THE OLD ORDER CHANGES 207 



Service had been advancing from one victory to another, and steadily 

 conquering new fields. The whole conservation movement was on the 

 defensive; and the Service had been its backbone. A political storm 

 was raging, and one of its consequences was to bring in question the 

 "loyalty" of the Forest Service. The political support which its poli- 

 cies had always been sure of in the Roosevelt days was greatly dimin- 

 ished, if not gone. The relations of the Service with the rest of the 

 Department of Agriculture were wholly changed. Restrictions aimed 

 at insuring closer control of its activities were being imposed, changes 

 in organization effected, and brakes put on. It was necessary for its 

 new Chief to prove his quality and win confidence in his judgment 

 under the test of actual and repeated trial. 



Partly because of what it stood for, partly because it had been and 

 no longer was the upper dog, the Forest Ser\dce was in some quarters, 

 within the Government, the object not merely of suspicion but of cor- 

 dial antipathy. On the outside it had many and powerful enemies. 

 It was hated for various reasons : because it typified the whole con- 

 servation movement, in the eyes of the public ; because it was an exten- 

 sion of governmental control into a new field; because it stood in the 

 way of many private interests ; because neither its objects nor its 

 workings had had time to become fully understood and were often re- 

 sented as unnecessary and irritating innovations. On the whole, if the 

 Service was to continue on its voyage and at the same time avoid the 

 reefs that lay ahead, some skillful maneuvering was necessary. 



As it proved, the new Forester was the right man in the right place. 

 For one thing, he soon began to display an extraordinary quality of 

 tact. He was gifted to a remarkable degree with the faculty of know- 

 ing what was in the other man's mind. He knew when to press an 

 advantage and when to withdraw from dangerous ground ; and he 

 knew also when to surrender a non-essential and when to stand like a 

 rock for a principle that must be maintained at all costs. Gradually 

 he won his ground and gained the confidence of his superiors, of those 

 with whom he came in contact, and of the country. His sagacity has 

 been one of the most conspicuous elements which have entered into 

 the successful conduct of the aft"airs of the Service. Had he not been 

 a strategist of the type that he proved to be, the outcome could hardly 

 have been the same. He saved the situation, and with little active 

 support from outside his own organization; for politically the Forest 

 Service was, for the first fcw^ years of his administration of it, little 

 better than an orphan child. 



