Daily Arizona silver belt., 1910-05-17
Northwest Railroads Will Cooperate with For
 est Department
WILL REDUCE FIRE
 RISK TO MINIMUM
Great Northern and North ern Pacific Parties to
 New Agreement

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 16.-Sec. retary Wilson has signed memoran- dunn of agreement with the Great North | ern Railway company, and also with the Northern Pacific Railway company which provides for cooperation of the forest service and the railroads to pre- vent damage to the National forests from fires along the lines operated by these railroads. These agreements had already been signed by R. Harrington, vice president of the Great Northern, and Howard Elliott, president of the Northern Pacific, so that they are, by the signatures of the secretary of az riculture, now in force.
 The agreements have in view both the reduction to the lowest point of the fire risk from the operation of the service and the railroads to fight all fires which may start along the lines. The companies agree to clear and keep clear of infammable material strip of varying width, as conditions may de- mand, up to 200 feet beyond the right of way, and to provide all locomotives NhlCu uO uOG Dulu Oh WlpH oulIdDlt spark arresters and other standard equipment to prevent the dropping of fire. It is also stipulated that every effort will be made by the companies to operate their locomotives so as not to cause fires. The protective strip is to be designated jointly by representatives of the railroad and the forest service.
 In fighting fires the railroads and the forest service will cooperate close ly Prompt notification to forest off cers of all fires discovered by employees of the railroads is provided for. Tele- phone lines to make this possible will be put up by the forest service, using the companies poles where this is de- sirable. Warning whistles will be sound ed by locomotives on occasion. Forces of fire fighters will be assembled onI the outbreak of fires, made up of for est officers railroad employees, and such temporary labor as can be gathered by either. Except for salaries of regular employees the cost of fighting fires which start within two hundred feet of the railroads will be borne by the companies and of all others by the for est service, unless it shall be shown in the first case that the railroads were not responsible or in the second case that they were responsible for the outbreak of the fire
 The agreement provides that the for est service will regularly patrol the right of way during the fire season. The work of clearing up the strips sat isfactorily, including disposal of all slash and refuse, is to be performed by the railroads under the supervision of the forest service.
 Since the courts have sustained the right of the department of agricul- ture to collect damages from railroads running through the national forests for fires which they cause, there is in this fact strong inducement for rail road q ompanies to join with the depart ment in the effort to keep fires down; but other reasons are doubtless potent, and perhaps the most potent ones, in favor of this agreement. The Northern Pacific, being land-grant road, also has property at stake in its buildings and in the line itself, operation of which may be seriously interfered with by forest coniagrations. The value of heavy timber in mountainous reg ions as deterrent to avalanches, land slides and floods is also to be consid- cred. But from the standpoint of a far-sighted business policy still broad CT argument is the relation of the for ests to the general welfare of the reg ions whose traffic the railroads handle. Timber which goes up in smoke pays no freight tolls, and unchecked forest devestation means the enfeeblement of many industries dependent on wood or water. For this reason, though there were no other, Secretary Wilson s for esters think the new agreements of i'm portant significance.