334 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIT. No. 1132 



through civil service examinations, as 

 shown in the table below. Of this number 

 273 were appointed through competitive 

 examinations from among the graduates of 

 a single professional school. The position 

 of forest assistant is the lowest technical 

 position in the service and new appoint- 

 ments to this position are determined by 

 civil service examinations. 



FOREST ASSISTANTS APPOINTED IN THE V. S. FOREST 



SERVICE FOR THE PERIOD BETWEEN 1899 



AND 1915 INCLUSIVE 



The universities and colleges in the 

 United States that offer professional train- 

 ing in forestry granted degrees to 147 men 

 in June, 1915. From the number of men 

 now attending courses in forestry in these 

 institutions it appears that a larger num- 

 ber will complete their training in 1916 

 and a still larger number in 1917. Four 

 years ago 72 forest assistants entered the 

 National Forest Service under civil service 

 appointments. Since then the number of 

 appointments has decreased with startling 

 rapidity. Only 9 appointments to the posi- 

 tion of forest assistant through civil service 

 examinations were made in 1915. From 

 1900 to 1910 the number of yearly appoint- 

 ments increased from 2 to 73. It was dur- 

 ing this period that the many schools arose 

 and secured equipment and faculties to 

 supply this rapidly increasing demand for 

 professionally trained men. Although the 

 schools are far better equipped than for- 

 merly, the rapidly decreasing demand in 

 the public service, due primarily to the 

 completion of the preliminary organiza- 



tion of the public forests, is forcing nearly 

 all of the graduates in forestry during 1915 

 to seek employment in the forests under 

 private ownership or to find places on the 

 public forests that are also open to those 

 without a professional training, hoping to 

 be promoted to better positions later on. 

 From now onward, the annual appointment 

 of technically trained men to new positions 

 in forestry under the national, state and 

 lesser governmental units depends upon 

 the rapidity with which additional public 

 forests are established and the subdivision 

 of present public forests into smaller and 

 more intensively managed units. We can 

 not expect in the future a demand in public 

 forestry for men with a professional train- 

 ing at all commensurate with the increasing 

 supply of such men. 



Trained foresters must be willing imme- 

 diately after graduation to do the work of 

 ordinary labor and work for the same wages 

 as ordinary labor. They must look upon 

 this period of their life as a period of ap- 

 prenticeship. Accepting this point of view, 

 the whole question of its desirability rests 

 with the probability of promotion after a 

 reasonable apprentice period has passed. 

 In the main, it must be considered a mis- 

 take for a man who has spent from four to 

 six years in collegiate and professional 

 training to accept a position either in gov- 

 ernmental or private work unless it leads 

 towards a field that will enable him to prac- 

 tise his profession at a remuneration some- 

 what proportionate to his technical ability. 



The permanent labor employed in our 

 public forests, including the position of 

 guards and rangers, is usually recruited 

 from among residents of the states where 

 the forests are located and from men 

 wholly without technical training, but with 

 a more or less intimate knowledge of local 

 conditions. The examination required is 

 not technical in character. These men are 



