COMMENTS ON KNEIPP'S PAPER 003 



7. Another man became a deputy supervisor. 



All of the eleven men mentioned above started as laborers, field as- 

 sistants, or guards, and include only those with considerable experience 

 on the same forest. There are other successful men who started as 

 forest assistants. There are also a large number who had brief experi- 

 ence on the same forest, but whose careers have not been followed, and 

 in any case owed little to the experience gained there. All of these 

 men were profitable to the Service, while preparing themselves for more 

 important positions. Their ambition was the only spur necessary to 

 secure quality and quantity of work. They had no better opportunities 

 than untrained men who worked with them, but their training enabled 

 them to grasp opportunities as they came. It was the policy to push 

 every man on to more responsibility as fast as he could take it. When 

 the forest organization no longer offered opportunities measuring up 

 to ability and experience of the men, they were passed on to the first 

 improved opportunity that offered. The compensation for their loss 

 was that other ambitious men had been prepared as understudies ready 

 to take up the work they left. Where opportunity lies these capable 

 men usually congregate. 



Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the point that these men were 

 giving good ser\'ice all the time they were preparing for higher respon- 

 sibilities, and that the organization of which they were a part equalled 

 any in the district in efficiency. 



Particular note should be made of the number who later went suc- 

 cessfully into private work. The ivriter does not hesitate to affirm his 

 belief that if the same policy had been followed on all National Forests 

 the entire lumber industry zvould nozv be largely under technical control, 

 providing the educational institutions could have furnished the men. 

 We all know that announcements of the Forest Service restricting em- 

 ployment of technical men led to a slump in attendance at the schools 

 which before had been making rapid strides forward in attendance. The 

 institution where I am now employed cannot furnish half the demands 

 of private industry for men; but even so, every man is sent forth into 

 private employment with fear and trembling, because, lacking any 

 experience, they may fail in the unsympathetic surroundings, when 

 experience under fair conditions would have insured their success. 

 Failures discourage the employing concern from employing others and. 

 being widely advertised, discourage other concerns also. 



This discussion is already too far extended, but would be most in- 

 complete if I did not point out that the severest handicap under which 

 technical men labor is the false standards by which merit is recognized 



