Vol. XVII-No. 9

EDITORIALS.

The Plague of the Forest.

T is safe to say that 95 per cent. of the fires that are the plague of the forests result from ignorance, carelessness, or crime. The remaining 5 per cent. may be attributed possibly to lightning, or spontaneous combustion, such as is occasionally alleged to arise in haymows. Whatever the number may be of fires arising from lightning in other regions, I am persuaded that it is extremely rare in this State. The great majority of the cases in which fires are alleged to have been started by accident are distinctly the result of carelessness.

From this statement it would appear that neither ignorance nor carelessness are excuse or reason for shifting responsibility, for the court in final estimate exempts neither from a penalty accorded to crime.

For generation after generation these fires have been allowed to rage unchecked. Because of our very abundance they placed no impediment in the national growth, or on individual comfort.

They were a familiar sight, a spring and autumn occurrence, exciting neither interest nor alarm. When at last they did begin to attract attention enough to have laws passed for their prevention it was the exception rather than the rule to have the laws enforced and the courts were inclined to be lenient to the offenders, even when the crime was fixed upon the guilty.

In very fact it was often hard to avoid the conclusion that the sympathies of the court opposed enforcement of the law. To put the matter bluntly, the courts seemed at times to be as ignorant of the damage done by forest fires as the criminal, and, therefore, quite as unconcerned about them.

Mr. Pinchot, recognizing that we are on the edge of the time when the forest fire drain upon the resources, and upon the prosperity of the Commonwealth must be ended, has centered all his energies in a campaign to find a reason for every fire and to bring the guilty party, if such there be, to trial. The fact is, that we are al

Whole Number 197

ready in the pinch of timber shortage. We have no longer any timber to burn, except in a useful purpose. Whatever may be the outcome of the industrial problems now before the country it may be safely assumed that coal will never again revert to the earlier comfortable prices, because of the increasing difficulty of mining it, and the ever greater need of it by a constantly growing population. At first, in the rural districts, then in towns and finally in the larger cities, wood will be in demand as a fuel for home comfort. The forest fire of today will add directly to the cost of living in the future.

The most striking appeal made to an average citizen by the forest fire is the destruction of the existing forests. The black and charred timber are convincing evidence of destroyed wealth. But convincing as it may be, it is of far less consequence than the destruction of the soil upon which the timber stood, for the soil was the slow accumulation of centuries. This fact is now recognized by the courts in the assessment of damages resulting from forest fires.

The duty of first importance in State forestry is the suppression of these annual burnings, for they actually preclude the forest restoration which is year by year becoming more essential.

The hunter, or the fisherman, the brush-burner, the farmer, the lumberman, or the railroad company, upon whom the charge of creating a forest fire is fixed, merits punishment just as surely as though a house or a barn had been burned. The plea that burning over forest land is necessary to the production of a crop of berries is not sustained by careful inquiry, though it is wellknown that these fires in the interest of the berry picker have often spread from the berry ground to other regions and done serious damage. It should be very distinctly observed that a large part of the berry picking of the State is done by parties on land to which they have no claim and often without the knowledge or consent of the owner. If it is proposed to submit to test the statement that burning over of wild land is essential to production of a crop of berries, then it should be done under direction of those who will guarantee that there shall be no escape of fire from specified limits. The berry pickers' statement alone is one-sided evi

dence, and cannot be accepted as final in a matter of such importance. The question of suppression or toleration of forest fires has been fully placed by Mr. Pinchot before the citizens, the courts, and the business interests in the State. With their help an end may be made of such destructive and unnecessary forest fires. It is merely a question of crushing by force of law. and public sentiment a nuisance which should no longer be allowed to exist.

The statement so often made that it is better to burn up (each year) the accumulated leaves, and litter of the forest floor, and so save any heavy burning, no longer merits any serious consideration. It seems to have been absolutely disproven and should be relegated to the limbo of outgrown ideas.

T

J. T. Rothrock.

That Growing Scarcity of Paper.

AO our daily newspapers we owe recognition of the alarming and increasing dearth of paper material. The note that they have sounded is not a "scarehead" but the statement of a fact that cannot be ignored. Newspapers, periodical journals, books, are a public necessity. Interchange of ideas, public policy, education, our very place in the list of nations depend upon information to which there is no other avenue than the printed page. The printing press is just as necessary to the life of the nation as the wheat crop is to the life of the individual.

We cannot conceive that these sources of information would intentionally approve of, or in any way countenance in such a crisis as now seems to be impending, a deliberate burning up of ton after ton every day of an article so important to every one as paper. Yet with a singular inconsistency they do that very thing in actually wasting page after page on advertising space which accomplishes no national good whatever. For example, a page advertisement of a cigarette! And this is a national question!

