FOREST SERVICE. 295 



sufficient to say that the field men are the men with whom the public 

 primarily deals and through whom the system of regulation is 

 applied, and that therefore inefficiency at this point is particularly 

 serious. The question is not one of a greater or less degree of 

 efficiency, but of success or breakdown in a vital matter. With poor 

 forest officers the whole system of administration will fail to secure 

 the necessary public approval and cooperation. The national forests 

 can not be run on bureaucratic lines. T^Qiile their use must be gov- 

 erned by sound technical knowledge, it must equally meet and satisfy 

 community needs and demands. The forest officer must be able to 

 command the confidence as well as the respect of his local public in 

 order to accomplish his task, and while applying the principles and 

 maintaining the standards prescribed for him by his superiors, he 

 must win approval and support for the undertaking in his hands or 

 he will be the resident representative of a distant and impersonal 

 bureaucracy which does not serve but rules. National forest admin- 

 istration must be a success on the ground and in the judgment of 

 those who come into first-hand contact with it. 



The public expects, and in the nature of the case has a right to 

 expect, much of the forest officer. In its eyes he is first and foremost 

 fi business man. He must be able to deal understandingly and tact- 

 fully with the users, who correspond to the customers of a private 

 concern. Tie must also be able to plan, direct the work of others, and 

 get results. He must not lack in firmness on occasion, and must be a 

 good negotiator. With tact and sound judgment he must above all 

 combine unimpeachable integrity. The receipts for use of the forests 

 now bring in over $5,000,000 annually, with operating expenses 

 nearly the same, and the total disbursements, inclusive of road build- 

 ing by the Forest Service and other improvement activities, exceed 

 $7,000,000 annually. Forest officers have therefore large financial 

 responsibilities. Their decisions affect the interests of a multitude 

 of individuals. The number of transactions in connection with uses 

 of the forests involving money payments to the Government runs 

 between 60,000 and 70,000 a year. Obviously, the men who make 

 these decisions and conduct these transactions must be beyond influ- 

 ence by favoritism or thought of possible gain for themselves. 



On the technical as distinguished from the business side of their 

 work there are further requirements. Their performance as tech- 

 nical men can less readily be judged by the public, but it is not less 

 important to the public, for on it depend the permanence and maxi- 

 mum future productiveness of the forest resources. It concerns effi- 

 cient and economical protection of the timber growth against fire and 

 other destructive agencies; its renewal and improvement through 

 right methods of cutting; the perpetuation and improvement of the 

 forage resources under intensive range use; the protection of water 

 sources, a fundamental matter affecting all forms of use ; intelligent, 

 sympathetic, and skillful coordination of the varied services of the 

 forests to a multiplicity of local needs — to settlers and farmers, 

 stockmen, miners, rural and urban population requiring recreation 

 opportunities, tourists, all sorts of business enterprises, community 

 interests in road and trail development, etc.; and the conservation 

 of fish, game, and other wild life. Nor is this all. The duties of 



78007— AGE 1923 20 



