666 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



research organization is to have a thoroughly competent, adequately 

 trained staff. 



If the past few years prior to the depression can be taken as a 

 criterion in Federal forest research, the possibility of obtaining quali- 

 fied men, not the availability of money, has in fact been the con- 

 trolling or limiting factor in the rate at which the work could be 

 expanded. That the national requirements for forest research have 

 not been met during the last decade is primarily because sufficient 

 men with the necessary mental equipment and training have for one 

 reason or another been nonavailable. The current economic depres- 

 sion raises a question as to whether this will continue to be true in the 

 future one which it is still too early to answer with assurance. 



With men the limiting factor in the rate of expansion under normal 

 economic conditions, either one of two decidedly different plans could 

 be followed. Under one, appropriations could be sought and the 

 work developed only as fast as well-trained and competent men 

 became available in the natural course of events without special 

 stimulus. This plan is commonly followed in developing research 

 organizations. Most important among its adantages is probably 

 the assurance of a better conduct of the research attempted. Among 

 others, it is much less likely to lead to criticism, which is ordinarily 

 of the way research is done rather than of the failure to do it on a 

 scale commensurate with public needs. 



The other plan was to make the requirements of the job, or in other 

 words the public interest, the compelling consideration. The size, 

 complexity, and urgency of the problem in the United States, or the 

 public need, as indicated in the discussion of adequate finances, 

 seemed to be sufficient justification under normal economic conditions 

 for the expansion of the work as rapidly as possible. 



But the adoption of the latter plan of making the public need the 

 guiding principle in the development of research has created a difficult 

 recruiting problem. In meeting this problem the requirements as to 

 mentality for recruits to the investigative staff have been set very 

 high. When sufficient men with adequate training could not be 

 obtained, the balance of current needs have been met by the employ- 

 ment of men who have been only partially trained for investigative 

 work. In short, the jobs have been created and made as attractive 

 as the limitations of the Government service permitted in order to 

 interest good men and to stimulate the training of such men for 

 research. 



The recruiting standards or objectives adopted call in every in- 

 stance for obtaining the ablest man available in the forestry profession. 

 Mentality, idealism, character, and all of the faculties and qualities 

 which are necessary for the highest grade of research are taken into 

 account. In training, the objective is a doctor's degree or an equiv- 

 alent, but this is not as yet attainable in many cases. Efforts in the 

 selection of every man even for the lowest junior positions go to great 

 lengths. All the evidence which can be obtained from every possible 

 source bearing upon qualifications is taken definitely into account. 

 Such evidence is collected and contributed systematically to a central 

 clearing house by every unit and every permanent employee in the 

 organization. An effort is made to keep a running record of every 

 young man in the profession whose work is outstanding. This goes 

 as far back as the undergraduate record. 



