160 JOURNAL OF FORKSTRY 



necessary for thoroughly accurate action upon a specific case. The 

 lands work is another wide field for specialized action, but, notwith- 

 standing this, is simply one feature of forest administration. 



Fire protection probably enters somewhat into the average forestry 

 course, but in an elementary way. The forest officer is confronted 

 with a condition rather than a theory and must formulate a plan of 

 protection which will adequately meet the condition. This involves 

 the careful co-ordination of a number of elements, and on the average 

 forest offers in itself a field upon which a man could very properly 

 specialize for a considerable period of time; yet fire protection is simply 

 one feature of forest administration. 



Permanent improvements require the display of considerable knowl- 

 edge regarding construction methods, specifications, materials, sources 

 of supply, skilled and unskilled labor, and organization. This is work 

 which probably is not touched upon in the average technical course, 

 and yet it presents a wide field of semi-technical requirements, which 

 must be mastered before the executive is in a position to act with 

 thorough intelligence. 



The organization itself, which may be classified as the work grouped 

 under the branch or office of Operation, presents almost innumerable 

 problems. First and foremost is the selection of men, the assignment 

 of men, and the relationship between the executive and his subordi- 

 nates. Obviously he must have qualities of leadership or he cannot 

 lead; he must have superior ability in many ways or he cannot make 

 good his official superiority. He must have a knowledge of what 

 constitutes good work, both in quality and volume, so that there will 

 be no unreasonable demands and no soldiering. He must, to some 

 degree at least, have a sympathetic understanding of the points of 

 view, temperament, and general psychological condition of the men 

 under him, so that he may deal with them tactfully and considerately, 

 but not weakly. 



Having mastered this feature of his work, the executive finds him- 

 self in a maze of departmental and service regulations, civil-service 

 regulations, fiscal regulations, allotment estimates and records, and 

 more or less frenzied finance in the proper application of the moneys 

 allotted to his Forest. Much of this is routine; some of it vitally 

 affects the standards of the man's work and the performance of his 

 functions as a part of the big machine. This in itself would offer a 

 field for specialization, and yet a considerable degree of familiarity 

 with every detail must be possessed by the man who aspires to be a 

 successful executive. 



