THE FORESTER. 181 



In the last few months the difficulties of maintaining an efficient 

 organization have become increasingh^ aggravated. Impairment of 

 the organization and reduction in efficiency of service are inevitable 

 if some action can not be taken to check the flow of the experienced 

 men who can not be retained on account of the low pay. If the 

 present condition continues it will be necessary to build up practi- 

 cally a new organization, through a term of years; and in the mean- 

 time the public will suffer because of the lower efficiency of inex- 

 perienced men. In fact, through inefficient service the entire 

 National Forest enterprise may be set back. The situation is one 

 that should receive careful consideration in the interest of the public. 

 Ah'eady protest has begun to ])e made by users against the effect 

 of the changes of personnel, while internal evidences of poorer effici- 

 ency and increasing strain imposed on the organization are becom- 

 mg manifest. 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



RECEIPTS AND OPERATING EXPENSES. 



The receipts from the National Forests in the fiscal year 1919 were 

 greater b}" S783,484.79 than in the previous year. This is the largest 

 increase ever madeiii a singleyear. The receipts totaled $4,358,414.86. 



To this total the grazing business contributed $2,609,169.85, the 

 timber business $1,540,099.96, special uses (i. e., the occupancy of 

 lands for miscellaneous purposes), $136,822.99, and use for water- 

 power development, $72,322.06. The receipts from grazing exceeded 

 those of 1918 by $883,347.91, while the receipts from timber declined 

 893,549.46. Special uses showed a gain of $15,616.05, and water 

 power a falling off of $21,654.29. 



The falling off in the receipts from timber was not due to any 

 material reduction in the current timber sale business but is explained 

 chiefly by the fact that in 1918 settlement was secured under a court 

 judgment of a claim against one of the transcontinental railroad 

 companies amounting, with interest, to $89,264. 



The increase in the receipts from grazing was due to the fact that 

 last year the final step was taken in carrying through the advance 

 in the grazing fees, proposed in 1916 and inaugurated in 1917. 



With the stockmen pajnng more than two and one-half million 

 doliai"s annually into the public treasury for use of the National Forest 

 ranges, there is strong reason for their urging that the Government 

 expenditures aimed at making the range more useful should be in- 

 creased. Unquestionably the value of the range, to the live-stock 

 producers and to the country, can be developed to a higher point by 

 constructing more improvements and pushing further the investiga- 

 tions which make possible the most efticient and complete utilization 

 of the forage crop and the most highly perfected methods of live-stock 

 management. Since the Government receives a return on what may 

 be called development expenditures, in the form of additional grazing 

 fees, increased expenditures for this purpose would seem wise as well 

 as reasonable. 



That the receipts from gi-azing now exceed those from timber by 

 more than a million dollars and form 59 per cent of the total receipts 

 from all sources is due to the fact that practically the entire forage 

 crop can under present conditions be utilized, while the annual timber 

 cut is but an insignificant fraction of the sustained yield obtainable 

 from the Forests, or of the total cut of the country. There is very 



