32 



A REGULARLY EMPLOYED LABOR FORCE. 



LEWIS E. STALE Y, Forester. 



The necessity of a regular force of laborers is becoming more ap- 

 parent as forestry advances. Not alone in forestry has this neces- 

 sity manifested itself, but in all business operations one of the first 

 things to be considered is men, a regular force of laborers men 

 that can be depended upon at all times. 



How can good results be accomplished if the men that are doing 

 the work are careless and unconcerned? If good results are to be 

 accomplished in forestry as in any other business, the men must be 

 more or less trained for the work they are to do. They must have 

 practice, and this can only be obtained by having them employed 

 regularly. 



Some one may make the statement that men are plentiful, that men 

 can be picked up at any time. Of course to a very great extent this 

 is true at present, but is it not also true that such men as are avail- 

 able at any time of the year, are in many cases men that cannot be 

 depended upon? You have them one day and the next day they are 

 gone. They have some excuse, your work does not suit them, or perhaps 

 the wages are too little. 



Why does the State train its own foresters? It is simply because 

 the Commission has found it to be the most advantageous way in 

 which to fit men for the work. Men who are trained along certain 

 lines can undoubtedly work to better advantage than those .who may 

 be picked up at any time. The same rule may be applied to laborers. 

 They may not be so well adapted to the work in the beginning, but 

 in most cases, woodsmen, in particular, can in short time do the work 

 as it must be done. 



A very good example of a regularly employed force of laborers is 

 the section gang of a railroad. These companies have a certain 

 amount of work which must be done just as the forester has on each 

 reserve. Could not these railroad companies depend on picking up 

 men as the occasion demanded? Is it not true that the "section" 

 labor is almost at an end as soon as the rough weather sets in, and 

 yet the majority of the gang are retained the entire year? There is 

 something at all times to employ them if it is only to make a surplus 

 of handles for their tools. The retaining of these men, in my opinion, 

 is simply because the railroad companies have found it to be to their 