It is no answer to assert that such advertisements bring in large revenue. There are many other things which would bring in great corporate or private gains, but which we prohibit by law because of the injustice they would work upon the community. It will be interesting to know just how many tons of printing paper are wasted every day in this country in caricatures which neither instruct nor in any way elevate the moral sense of the people!

J. T. R.

T

The Summer Meeting.

HE Summer Meeting of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association will be held at Lock Haven, Pa. It will open on Wednesday evening, June 23, 1920, continuing through June 24th and 25th. On each of the three evenings there will be interesting forestry meetings in the Auditorium of the new High School.

On Thursday, June 24th, there will be an automobile trip up Fishing Creek to Lamar and thence to the Freshman Forestry Camp of the Pennsylvania State College, situated on a 14,000 acre tract of young timber, formerly belonging to the Queen of Spain-the old Washington Furnace Tract. This timber has not been cut for 20 years, and at that time was cut down to a diameter of 8 inches. There is a wonderful stand of Poverty Pine near the camp and up the valley four miles the remnant of a virgin forest. Luncheon will be served at the camp.

On Friday, June 25th, there will be a trip up the Nittany Valley to Zion, crossing the mountain to Center Hall. Thence to the top of Seven Mountains, overlooking 150,000 acres of State. Forest, and an inspection of a fine State Forest plantation, returning to Center Hall for luncheon. From thence to Penn's Cave, the largest in Pennsylvania, returning via Madisonburg to Lock Haven.

The headquarters will be at the Fallon House, Lock Haven, Pa., where reservations should be made. We hope all members who can do so will make an effort to be present, notifying F. L. Bitler, Recording Secretary, Pennsylvania Forestry Association, 1012 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., of their intention, so that arrangements can be made for their entertainment.

T

Boy Scout Movement Growing.

HE Boy Scout is growing into a mighty host with immense possibilities for good. He and his nearest kin, the Camp Fire Girls are 100 per cent. American. True to the national instinct, they seek the "out of doors" for cultivation of health, strength and contact with the things they will encounter in their mature life.

They are doing their part, the pick of our youth, those on whom the hope of the nation rests; they have solemnly pledged themselves to honor, purity, humanity, service and loyalty to the flag. Such a body of coming citizens should be an inspiration to those of us who are still in the thick of daily duty. What are we going to

do for them is a question we may all ask. There is, however, one more question that the friends of forestry may well specifically ask themselves: The Scout and the Camp Fire Girl are to succeed us. As we have needed the forest and its product, so will they. Are we leaving the State as well provided with timber for their wants as we found it for ourselves? Or, to put the question still more directly, have we not by our reckless waste and criminal neglect deprived them of enough forest products to meet their actual need when the country passes under their control? That question is answered by the prices we are now paying for inferior lumber and by the official declaration that we are using it three times as fast as we are producing it. It will be a point gained if we start them right by bringing them in direct touch with the State Forest Reserves where they will see the barren grounds, the growing timber, and the ruin caused by forest fires, and where the thought can be pressed home that every barren acre and every forest fire will be an added burden to their lives.

These young citizens long for the woods. The dreams of vacation include a hike to and a camp in the woods. There should be in easy reach for every Boy Scout or Camp Fire Girl in the State a possible attractive, healthful camping ground.

We have wisely set apart grounds on the State Forest Reserves for care and multiplication of wild game. Why cannot suitable acres be dedicated to the health and education of the growing citizens of the Commonwealth? Their presence under guardianship of their leaders, could not fail to be a protection to the growing forests as well as a wholesome recognition of the fact that the Scouts and Camp Fire Girls have in mind the sole purpose of becoming stronger, wiser Americans than we ourselves have been. No one can deny that the nation needs now and always will need just what they are striving to bring about. Let us help them!

J. T. R.

Slowly the production of white pine along the upper Mississippi is decreasing and this once plentiful lumber is becoming scarce. One of the big Weyerhaeuser mills at Little Falls, Minn., has just closed down, having sawed all the available logs in that locality. Mills at Cloquet, Minn., are still operating and it is estimated that there is enough timber in sight to keep them going several years, but the production of white pine boards, shingles and other forms of lumber is plainly on the decrease.-Public Ledger,

Ask Tobacco Companies' Aid in Forest-Fire Prevention.

B

ECAUSE of the very serious fire hazard created by tobacco smoking in the forests, E. T. Meredith, Secretary of Agriculture, has just written to seven of the leading tobacco companies in this country asking their co-operation in enlisting smokers in a campaign against careless use of fire in all forests, both National and private. Smokers, statistics show, are annually responsible for a large number of conflagrations in timbered areas causing immense losses.

