Evening star., 1933-11-26

ages nothing but charred stumps on
the hideous hillside.
Fire control is by far the most
important problem in the hills today"
Mr.. Silcox said the night before he went
to Washington to formulate new
policy. "The problem of fire detection
has, think, been just about perfected.
By getting more men into the forests
in the dry season think we can i'm
prove upon the present system Of get
ting fire fighters quickly to the scene
of the blaze. But from then on we
must trust more to the elements than
to human ingenuity. If the air is still,
We can stop the fire before it has done
much damage, but let a wind start
blowing through the timber and moth
ing but a change of wind or rain can
do much good. I am not prepared to
say what can be done to improve our
flre-fghting methods, but I am deter
mined to find some way to decrease
this peril.
stiles as this, my ambition is to relate
the problem of forest conservation to
the still greater problem of human con-
servation. I think this has been dimly
in the background all the time but I
want to bring 1t to the fore. What we
do must be part of the new social
movement. The task is simplified be-
cause Of the new social consciousness
being awakened by the new deal. This
emphasizes what I aim for
"A part of this is in the conservation
camps. The boys who are in these
camps now are receiving a great physical
and mental education. Even if they 90
back to the cities, they can never lose
what year in the woods will give
them. I would like to see this system
made permanent thing 1t would be
a glorified vacation for the young man
whose entire life has been spent in the
city and, paradoxical though it may
sound, the harder they are worked in
the forests the more complete Is the
vacation. It would be hard to imagine
anything Of greater permanent worth
to the young men of the cities than this
sort of thing.
Anticipate Future Needs.
''To handle the forestry problem at
all one must go into the work with a
vision. The results we seek are not
to be enjoyed today nor tomorrow.
Everything, even the fire fighting, is
for the future. Human nature being
what it is. the task of impressing the
public with the importance of this
work has been hopeless one. They
would take the cash and let the credit
go. Now from every part of the coun-
try tomorrow's citizens are seeing the
problem at first hand and, I hope are
catching a little of the vision toward
which the Forestry Service has been
working ever since its inception. If
this be true, things will move easier
and more quickly.
I'VE have but touched the great ques-
ton of food control The water sheds
have been stripped and the SHOWS which
should melt slowly throughout the Sum-
mer come cascading down at the first
hint of Spring and all the water which
each year since the beginning of the
world has dribbled into the Mississippi
basin Is coursing down within a few
weeks. Levees and dams are necessary
today. but If we can repopulate those
hillsides with trees the coming genera
tions will know nothing Of todays hor-
ror Of floods. The pattern Is fasci-
mating when you realize that by plant
ing trees near the Yellowstone Park
We are guaranteeing cotton crop for
the little farmer in Louisiana"
Mr.. Silcox talks of these things with
immeasurable enthusiasm. He is
blessed-or cursed-with the fire Of
crusader. Since the World War he has
been away from this first love Of his,
giving his time instead to the solu-
ton Of labor problems, most recently
as industrial relations director for the
Association Of Employing Printers in
New York
It was his work in the Forestry
Service, however, which qualified him
for the labor field. When, during the
Spring of 1917, the I. w. w. element
threatened to destroy the forests of
Montana by fire, Mr.. Silcox was district
forester In charge Of the $4,000, 900 acres
of timbered land in that State and the
panhandle OF Idaho. In his Office in
Missoula he talked turkey to the I. w.
w. leaders, meeting them as men and
not as nuisances, listening to their
complaints and forcing the private
lumber interests to listen, too. Most
of the demands were met and the I. w.
w. army went back to the woods.
Settles Shipyard Trouble.
Shortly after that the shipyards In
Seattle. working day and night to turn
out ships for the wartime need, re-
ported that communism was making
quick construction impossible. The
Shipping Board and the Labor Depart
ment borrowed Mr.. Silcox and sent him
out there. He and the men who were
associated with him found that the So
called communistic spirit was merely a
protest against the slip-shod methods of
the shipyards. A vessel sailed from
Seattle to Honolulu and docked with
1900 rivets loose and the water pouring
through scores Of seams. It was be-
cause the shipyards were forcing the
riveters to drive their metal with 60
pounds of compressed air when 100
pounds was needed to do a proper job.
When the riveters refused to go on with
this sort of thing the shipyards called
them Bolsheviks and cried for help.
Again Mr.. Silcox met the laborers in
friendly spirit and again everything
was fixed up, with the employers forced
to decent and more patriotic methods.
When this was over the sprinting
trades stole him from the forests. For
Is years he has been an employers
representative dealing with labor, yet
when he resigned a few weeks ago
every printing trades union in New
York City sent him a letter deploring
his departure because of the fairness
he had shown.
But his first love proved strongest.
He has raised an idealistic banner. he
has planned a program he knows can
not be finished in his time, and he has
set out once more to save the forests
for America