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local questions would be decided by local officers 



and on local grounds. The old Land Office custom 

 of referring pretty much everything to Washington for 

 incubation and ultimate decision was definitely out.&quot; 

 Men were selected at various levels for their compe 

 tence, given a job and responsibility and authority 

 to do it, and were held accountable for results. 

 Authority was pushed as far down the line as there 

 was ability to effectively discharge it. As the 

 national forest business grew and as competence 

 increased, greater latitude was conferred all along 

 the line. For example, the size of timber sales 

 which forest rangers or forest supervisors could 

 approve was increased from time to time. 



The early forest rangers were mostly local men 

 who knew the country and the people, but who had 

 little or no technical knowledge. This usually had 

 to be supplied from higher up. Then when all dis 

 trict rangers were trained foresters, they became 

 real managers of the resources of their districts, 

 with such staff assistants as were needed. That is 

 the way it is today. 



There can be no doubt that this policy of decen 

 tralization has been one of the most important factors 

 contributing to the success of national forest admin- 



