374 Forestry Quarterly. 



tested the strength of a few beams, the stock man with a little 

 experience in grazing sheep in the woods, the manufacturer of 

 packing boxes who is utilizing his waste, the collector of census 

 figures, the maker of maps, the writer of reports ; all these are 

 accepted as foresters on the same footing and no distinction made 

 between them. 



Three causes seem to be contributing to this chaotic state of 

 affairs : The ignorance of the general public ; the policy of the 

 U. S. Forest Service ; and the consequent fragmentary nature of 

 the training in the "Forest Schools." 



The training of public opinion can come only with time. The 

 forester must insist on doing his own proper work and insist on 

 the proper recognition. The employment of a forester by a lum- 

 ber company for the better cruising of its timber is an insult to the 

 profession and a disgrace to the man who continues to hold such 

 a position and contents himself with such work. The bad ex- 

 ample of the employment of the trained man in the National 

 Forests for just such work is largely responsible for this point 

 of view. The forester should refuse such work and the make- 

 shift forester be discredited by the profession. 



The U. S. Forest Service is the great aggressive force which is 

 leading and directing forestry development in the United States. 

 To them every one looks for an example and demonstration of 

 what forestry in this country is and what the work of the forester 

 should be. Are they setting the best example of what this devel- 

 opment ought to be? 



In this article we are more particularly interested in the work 

 of the forest schools. Let us look at the conditions of this work 

 and try to trace the causes of these conditions. 



This condition is little short of chaos. There are three classes 

 of schools : Graduate schools and undergraduate schools which 

 are attempting to cover the whole field, and undergraduate 

 courses which are more or less fragmentary in nature. All are 

 giving arbitrary degrees without meaning — for there is no stand- 

 ard by which to judge them. 



The so-called graduate schools are giving graduate degrees for 

 undergraduate work. They are turning out men of anything but 

 a uniform grade, because there is no uniformity in the entrance 

 requirements. A degree, no matter what kind, is all that is nec- 

 essary. If that degree happens to be for science work the student 



