The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-07-15
what shall be the Remedy 2

State Forester Alfred Gaskill saws the
decision of the Court Of Errors and Ap-
peals In declaring the railroad fire line
law unconstitutional will be severe blow
to the work of preserving the forests of
the State against destruction by fire.
The State Forester says the Importance
of the act is shown by the fact that 90 per
cent of all fsrest fires are found to have
been started where there were no fire
lines. While the act was under attack In
courts more than $50 miles of fire lines
were voluntarily established by the rail.
road.
The State Forester has been unable to
work out any satisfactory plan which NAV
be substituted for the fire line law:
Speaking of the subject Mr.. Gaskill
said:
Though the Court Of Errors and AID.
peals has dealt the forest commission and
the forest interests of the state, severe
blow In declaring the railroad fire line law
to be unconstitutional, am diverted from
a consideration of what should be the next
move by reflections on what may be the
manifold applications of the principle laid
down. / am not a lawyer and do not
question the wisdom Of the court. but 1t
does seem that, IL we are to be bound by
the principle that every bush. every blade
of grass In private possession Is sacred to
the owner, there can be little room for the
application Of police powers.
"For instance what becomes of tenement
house legislation under which property
owners are required to sacrifice rentable
space that tenements may have minimum
of air and lighti What becomes of the
ordinances controlling display signs on city
streets7 Are our county supervisors or
other officials likely to be held personally
accountable for the destruction of trees,
fences and other property incident to the
improvement of country roads2
at looks as If the decision would cause
the efforts of the state road commissioner
to get shade trees along state-aid roads to
fail, and am afraid that our forty odd
shade tree commissions are put in doubt
full position.
"As to the law with which the decision
specifically deals, 1t has been found of such
practical value that while this case had
been In the courts upwards of $50 miles of
fire lines have been constructed through
the voluntary action and at the sole cost
of railroads whose lines traverse wood
land, in cooperation with the adjacent
property owners As the assistant Attor-
ney General admirably showed In his brief,
the construction Of these fire lines merely
requires the occupation, not the confsca-
ton, of narrow strip of property.
ANY owner who wants to fence off the
property can do so without affecting the
fire line. any owner who wants to improve
the land can do so at his pleasure and the
law becomes automatically imperative
So effectiye have the fire lines been that at
least 80 per cent. of all the forest fires set
along the railroads are found to have
started where there Is no fire line, and less
than ten per cent. where fire lines are
maintained In the condition contemplated
In the act.
I'VE must, of course, continue to cam
paign against forest fires, and at the
moment can see no other way to lessen
the hazard that the railroads create than
by asking for legislation which must
eventually prove more burdensome than
the law which is held to be unconstitution.
al upon the ground that 1t takes private
property without compensation.