Show THE TELEPHONE IN THE NATIONAL FORESTS most prominent among the measures which uncle sam has 10 taken to protect his national forests in the i est from heavy loss 1 I 1 by fire is the extended use of the lephane te t phone this handy bandy little in instrument strument ment has proved its worth during the past year according to figures which have since been published by the department of agriculture the loss from fire has been greatly reduced although the number of conflagrations has been actually larger than in the year preceding th through ough the aid of the telephone assistance is brought to th i adoc a soon as the blaze is discovered in this way it is possible to prevent the spread of fire and to confine it to a small area in one instance last year a fire fighting force was collected in a few hours where at least a day would have been wasted if aid had been nought sought by mean of a courier I 1 iho he number of fires in the national forests last year was larger than 1908 but almost 80 per cent of the fires were extinguished before as much as civo acres were damaged the fires covered less than one and one half acres to the square mile of national forest land and the damage done to the burned over area averaged an acre according to the governments figures during 1909 there were 1138 fires in the national dom domain tin burning over about acnes in in 1908 there had ben acres laid waste naste last year some board feet were consumed as against the previous year the tile loss of value of timber a strayed was less than than the loss the yar before was about these figures seem ti t indicate it although the damage to the forest is still cry very great the fires are not so much of a gcorge as formerly with a hiow to still skater increasing the fire fighting facilities the word ord of extending the protective system into all parts of the national woodlands is being pursued tins this year the r telephone will play an important part in the that are to I 1 be taken to reduce still farther the loss in the western forests in some sections the forest rangers arc are supplied with portable telephones wirch they carry strapped to their backs bac and with which they can secure connection at any conven convenient lont point the govern government trent owns and operates a number of telephone lines and makes connection with lookout stations where watchmen with field glasses are kept to search for fire among the trees the instruments and line material for these systems are furnished by western electric company the largest man n jj of telephones in the world orld many of the stes states have jurisdiction over groat great tracts of wooded lands and maintain fire fighting systems of their own it is interesting to note that in new york where here lookout stations are irefully fully equipped with telephones and telescopes for teching de and reporting fires the loss during 1909 amount amounted pd to only whereas the yar year before the carnage had to forest fires aa are re still the greatest problems the government r 4 has haq to face since 1870 more than t wo thousand have lost their lives through these conflagrations in the national for forests ats five hundred and fifty million acres of standing timber are centered in six pacific and nort northwestern santes otates materials for a glorious bonfire to prevent fires seems to be out of the question but it is possible to check the spread of the flames ind and in its work nork of the past year the government has given a demonstration of what up to daic date methods will do t |