The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-03-21

ton by fire. The following morning
we had the announcement of the
most dreadful fire in the history of
the state.
Went to Moose Lake
81 proceeded to Moose Lake, where
great effort was being put forth to
save people. Every hour brought re-
ports of those who had been burned
to death. Never shall ! forget one
burial of 1876 charred bodies along the
roadside at Moose Lake. Never has
so profound an impression been made
upon me of the helplessness of hui
man effort struggling with the ele-
ments.
Instantly, the question came
What was the cause Of the fire.?
The forester, who was the employe
of your board, issued at Federal Dam
to the press a statement in which he
said: The men of the legislature
who cut our appropriation from $780,,
900 to $4,000, or $4,000, are directly
responsible for the death roll in the
woods
Members of the legislature were
charged by the executive officer OF
your board directly with the destruc-
tion of $60,000,000 worth of property
and the lives of 453 human beings,
No more cruel, no more false accusa-
ton could have been made.
UphOlds Legislature
THE legislature had cut the appro-
priations of your department from
$50, 700 a year to $4,000, in 1917 for
the reason that the money which had
been appropriated had in part been
utilized for political propaganda in
the election of 1914 in passing a con-
stitutional amendment known as
amendment No. 8. Furthermore
your department was not putting
forth the efforts required by law to
prevent the great cataclysm of 1918
Section 1895 G. S. 1918, reads as fol
lows, When in the judgment of the
state forester there is danger of fires
from locomotive engines, he shall or
der any railroad company to provide
patrolmen to follow each train
throughout such fire patrol district
When the state forester has given a
railroad company notice to provide
such patrol, the said railway COM
pany shall Immediately comply, and
upon it's failure so to do, the state
forester may employ patrolmen to
patrol the rights-of-way of said rail-
road, and the expenses of the same
shall be charged to the said railroad
company and in addition thereto, the
said company shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor.'
Blames Railroads
"Why did your department not en-
force this statute? You ask me, was
the fire set by locomotives the prin-
cipal cause of the Moose Lake fire?
You have but to consult the court
records of the fifty or sixty million
dollars worth of damage done in that
catastrophe.
"The law was not enforced in that
year. One man alone devoted part
of his time to checking up locomotives
as provided in Section 1896, providing
for spark arresters and ash pans, but
there is not single piece of evi-
dence wherein your forestry depart
ment employed men to patrol the
railroad tracks.
There were no prosecutions in
that year of railroad men who VIC
lated the law although the law in
that year was most VIGOROUSLY VIC
lated. Seven days before the Moose
Lake fire, the 500 line was requested
to employ 10 men to patrol the for
est area which they traversed. John
McLaren, the national forest exam
liner, in his report entitled The Great
Minnesota Fire made October 30
1918, states on page 20, the region
which was fire swept, as | was told by
State Forester Cox, has normal pre-
cipitation of from ii to 20 inches,
but this year only about four inches
had fallen
Urges Enforcement
an view of this knowledge in your
department, you should have had en-
ployes capable of coping with the
situation and compelling the railroad
companies to obey the law. Had Sec
tions 1896 and 1896, Gen. Stat. 1918,
been rigidly enforced by the forest
nv department, whose specific duty it
was to enforce them, the great forest
fire of that year would not have
claimed the lives of 453 citizens and
destroyed $6O,000000 of property.
This board and its employees should
see in the future that these laws are
enforced.
81 would urge upon this board that
the tenure and personnel of the for
est rangers be made as permanent as
possible. The training which you
gentlemen have had in the past con-
stitutes you the best employees for
vour positions