472 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



peiiditures, there was available only a sum equal to the average 

 expenditure of the entire previous year during an equal interval of 

 time, it was necessary to p()stj)ono the enlai'goment of the protective 

 force to its full strength until late in the season. On August 20, 

 1912, the total number of Forest Service employees on duty was 

 4.097, as against 3,541 on June 30. The increase was almost entirely 

 in the forest force. 



The Forest Service recognized at the start that its officers not 

 only must be familiar with the regions in which they worked, but 

 also must be in sympathy with the problems and interests of the 

 people. An earl^y provision of law required the selection of local 

 officers, so far as possible, from residents of the States concerned. 

 This has been scrupulously followed. Thus in case of the forest 

 rangers, civil-service examinations are held only in the States in 

 which national forests are located, and the regulations require that 

 no nonresident eligibles be selected in any State or Territory as 

 long as there is a register of resident eligibles. If, however, this 

 register is exhausted, nonresident eligibles who took the examina- 

 tion within the State may be selected. Of the 1,393 rangers on the 

 rolls on June 30, 1912, only 11 were appointees from the nonresident 

 list. 



The higher positions, like that of suj^ervisor and district forester, 

 are all filled by promotion from the position of ranger, forest as- 

 sistant, or other positions in the service. When a vacancy in a 

 supervisorship occurs the best available man, from the standpoint 

 of proved ability, experience, and knowledge of conditions, is se- 

 lected to fill it. The position may be filled either by promotion 

 from the local force or sometimes by a transfer from another forest. 



No one is ever put into an important executive position like that 

 of supervisor, deputy supervisor, or the positions in the district 

 offices, who has not had adequate practical experience in local con- 

 ditions. The selection of men by promotion in the regular force 

 absolutely guarantees this. 



By an act of Congress approved March 11, 1912, the provisions of 

 the act of May 30, 1908, under which compensation is made to em- 

 ployees of certain Government services who are engaged in hazardous 

 duties, were made to apply to members of the Forest Service engaged 

 in hazardous work. Under this law an employee so injured is entitled 

 to receive for one year from the date of injury, unless such emploj^ee 

 in the opinion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor be sooner 

 able to resume work, the same pay as if he continued to be employed. 

 If death results within the year, dependent relatives of the degrees 

 of consanguinity prescribed by the act are entitled to receive the 

 balance of pay which would have been due for the remainder of the 

 year. 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 

 AREA AND BOUNDARIES. 



The exterior boundaries of the national forests within the more 

 important timber zones have assumed a fairly stable condition. It 

 will take another year, however, to complete the boundary adjust- 

 ments now under way. Their completion will, it is hoped, put practi- 

 cally all of the boundaries in a reasonably permanent shape. 



