654 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



lems are both immediate and far reaching. They contemplate not 

 merely the utilization of the timber, but its replacement with young 

 growth which may take 200 years to fully mature, and unless the For- 

 est Service can solve the technical problems of forest reproduction and 

 protection, its failure is just as pronounced as if it permitted the sheep 

 and cattle ranges in its control to be ruined for all time, carrying with 

 it the destruction of soil and of streams by erosion, through lack of 

 proper regulations. 



Primarily, the National Forests were created for the protection, use, 

 and renewal of timber. That the proper solution of problems of timber 

 production demands a knowledge of forestry, best and most quickly 

 obtained by technical study, is a fact admitted even by the most obtuse. 

 But that the entire force of men required to administer the vast and 

 diverse interests of the National Forests require a full technical educa- 

 tion for the proper performance of their duties is an absurdity which 

 no one has ever had the hardihood to utter. 



The founders of our National Forest system obtained their vision 

 and faith through a technical knowledge of the possibilities of forest 

 production, and, based on this knowledge, they took steps to provide a 

 means of training men in this country in the same knowledge. The 

 result was a development of -forest schools, which struggled earnestly 

 and successfully to build up a system of sound, practical education in 

 the fundamentals of forest management, and turned out hundreds of 

 clean, ambitious men who looked on forestry in Government ' service 

 as a career. 



What has been the result ? Has the technical forester failed to make 

 good? And are the demands of the Service such that he shows at a 

 disadvantage compared with the man who has risen from the ranks, 

 free from the handicaps of impractical theories and one-sided special- 

 ism? And is this question going to be settled by precipitating a con- 

 troversy and drawing a line of cleavage which never existed and never 

 will exist in the Forest Service between "technical" and "non-technical" 

 men? The whole history and development of the organization belies 

 the thought that its men have as a whole been either advanced or held 

 back either because of their "book learning" or lack of it. One thing 

 alone has determined advancement — ability to do the work and carry 

 the responsibilities of the job, whatever it is. Those who have "been 

 faithful in a few things" have literally been made "rulers of many 

 cities," while those who have fallen down, regardless of whether they 

 be cowpuncher or college graduate, have drifted away to other fields. 



The writer is personally acquainted, in a fairly intimate way, with 



