274 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



make good as to make money. In fact I know of no other field in 

 which men are held to so strict accountability. 



And there is moral discipline involved, too. I well remember 

 the saying of one of the men above mentioned, to the efifect that every 

 employe has his strong and his weak points, but all that has to be 

 evened up in a general measure of serviceability; and the manager's 

 task is to presers^e that and, if possible, increase it. In that way, not 

 by hiring and firing, business progresses soundly. 



That involves moral restraint, subjecting small matters to the 

 main end, putting up with disagreeable things oftentimes ; and I say 

 that last with particular confidence because I came to see how my 

 old employers had put up with a lot from me. 



Let me 'illustrate again. In 1898 I went to work as forester for 

 one of the big lumber and paper manufacturing companies of New 

 England. One main branch of my job was to circulate round through 

 the camps in the cutting season to see that the timber was well 

 picked up; also that the land was cut conservatively. The story 

 turns on the fact that for a considerable time we cut too con- 

 servatively in places and had a loss from it. 



I never shall forget the circumstances. After long soaking rains 

 in December of 1900 a big gale came on and blew down lots of timber. 

 I was in the woods at the time, heard the trees cracking as they 

 went over, and was sick enough, I tell you. Most men would have 

 quit the job if they didn't get fired. As soon as it quieted down so 

 a man could travel I looked the country over to see how things were, 

 and when Brown came into the woods next I was ready for him. 

 It was his money lying on the ground, mind you, not mine; and this 

 is what he said after we had talked things over: "I feel that we 

 were right in our main policy in spite of this; and we are going on 

 with it. If we have made any mistake we shan't make the same 

 mistake again." It took me a long time to size that up in all its bear- 

 ings, but you can see at a glance that it was staying with a man ; 

 and I stayed with him, too, as long as there was any point to it. 



Nor in speaking of the leaders do I neglect the common men. 

 Of. these the foremen, scalers, and cruisers " are the best repre- 

 sentatives. Their loyalty for one thing is traditional. In that con- 

 nection there comes to my mind the statement of a writer on the 

 timber-bond business to the efifect that cruisers have sometimes been 

 so loyal to "the old man" that they would lie for him. That may 

 have happened ; I shouldn't wonder ; but however it may be, I prize 



