180 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



war work, and the carrying of heavier burdens by the men who were 

 left. Generally speaking, the National Forest force sank personal 

 considerations and recognized a patriotic duty to remain at their 

 posts and exert themselves to the utmost to maintain through the 

 period of the war indispensable activities, disregarding the oppor- 

 tunities very widely open to them to better themselves con- 

 siderably in the matter of pay if they would accept outside employ- 

 ment. The National Forest organization, though subjected to a 

 severe strain, was maintained intact because of the loyalty of its men 

 to a high ideal of public service. 



Since the conclusion of hostilities the personnel situation on the 

 National Forests has grown very acute. The resumption of peace 

 time activities upon the Forests threw a larger burden upon the 

 organization before the men on military furlough had returned and 

 before the personnel could be built up to meet the current require- 

 ments. At the same time, many men who had loyally remained 

 with the service during the war felt that they no longer could justify 

 to themselves the refusal of offers for outside employment at greatly 

 increased compensation. 



It was pointed out last year that the rate of pay of the National 

 Forest force was entirely inadequate to attract and hold men of the 

 training and experience needed to discharge the responsibilities in- 

 volved. The forest officers are the guardians of the public property 

 and the administrative managers who handle the great variety of 

 business connected with the use of the properties. The safeguard- 

 ing of the resources requires men of training in protective work that 

 comes from long experience, and the same is true of the handling 

 of timber sales, grazing, and other lines of business. Efficient serv- 

 ice to the public necessitates competent forest officers. The stand- 

 ards of salaries paid today were set about nine years ago. These 

 standards are not at all commensurate with the responsibilities in- 

 volved, quite aside from any question of present-day cost of living. 



During the past season the Forest Service has had the most serious 

 fire situation m its history, due to the exceptionally severe and pro- 

 longed drought. In many cases the loss of experienced forest officers 

 made it necessary to place men of relatively small training in charge 

 of important districts. Fires grew large which would have been 

 promptly extinguished if the men had had greater experience. The 

 same eft'ect appeared in the handling of various lines of business. 

 The administration of grazing has sufl'ered materially because of 

 the difiiculty of holding experienced men. 



The salary of forest supervisors, exclusive of the bonus, now aver- 

 ages $1,958, that of deputy forest supervisors $1,524, and that of 

 forest rangers $1,154. Many supervisors have charge of a million 

 acres of public property and of resources not uncommonly valued at 

 15 to 20 million dollars. Often a single ranger district comprises 

 150,000 acres and resources of very great value, for which the ranger 

 is directly responsible. 



The position of forest supervisor and also that of forest ranger 

 are in a very real sense technical, and the standards of remunera- 

 tion should be such as to enable the Government to secure and hold 

 trained men of the highest type and integrity. The effectiveness 

 of the entire administrative system depends on the quality of the 

 Forest force. 



