CREATION AND ORGANIZATION 23 



of the Forest Service between 1897 and 1917 is 

 little short of marvelous. The number of its em- 

 ployees has increased from 61 in 1898 to 3,544 on 

 June 30, 1917. The annual appropriations have 

 increased from less than $30,000 in 1897 to $5,712,- 

 275 for the fiscal year 1918. But besides this ap- 

 propriation for 1918 the Weeks Law calls for an 

 expenditure of $2,100,000 and the Federal Aid 

 Road Act for $1,000,000 more. The receipts of 

 the National Forests have also increased by leaps 

 and bounds. In 1897 the receipts were practically 

 negligible in amount but by 1906 they had reached 

 approximately $800,000. In the fiscal year 1917 

 they were more than $3,457,000. 



Recent Modifications in the Organization. Fur- 

 ther slight modifications in the organization, as es- 

 tablished in 1905, were made since that date. Be- 

 fore 1908 all the work of the Forests was supervised 

 from the main office in Washington and this ar- 

 rangement caused much delay and inconvenience 

 in carrying on the business of the Forests. In the 

 fall of 1908 six administrative districts were estab- 

 lished, to which another was added in 1914. By 

 this arrangement the National Forests are divided 

 into 7 groups and each group has a district head- 



