COMMENTS ON KNEIPP'S PAPER, "THE TECHNICAL 



FORESTER IN NATIONAL FOREST 



ADMINISTRATION" 



By Burt P. Kirkland — 



Having been for four years Supervisor of a National Forest where 

 technical men constituted the largest percentage of the force of any 

 in the United States, it is impossible for me to let the inference of Mr. 

 Kneipp pass unchallenged. My experience in those years was directly 

 contrary to the results inferred by Mr. Kneipp. 



The real efficiencies springing from employment of technical men 

 arise from other sources than can be expressed by consideration of any 

 one or more mere details of the work. Two principal sources of efH- 

 ciency may be mentioned : 



(i) Due to his liberal and scientific training, the technical man is 

 adaptable to many more lines of work, both in field and office. 



(2) Employment of a liberal number of technical men on the Na- 

 tional Forests is an indispensable preliminary to furnishing an adequate 

 number of capable men with field experience to fill the ranks in the 

 higher offices of the Forest Service and important positions in private 

 life. 



Discussing (i), I affirm that lack of success in the use of technical 

 men is due to lack of skill in their employment. No educational insti- 

 tution can turn out men who can, the moment they step into a super- 

 visor's office, do all kinds of forest business mentioned by 'Mr. Kneipp. 

 It would be a waste of time for institutions to do so, even if it were 

 possible, because the would-be forester can, if given an opportunity, 

 acquire this detailed information right on the job at the same time he 

 is giving full return in service for the salary he receives. It is equally 

 truthful to say that the man directly from civil life cannot do all this 

 business either and will take longer to learn how. Furthermore, out of 

 ten untrained men from civil life who can pass the forest ranger ex- 

 amination, nine never will be able to handle more than a few branches 

 of the work, while from ten trained men five may be able to do so. 



The great bulk of the swivel-chair work in the Forest Service arises 



irrespective of whether the men are trained or untrained. So long as 



maximum centralization instead of maximum decentralization remains 



the guiding principle in forest organization, red tape will increase. If 



550 . 



