FOREST SERVICE. 223 



PERSONNEL. 



Since the last report the inadequacy of the sahiries joaid to em- 

 ployees of the Forest Service led to such discouragement and so many 

 resignations that complete demoralization of the Service was threat- 

 ened. The small increases granted by Congress to a part of the stat- 

 utory roll, effective Jnly 1, 1920, exerted some steadying influence. 

 The Forest Service has exhausted ever}^ means at its disposal to ad- 

 just salaries to present living costs and the responsible duties de- 

 manded of its emplo3^ees. The employment situation has been im- 

 proved, but it can not be met effectivel}^ without radical increases in 

 the rates of compensation fixed by statute. 



As experienced men leave and green men take their places, there 

 is a gradual lowering in the effectiveness of fire prevention and the 

 quality of the service given to National Forest users. Costly experi- 

 ence has shown that to hire fire guards at prewar rates means doing 

 without the capable woodsmen who could be secured at such wages 

 before the war and filling their places with unseasoned men whose 

 lack of skill or endurance may be responsible for fire losses far greater 

 than the cost of capable men ; but enough to secure competent labor 

 can be paid only by reducing the number of guards below the safety 

 point. ]Many experienced Forest officers are holding on, notwith- 

 standing starvation wages, because of loyalty to the Service, of a de- 

 sire to stay on their chosen Avork, and of faith that fair salary adjust- 

 ments Avill be made. But no organization can be carried on in- 

 definitely by depending on such qualities in its personnel. • 



The (lovcrnment demands of a forest supervisor, paid on an 

 average $2,368 per year, including the temporary war-time bonus, 

 the honest and efficient handling of public property worth fifteen 

 or twenty million dollars and an income-producing business often 

 ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 a year. He must represent the 

 Government in dealing with hundreds of stockmen, lumbermen, and 

 other Forest users, whose business must be impartially and effi- 

 ciently dispatched. Of the forest ranger, whose average salary 

 with bonus is $1,516, the public demands the efficient protection of 

 from 100,000 to 300,000 acres of its timbcrland. He must be quali- 

 fied to cruise and appraise timber, to supervise the construction of 

 roads and trails, to direct a large protective organization during the 

 dry months, to make sales of stumpage, and to deal honestly, effi- 

 ciently, and courteously with the logger, the stockmen, the home- 

 steader, the camper, and everj^ other class of Forest user. 



No commercial organization in the United States would expect 

 such qualifications and services as those demanded of forest super- 

 visors and 1 angers, tiie backbone of the field organization of the 

 Forest Service, at double the salaries paid to these public em- 

 ployees. The real injury from low salaries is not to employees of 

 the (lovernment, who can take care of themselves, but to the Gov- 

 ernment itself. The loss of well-trained and efficient men means 

 poorer protection of public property, less efficient handling of public 

 business, and poorer service to the hundreds of thousands of people 

 and the many industries which use the Xationjil Forests. 



Contrary "to the idea often expressed, efficiency in the public 

 service equal to that under the best commercial standards is en- 

 tirely possiljle. It has been achieved in many cases. But the Gov- 



