hereto, but if at the termination of this agreement either party shall desire to
continue the attachments made hereunder to the pole lines of the other, such
attachments shall be allowed to remain on such poles under such terms and for
such rental charges as may be agreed upon between the parties. In the event
that the parties hereto are unable to agree as to the terms or rental charges f£r
attachments other than those covered by specific easements, which may be re-
tained on said poles, as above provided, all questions at issue between them
shall be submitted to a board of arbitration composed of three members, one
to be selected by each party and the third to be chosen by the two thus selected,
and the finding of the majority of such board shall be final and binding upon
both parties.

5. The provisions of this agreement shall be binding upon and shall accrue
to the benefit of the successors and assigns of the Telephone Company.

6. No Member of or Delegate to Congress is or shall be admitted to any
share ox part in this agreement or to any benefit to arise therefrom. (Sections
373&-3741, United States Revised Statutes.)

FOREST FIRE PROTECTION BY THE STATES.

85

This agreement shall remain in force for a period of one year from the date
hereof, and thereafter shall he automatically renewed for periods of one year
unless canceled by written notice from either party to the other not less than
sixty (60) days prior to the expiration of any one-year term.

In witness whereof the parties hereto have caused this instrument to be
executed in duplicate the clay and year first above written.

By

Attest :

Secretary.

Secretary of Agriculture.

ADDITIONAL COPIES of this publication
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