The letter is one feature in a movement now being carried on by the Forest Service to lessen the number of fires caused by smokers and others while working or enjoying outings in the forests, whose preservation is so essential to national prosperity.

The letter of the Secretary is as follows:

"In protecting the National Forests of over 150,000,000 acres, the Department of Agriculture has to fight thousands of forest fires every summer due to carelessness. Throughout the United States we needlessly burn up every year a great deal of our forest wealth and turn productive timber into wastes, largely because the public does not sufficiently realize the importance of a sense of individual responsibility in the prevention of fire.

"Smokers cause many forest fires. Some lumber companies forbid smoking in the woods, and the extension of this rule is being strongly urged. Such measures would never have been considered necessary if smokers sufficiently recognized the danger that attends the droppings of a lighted match, a pipe coal, or an unextinguished cigarette or cigar stump.

"Hunters, fishermen, and woods workers of all kinds smoke in the forests, while automobilists toss a bit of fire from their cars and speed thoughtlessly on, unaware even though they have left an incipient conflagration behind them. A single glowing cigarette end may cost the Government thousands of dollars for fire fighting, to say nothing of the value of the timber destroyed, the desolation of scenic beauty, and the harm done to waterflows.

"Your company can, I believe, do much to lessen these losses. Would it not be possible for you to print a fire caution on the outside of each tobacco, cigar, or cigarette container? Hundreds of thousands of people would read such warnings, and their effect would be very great. I understand that in Canada at least one important to

bacco company has already taken this step.

"It is not enough to bring the importance of fire prevention to the attention of an individual once or twice. The warning to use caution needs to be so drilled into his consciousness that care becomes habitual and instinctive. Perhaps you could see your way clear to print on the reverse side of the packing slips enclosed in tobacco cans a fire warning, and to place the slip in the can with the fire warning up so that it would catch the eye. Coupons and packing slips in cigarette and tobacco packages and cigar boxes would afford a further opportunity for fire warnings.

"Would it not be possible, also, for you to consider putting a slogan, like one of those on the enclosed sheet, on the lithographs which you use in billboard advertising? From its novelty as well as from the evidence that it would afford of a desire to further the public welfare, such advertising will, perhaps, appeal to you. I am confident that I may count on your interest in this subject, and your willingness to co-operate in so far as you can with those who are seeking to diminish the excessive and startling number of man-caused fires in the woods. I would much appreciate advice as to whether the suggestions made appeal to you as being practicable.'

Fire-Prevention Slogans for Smokers.

Don't drop fire when you smoke in the woods, nor throw it out along the road. Keep the forests green!

Danger! Matches, pipe coals, cigar stubs, and cigarette ends start many forest fires. Help protect woods, streams, scenery.

Be sure

Be Careful! Don't start a fire in the woods when you begin or end your smoke! your match, cigarette or pipe is out.

Don't Start What You Can't Stop! Be careful with fire in and near the forest.

Fire Is Dangerous! Be careful when you smoke in the woods.

Look Out! When you smoke in the woods, don't start a forest fire.

Your Co-operation with this company to keep down forest fires is asked. Break your match in two. Knock out your pipe ashes into your hand. Don't drop a burning cigarette.

Forest Fires cost millions a year. Don't start

one.

Don't Throw Fire Away in the woods or along the road.

Help Prevent Fires!

Letter of Commissioner of Forestry Pinchot in Regard to Forest Fires.

My dear Governor:

"The harm forest fires do is not measured by the few trees they are still able to find and destroy on our devastated hill sides, but by the enormous production of lumber and wood which they prevent. The vast wealth that our forest lands would be producing every year, if protected, is what the fires really cost us.

"Forest fires have made a desert in Pennsylvania larger than the whole State of New Jersey. One-sixth of the area of our State is a waste, of practically no benefit to the people of Pennsylvania, and getting worse instead of bet

ter.

"Six million acres in our State are too rough and rocky for the plough. They must either grow trees or produce nothing. They are, in fact, producing practically nothing, for the fires kill each new growth of little trees before they can reach merchantable size. One million acres of this rough land is owned by the State, and is partially protected. Five million acres are privately owned, and the fires are ruining even what trifling value it still has left.

"This is the Pennsylvania Desert. It covers one-sixth part of our State. It is producing little or nothing, whereas it might, if the fires had been kept out, be producing in taxes without hardship to the owners almost as many dollars as it now produces cents, and in addition vast stores of lumber and wood for the use of our people.

