Forest Service Revenue and Organization 195 



good, and while they had an office they were not supplied with 

 clerical help. The supervisors, who often had charge of more 

 than one "reserve," had no real power for good, but were almost 

 all political appointees, often incompetent. Unfortunately, they 

 had a great deal of power for evil, since they could hinder, prevent 

 and neglect everything that they wanted to. They were usually 

 appointed by local Congressmen and were considered his men. 

 Naturally they hired as rangers men the Congressman recom- 

 mended. Nominally, they did practically everything that rangers 

 do now, but they had uniform pay with no office worth the term, 

 and no clerical help. The ranger was ordinarily a temporary 

 man, employed for a few months, recommended by the super- 

 visor and appointed by the Secretary. According to Professor 

 Roth, their pay at that time was actually but $60 per month flat, 

 and even continued bad weather might lead to their removal from 

 the rolls; on paper the pay was $60, $75 and $90! Of course, 

 there were some good men, as well as very bad ones, but few were 

 really competent. Professor Roth feels that: 



"With competent men this outfit could have done good work 

 and kept a small organization largely for field use. As it was, the 

 whole affair was no good. We got things changed some, but the 

 right opinion and point of view was lacking from top to bottom. 

 One strong point in favor of the old regime was the fact that it 

 had the politicians with it." 



A forest official (whose name I do not care to give) wrote in 

 regard to Division R : 



"Any organization which tended to close field supervision was 

 theoretically good, especially in those days, but our experience 

 was that the average Forest Superintendent was appointed for 

 political reasons ; that there was no way by which they could be 

 checked up and that as a class they were not worth their salt. 

 . . . Professor Roth did his best to dispense with them . . ., 

 but the Commissioner of the General Land Office — presumably 

 for political reasons — did not follow out his wishes . . . The 

 main trouble was the lack of field supervision, there being but 

 two inspectors, and as I recall it, Binger Hermann was not very 

 anxious to have them do much inspection work." 



Fred S. Breen, of Flagstaff, Arizona, who proved an efficient 

 administrator (1905-1908) under the Forest Service regime, com- 

 mented on the early organization in these words: 



