Forest Sendee Revenue and Organization 227 



visors would assume most of the duties now performed by the 

 District office, and the important and constructive features of 

 the Service work could be handled from a central office, since 

 immediate action would not be essential. 



"The foregoing is all pure theory or speculation, since ten 

 years of Service work has as yet failed to develop the ideal 

 type of Supervisor, who can administer his Forest perfectly 

 without a closer degree of supervision and instruction than could 

 be afforded by the Washington office. The present Supervisors 

 have been drawn from a number of different sources, and repre- 

 sent almost every conceivable feature of practical experience and 

 technical training. The truth of the matter is, perhaps, that 

 the burden imposed upon the average Supervisor is one which 

 no normal man could satisfactorily carry without assistance 

 readily available from a superior office, which, in itself, is thor- 

 oughly in touch with conditions and thoroughly understands all 

 of the problems which influence the administration of the For- 

 ests. Another factor which must be considered is the tendency 

 of the American people, especially of the West, to refuse to 

 abide by the decision of a single official. Probably this tendency 

 will diminish as the work of the Service becomes more settled 

 and the precedents are better understood, but while the order is 

 changing, as it is now, no single man, or group of men, can 

 possibly perform all the duties which require performance upon 

 the average Forest. 



"A Supervisor furnished with a staff of specialists might 

 largely meet the administrative requirements of a given Forest, 

 but I am not at all certain that he would be able to do this to so 

 much greater advantage as to justify the added expense which 

 would result from such a form of organization. Specialists are 

 not of much value unless they really are masters of their specialty, 

 and men who are recognized as authorities in a given line of 

 work usually must be paid salaries commensurate with their 

 abilities. Staffs of specialists composed of men drawing Rangers' 

 salaries who would be specialists simply because they were placed 

 in charge of one particular activity, do not appeal to me as a 

 solution of our problem." 



Then, too, there seems to be but little doubt that with small 

 one-man units, the officer in charge cannot average up to the 

 same caliber that he would if there were a half or a third the 

 number of units to muster. The smaller the units, the more the 

 need for a motherly district office ; with large units under a 

 capable supervisor assisted by a deputy and a specialist or two, 

 the need for a district office is reduced in the ratio of the higher 

 forest efficiency. The ideal supervisor is certainly a man who 

 understands the field work on a forest ; unfortunately, the larger 



