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Show FORESTER ASKS CHILDREN'S AID Col. Greeley Wants Schools To Help Combat Fire Menace Special Dispatch) I WASHINGTON Nov. 28 An army of 21,000,000 in which every school child In the country has been asked to enlist to combat the national cn- l emy forest fire, is proposed by the i forest service. Chief Forester William R. Greeley I has .lust written the stotc superintendents superinten-dents of schools calling- attention to the dangei from the dry condition of ithe forest and woodlands at this time of year and seeking to bring before 'the children the need of care with , fire. According to i Btimates made by the forert service. 33 000 forest fir.." cur annually; more than 60 per cent are caused by human carelessness careless-ness Ba h year these fires burn over 7,500,000 acres, an area greater than Massachusetts, Connecticut, N w Hampshire, nnd Rhode Isl;ni combined, Seventeen million dollars of our country's wealth Is each year reduced to smoke and ashes KMilST St'HOOI; CHILDRKV. "Can we not.' asks rolone Oreo, ley In his letter, 'enlist the school children of the country there are twcnty-tWO million nf them In an effective ef-fective army to fight a national foe that ravages the land before our eyes? "In your state, and ln many others, forest fires are Common ln the fall This year drought has made the danger dan-ger unusually gr. at. Already fires have djoa.lt death and destruction v, i le-ly le-ly in some regions Your own state will not go unscathed. Rains may di-flmlnlsh di-flmlnlsh the danger, but even with tho most favorable conditions before SHOW flies thousands of fires will have run In the forests of the East und North "We give too little heed to small lb s They do a vast amount of harm Our boys and girls should be taught this They must be made to realize that Rood citizens are careful not to ennse fire ROl 1 1 PL IYGROUNDS. "The woods art royal playgrounds for young and old. And they are' never more so than ln the fall. Aft. r school, and on holidays, our young, people will have glorious times nutting, nut-ting, tramping, some of them hunting hunt-ing in the woods, and frolicking ln I the fallen leaves. The leaves are dry. Sun and wind! and frost combine to cover the ground ' with potential tinder It does not take long after a rain for the forest floor to become inflammable again. Then a little carelessness or thoughtlessness, thought-lessness, and a fire Is started. M Kl .s AIM! .AT, "I wish I might tell every boy and' girl ln the 1 nlted State! of the fires that I have seen, and the terrible results re-sults of forest fires when they become be-come bier, and the harm that even small fires do. r wish I might ask each one of them to promise me his or her help in keeping the forests kreen. "I can not do that, but with your permission, I can perhaps do something some-thing like It. I can ask the teachers' In every school in your 6tate who learn of this appeal to let tbelr classes; know that the fonster wants tho help of all school ehildrcn and their in- dividual pledge to be cartful and to try to get others to ho canful to pre- vent forest fires " |