"The million acres of State Forests we have now cost us about $2.28 per acre. The State Forests are worth today in cash at least $2,500,000 more than they have cost us. Pennsylvania's Desert ought to be bought as an investment by the State, for that is the only sure way to make it productive.

"To offset the Pennsylvania Desert, the State has appropriated for forest fire protection, during the last six years, less than $30,000 per year, or not a quarter of a cent per acre, in an ineffective effort to stop this gigantic loss. It has been like trying to put out a burning building with water in a spoon.

"Eleven years ago Pennsylvania was cutting as much wood and lumber as our people consumed. Today we are cutting less than one-third, and we consume ten times as much as we grow. Until we permit our mountains to reforest themselves by stopping the fires, we must import twothirds now (and far more later) of all we use,

and get it from steadily increasing distances at steadily increasing expense.

"If our forest lands had been wisely handled, they would be growing, each year, as much timber as they produced in the year of their greatest yield, and that timber would be available at half the present prices. And the difference is only part of what we pay for forest devastation. We pay at least $25,000,000 a year for freight on lumber brought into the State, which might have been grown at home. We pay at least $50,000,000 more for the lumber itself. Then there is the loss from the closing or removal of wood-working industries, the loss from floods, the loss to farmers and business men, the loss of fish and game, and many other losses.

"There is small comfort for us beyond our own boundaries. As a Nation, we cut two and one-half times as much as we grow. Our needs are increasing. Our domestic supplies are dwindling, and there are no forests in the world from which we can import lumber enough of suitable kinds at suitable prices to meet our needs. Under these conditions a national timber shortage was inevitable. As the prices of paper and lumber show, it is already here, and is growing steadily

worse.

"For all these reasons it would be sound business and wise foresight for us to protect from fire, restore to production, and as it were annex once more to the State, the wasted forest lands of our Commonwealth. These lands might be and should be pouring out a flood of valuable products, saving us from a vast and needless expense, and securing us against the certainty of suffering from the national timber famine which is now clearly in sight. Fire stands in the way." Very sincerely yours,

(Signed) Gifford Pinchot.

Hon. Wm. C. Sproul, Governor of Pennsylvania.

Conference in Regard to Forest Fires.

A

Ta meeting held in the Capitol in Harrisburg on April 19, 1920, consisting of invited representatives of timberland owners and representatives of the Department of Forestry, to consider the application of the law of June 3, 1915, relating to the prevention of forest fires on privately owned lands. The situation was set forth as follows:

. As an owner of timber lands, your attention is called to the Act of June 3, 1915, Sections 102-n, 102-0, and 1004, which provide, with regard to the Chief Fire Warden under direction of the Commissioner of Forestry, that

"Sec. 102-n, He shall have authority to declare a public nuisance any property which, by reason of its condition or operation, is a special forest fire hazard, and, as such, endangers other property or human life.

"Sec. 102-0, He shall notify the owner of the property or the person responsible for the condition declared a public nuisance, and advise him as to the abatement or removal of such nuisance. In the case of a railroad, such notice shall be served upon the superintendent of the division upon which the nuisance exists.

"Sec. 1004, Penalty for Non-abatement or Removal of Nuisance. Every person or corporation refusing to comply with an order of the chief forest fire warden for the abatement of a nuisance, under this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or undergo imprisonment not exceeding one month, or both, in the discretion of the court. In construing or enforcing the provisions respecting the abatement of nuisances, under this act, the neglect or refusal of any officer, agent, or other person acting for or employed by a corporation, and having within the scope of his employment the supervision of the property complained about, shall in every case be deemed to be the neglect or refusal of the corporation itself.

"Every day's continuance in the non-abatement of a nuisance, after an order by the chief forest fire warden to abate the same, shall be a separate and distinct offense."

Forest fires in Pennsylvania, in the language of the Governor's recent proclamation, causes a loss of production "constituting one of the heaviest burdens our people are called upon to bear. Most fires occur on private lands. I do not mean to include farmers' woodlots, which are, in most cases, protected by their isolation and are less frequently affected by the above provisions of the law.

"A very considerable portion, if not the largest part of the lands kept unproductive by repeated fires, are owned in considerable bodies as commercial timberlands. Such ownership, like the ownership of any other property, carries with it an obligation so to use and care for it as not to injure, or run undue risk of injuring, the general welfare. This principle is clearly exemplified in the law just quoted.

"The major portion of the huge loss which the people of Pennsylvania suffer from the failure of timber production due to forest fires, is caused by the neglect of private owners. More than nine-tenths of the forest lands of Pennsylvania