The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1911-03-31


by the President and secretary OF
said board. The state forester shall
take proper, sub-vouchers or receipts
from all persons to whom such funds
are paid and after the same have
been approved by the state forestry
board they shall be filed with the
auditor. fS% 3's';:s. d II {,
All villages and cities in the state
situated in the timber area are here
by authorized, and all such munich
/ palities where the same is possible
so to do are hereby directed, to clear
off all Ombustible material and de-
brls and create atleast two good and
sufficient fre-breaks not less than ten
feet in width each, which shall COM
pletely encircle such municipalities
at distance of not less than twenty
rods apart, between which back-1es
may be set or stand made to fight
forest fires in cases of emergency
1t is hereby made the duty of the
district rangers to report to the state
forester any failure to comply with
the provisions of this section or any
violation of this act and any failure
! so to do shall be punished by a fine
OF not less than twenty-five dollars,
nor more than one hundred dollars.
Every road Overseer of assistant
OF road overseer or other local Of
i ficer having charge of the highwoy,
Who finds that any person has left
a camp fire burning in his district,
| shall extlnguish the same, and take
prompt measures to prosecute the
! person or persons who so left such
fire. -..
Every person who, when the
| ground is not covered with snow,
starts a fire for any purpose not
hereinafter specified in this act, in
the vicinity of forest or prairie land,
shall exercise every reasonable pre-
caution to prevent such fire from
spreading, and shall before lighting
the same clear the ground from all
branches, brushwood, dry leaves and
other compustable material within
radius Of ten feet from the fire.
and shall carefully extinguish the
fire before quitting the place.
All towns, villages and cities are
hereby authorized and directed to-
take necessary precautions to pre-
vent the starting and spreading of
forest or prairie fires and to extin-:
| guish the same and are hereby fur,
( ther authorized to annually levy al
tax Of not more than five mills upon.
the taxable property of such munici-.
! palities, which, When collected, shall:
be known as the Fire Fund w1lich.
may be used in paying all necessary
and incidental expenses incurred in
enforcing the provisions the proyi-
sions of this act E,s EIs szss
There was lively discussion over
R. c. Dunn's motion to make the
forester's salary $4,000. Mr.. Dunn
said that $4,000 would be out of pro-
portion to the amout paid other Of
ficials, the attorney general receiv-
ing $4,000, the state treasurer only
| $3,50O, etc. Il tell you,'' said Mr..
Dunn, that $4,000 and expenses is
good fat salary"
Representative Kneeland, who as
member of the forestry committee,
had much to do with drawing the.
bill, took issue with Mr.. Dunn. ~
! ''The gentleman from Mile Laos,
| (Dunn), with his usual haste, has
jumped at conclusions. Now the
| forestry committee was intrusted
with the task of drawing bill
which will have the effect of stop
ping the forest fires which swept the
state last year. We have provided
for forester who is trained for such
a position and we believe such a man
can only be obtained by paying
reasonable salary. When millions
of dollars are concerned, as they are
! in this case, we have no right to
bubble over paltry $2,OOO'
Mr.. Kneeland presented a letter
from the United States forester in
which he urged that Minnesota do
something toward saving her forests
and reciting the tremendous losses
sustained in the United States forest
district during the past year.
Representatives Halmberg of Rem
vile and Davies of Watonwan spoke
in favor of the larger. salary and
this prompted Representative Matt
son of Roseau to say: 81
II am glad that the members from
the south can take so broad minded
a view of question so important to.
the north but in the last analysis
important to all the state. tell.
you, gentlemen, if the skeletons in
those graves at Baudette and Spooner
could speak they would point to the
ineficiency of our forestry system,
and believe when we seek to cheap
en- the work Of the proposed system
we are striking death blow to forest
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