Sale Costs 207 



It is obvious that in the dead wood sales but little time would 

 be spent under the item of brush disposal. All the work con- 

 nected with a cordwood operation being performed by Mexican 

 laborers, many of whom are illiterate and ignorant, requires that 

 a very careful supervision be given each sale by the forest officer. 

 A close watch over the cutting area is necessary to prevent the 

 cutting of green wood and confine the operations to the area 

 and the species specified in the sale contract. An even closer 

 check must be kept at the wood depository and along the market 

 trails lest wood that has not been paid for be packed away, unin- 

 tentionally or otherwise. Every bit of wood that will make fuel 

 and can be sold as such is eagerly taken by the purchasers, so 

 that the enforcement of the utilization clause of the contract 

 does not require any eflfort on the forest officer's part. The 

 item of field supervision in the above table covers this part of 

 the administrative work as well as the time spent by the super- 

 visor in inspections. 



A large part of the total cost is made up of travel, so much, 

 in fact, that the distance from the officer's quarters to the cutting 

 area and depository is often the determining factor of profit or 

 loss in handling the sale. It will be seen that all sales for 

 amounts less than $50 in value were handled at a loss to the 

 Government. 



For the most part, throughout this report the cost of admin- 

 istration figures represent time spent by a forest officer paid at 

 the rate of $1,100 per annum. 



