273] An American Forest Administration. s; 



ciples upon which technical forest management is 

 carried on. This would lead too far. 



I can only say that this object is attained mainly 

 by the manner in which the cutting is done, but it 

 cannot be accomplished by following the simple 

 popular direction to cut the ripe timber. 



This is a matter which cannot be determined either 

 by the legislator or the professor ex cathedra, a 

 matter that requires a different answer for different 

 conditions, which cannot be given from intuition, 

 but must be evolved from experience. And since the 

 cutting is to be done by licensees, who must be con- 

 trolled in the manner of cutting, in order to insure 

 proper reforestation, we see at once that here we 

 have reached the real difficulty of the problem, 

 namely, the difficulty of finding the men who com- 

 bine with the needful organizing and administra- 

 tive faculties sufficient knowledge of forestry matters 

 to undertake the direction of a forest administration. 

 In fact, the ivhole difficulty is one of men, rather than 

 of measures, and, if it were expected to create all at 

 once a fully developed forest administration, this 

 difficulty would appear almost insurmountable. 



Such expectations can rarely be realized in human 

 affairs, and in the proposed forest administration 

 we will also have to be satisfied to find our way 

 through mistakes and partial failure to improved 

 methods, at least, in the technical part of the admin- 

 istration. 



So little knowledge of forestry matters exists in 

 this country that it will be utterly impossible to 

 expect such from the many forest guards to be 

 employed. Nor will it be possible to command district 

 officers, with more than the teachings of woodcraft 



