8 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



January 



somewhat divided as to the propriety of 

 the government's engaging in this work, 

 it has been decided to leave the project 

 with the citizens, for it is the policy of 

 the government not to assume the man- 

 agement of such projects as are capable 

 of being handled by private capital. 



J* 



Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Rail- 

 Railroad road Company has lately 

 Planting Trees, completed the work of 

 planting 50,000 young 

 locust trees on land which the railroad 

 purchased a few years ago west of Cone- 

 wago Station, Pa. One hundred and 

 twenty-five men were employed on the 

 work, which occupied them for three 

 weeks. 



An official of the company says that 

 it is the purpose of the company to plant 

 1,000,000 trees in the next four years. 

 The timber is to be used for railroad 

 ties. 



Government The scale of the salaries 

 Salaries. paid to employes of the 



federal government was 

 arranged in the days of Jeffersonian sim- 

 plicity. The intention of the Fathers in 

 making the remuneration of government 

 service small was both to avoid the bur- 

 den of heavy taxes, under which the 

 people had struggled in Europe, and to 

 remove the attractiveness of public office 

 for unscrupulous men who might obtain 

 appointments with the emolument only 

 in view. 



The idea worked well enough in its 

 day. In fact, its success up to the present 

 time is surprising. The wonder is that 

 the government has been able to hold 

 men of the grade which has always ad- 

 ministered the bulk of national affairs 

 on salaries so low. 



The times have changed ; life has be- 

 come more complex and expensive. 

 Young men hesitate to marry on stipends 

 which their fathers considered ample. 

 Specialists in the sciences are absolutely 

 necessary in the departments, each of 

 whom has prepared himself for his work 

 by a long and expensive technical educa- 

 tion. I n private business these men are 

 valued highly and paid accordingly. 



But the United States continues to 

 pay its servants, from the President 

 'down, on the scale that Jefferson con- 

 sidered ample. 



Business men especially notice this 

 state of affairs, for they know what 

 they have to pay for the services of a 

 good man. The Pacific Coast J finer says 

 editorially: 



"We notice that the United States 

 government advertises civil service ex- 

 aminations for positions of local land 

 office clerks. In this it is stated that the 

 applicants must have a thorough knowl- 

 edge of the public land laws and of the 

 routine of land-office work. For all this 

 he is to receive a salary not equal to that 

 of a San Francisco hod-carrier. As the 

 registers and receivers are political ap- 

 pointments who exercise judicial func- 

 tions and 3'et seldom have any knowl- 

 edge of law% the clerk is supposed to be 

 their law adviser, and as such must be 

 able to cope with the most skillful land 

 thieves that the world has ever known ! ' ' 



' ' It is said that the miserable salaries 

 paid to skillful brain workers in all de- 

 partments of our government are such 

 that in many cases some civil-service 

 examinations cannot be held for want 

 of applicants. This will continue until 

 the government realizes the fact that 

 brain work requiring technical ability 

 and years of study is entitled to as much 

 consideration at its hands as the mere 

 manual laborers of the trades unions. 

 As the President is the head of the civil- 

 service system, we respectfully call his 

 attention to this state of affairs. The 

 efficiency of every department of the 

 government must depend on the effi- 

 ciency of its employes, and this efficiency 

 cannot be secured without the compen- 

 sation appropriate to ability, experience, 

 and relative value." 



Christmas Before the middle of 



Trees. December the city deal- 



ers begin to receive and 

 display their stock of Christmas ever- 

 greens. In the northern cities a pro- 

 fusion of Arborvitse, Spruce, Balsam, 

 and Hemlock is shipped in by boat and 

 rail, varying in size from branches and 

 small bushes to trees 30 feet in height. 



