The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-01-20
MANY men IN
FOREST WORK
Forest Service is Employing
Over 1000 Men In Three
Lake States.

Tine employment OF over 1,OOO men
in the National Forests Of the Lake
States is not only helping to take men
OF the dole and reduce the County
poor relief lists, but it is also advanc-
ing forestry work and changing forest
lands from tax burdens TO self Liquid
ating projects" according to E. w.
Tinker, Regional Forester, in speaking
Of the work being done by his depart
ment. BY helping to reabSorb dis
placed labor, forest soils are filling
an important place in the land utih-
cation program now receiving wide
spread consideration, he continued.
The six-hour day and the 5-day
week have been put into effect. Labor
ers are paid $50 a month, or SIS and
board-a wage higher than the average
wage now being paid for woods labor.
They have been paid from an emery
ency relief fund totaling S285, 431, dis
tributed to Michigan, Minnesota and
Wisconsin, which was made available
by Congress for road construction, err
ection OF telephone lines, ranger sta
lions, fire lookout towers, etc. The
winter relief work consists mainly of
fire hazard removal along roads and
trails, clearing for new roads, and fire
line construction.
The work under way is being given
TO men who live on or near the Forests,
and the crews are all filed It is i'm
possible to hire more men with the
money available.
In response to increasing local
pressure for plan to permit destitute
uicularly men with families living in and
around the foreSts-an investigation of
the possibilities of forest work for I'M
employment relief has been made and
the opportunities are almost unlimited.
The amount of work would be limited
only by the area Of land owned by the
Government or other agency doing the
work. The entire investment, If
handled properly, would not only be
lf-Hqudating but would provide very
good return" Such an investment, /"
Mr. Tinker explained, would come back
to the Government with interest and a
reasonable margin of profit as the tim
Der crops mature and provide much
immediate and continuing relief from
the economic suffering due to unem-
ploymenE-
The forests offer a meeting place for
capital and labor, and for work and
play, for recreation seekers and the
unfortunate recipients Of unsought
leisure
Forest slums need cleaning as much
as city Sums, for from early spring
until late fall debris in the woods is a
source of fire danger 70 bird, beast and
man. Clearing up debris makes fires
easier TO control 1t increases the
safety of forest plantations where mil
lions of seedlings are being set out on
land already burned over.
Particularly in the Lake States, con-
tanning over one-third Of the idle forest
land of the Nation, one witnesses that
strange influence that draws men to
the woodlands in time Of stress, q some
what atavistic return to the pioneer at
dll0 q " 4CSoO4C b~-~
frontier. Virgin forests formerly COW
cred nearly half of the United States,
Mr.. Tinker concluded, and held the
resources upon which the prosperity OF
the colonies was founded. Skill and
power and trained intelligence are
needed TO rebuild tremendous resources
out of what has seemed hopeless waste.
Unlike most of the the other natural
resources, forests can be replaced"