Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-09-23


vented? Cannot human ingenuity,
caution, and wealth devise some means
of making such horrors impossible?
These questions have been asked
by thousands Of persons throughout
the country in the last few weeks,
ever since the first bad fire began.
The Idaho disaster has given an add
ed fnsistence to these appeals for in
formation, appeals that indicate a
hope that some preventive system
may be discovered and put into op-
Grafton.
In response to these questions Gift
ford Pinchot, former chief forester,
and Henry S. Graves, the present chief
forester, return the same answer:
moi"
Such fire, they say, is to be classed
with the great Chicago conflagration,
the fire that set Baltimore back, the
San Francisco earthquake, the Gal
weston flood. Disasters Of this sort
can neither be foreseen nor dealt with
In line of ordinary human endeavor.
This fire, according to Mr.. Pinchot,
Mr.. Graves and the experts who have
spent years in the forest service, re-
suited from an unusual combination
Of circumstances. The main causes
were the exceptional drought and the
high, steady winds that prevailed for
: long period preceding the outbreak
of fire.
But ordinary forest fires can be pre-
vented. Thousands upon thousands
of them are prevented every year by
the forest rangers and forest guards.
But they are ordinary fires, which, if
caught early can be promptly sup
pressed before they attain serious pro-
portions
More forest rangers and forest
guards is the cry of the forest serv-
ice. 1t is the cry that has been hurled
from the department Of agriculture.
of which the forest service is a bu-
reau, to the capitol for several years.
But it has usually found congress
stone deaf
There is not nearly enough men,"
said Mr.. PinchOt sadly, in talking of
the Idaho disaster. Just how many
are really needed it is difficult to say.
but many more than the 1000 now
engaged in fire prevention and fire
fighting"
Just as eternal vigilance is the price
of peace, so eternal vigilance is the
price OF safety from forest fires. AS
well as it is possible with the number
Of men it has, the forest service now
looks after this part Of it's business.
1t has fire fighting down to a system
and, so far as ordinary cases 60 its
force works effectively. The only
trouble lies in the size of the force.
Situation Becoming Acute.
But, with the recent disasters in
mind, it is likely that congress will
do something better in this line in the
near future. The loss of human life
and the loss of property mot only to
the government, but to corporations
and private individuals as weID are
almost sure to arouse a keener and
greater interest in the whole forest
question.
Wood is becoming scarce It's de-
pletion is being felt by the railroads
and other big corporations, and their
cooperation with the government in
the matter of fire protection is almost
a certainty.
Surprise has been expressed at the
extent of the probable loss of life in
the great fires that have swept GER
tain sections of the west. To the un-
initiated, government forest reserya-
ton means great wilderness of
trees, unlnhabited, save by itinerant
hunters and the forest rangers and
guards.
It Is true that some OF the forest