OCR Text |
Show cer supposedly available for Jpatrol duty was about 120,000 acres; but with more than three-fourths of the time of these officers occupied with timber sale, grazing, and other business, the force actually available for patrol was equivalent to about one man to each , 500.000 acres. That under these circumstances cir-cumstances the fire losses in a year of exceptional danger were Icept down to a very small figure ,ln comparison . with the value of the timber exposed and the damage from forest fires else- where Is a matter of congratulation- I "Tho risk incurred, however, Is out of all proportion to the added cost which more adequate protection would 1 involve. I am convinced that the pro-1 vision made for the care and use of the national forests ha3 become in- j adequate to their needs, and I have, I therefore, submitted estimates for the fiscal year 1910 which ask for a substantial sub-stantial increase in the appropriation. With the further growth ln business which is certain to take place during the present year, even less protection can be given than has been given in the past Indeed, the point has now nearly been reached at which It is not even a choice between providing for the need of those who would use tho forests and protecting the forests themselves " INCREASE IN FOREST BUSINESS. The actual use of the varied resources resour-ces of the government's ICS.000,000 acres of national forest land Is on the increase, according to the report of the work for the fiscal year 1903. Tho report says that from an administrative administra-tive standpoint the most striking fact of the year was the remarkable increase in-crease which took place in the volume of business transacted. This growth in business done by the United States forest service la6t year over the previous year Is partly brought out in the following statement state-ment showing percentages of increase: in-crease: In the number of timber sales, 236 per cent; in the amount of timber cut under sales, 102 per cent; In the number num-ber of free timber permits. 76 per cent; in tho number of graring pormits. 11 per cent, and in tho number of special-use special-use permits, 67 per cent. That the additions to existing national forests and new creations caused this increase only to a small extent is shown by the fact that the area increased is only 11 per cent. In speaking of this feature fea-ture of the work of the forest service, in his annual report, the secretary of agriculture eays in part: "The growth in the volume of business busi-ness arising from u&e of the forests has created a very serious administrative administra-tive problem Last year 73 per cent of the time of the administrative and protective force was taken up by the demands of national forest business. The average forest area to each offl- |