176 REPORT OP THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



6. "Having the instruction under foresters actually engaged in the manage- 

 ment of forest property is, no doubt, the ideal plan for the ranger school. 



7. "There is "room for at least one ranger school in every State in whicU the 

 forest interests are of any importance, though many of the States would furnish 

 little or no demand just at present for men educated at such a school. The de- 

 mand is growing, and there is certainly need for men educated along these lines. 



8. "The training should not be chiefly local, though local conditions would 

 have to be given a prominent place." 



J. S. HoivMES. 



"Following are my opinions in answer to your questions concerning ranger 

 schools : 



1. "The character of the ranger school should be distinctly secondary to the 

 schools giving a full four-year professional course, and the instruction given 

 should be elementary and confined as much as possible to the practical and im- 

 mediately useful subjects. The school should train men to fill secondary posi- 

 tions such as ranger, fire patrol, lookout watchman, and warden. It should be 

 distinctly understood and stipulated that such schools do not attempt or under- 

 take to train men for filling higher and more responsible positions without further 

 technical training. 



3. "A large part of the work should be devoted to apprentice work, and the 

 technical subjects should be treated in a way to make them useful to men with 

 inferior preparation and little real knowledge of the classical and scientific funda- 

 mentals required in the higher schools. Field work, including apprentice work, 

 should constitute from 60 to 76 per cent of the work. 



3. "Special stress should be laid on the physical fitness of the candidate foi 

 admittance, and a high or grammar school education, or even simply the ability 

 to read and write intelligently, might be sufficient. 



4. "A course of this kind, in my opinion, should not cover more than two 

 years at the most, and preferably only one year. 



6. "I believe it is best to have such schools in the forest, under organization 

 and management, rather than in cities and towns or in connection with colleges 

 and universities. 



6. "Wherever possible, it is best to have the men engaged in actual woods 

 work, under the instruction and supervision of the forester in charge. 



7. "There is a growing need for schools of this kind. They should be lo- 

 cated in the regions where such men are most needed, particularly in the West 

 and in a few of the Eastern States, and never more than one in a State. 



8. "The work of such a school should be very largely local in character, and 

 it should receive the support of the State and Federal authorities in the region 

 in which it is located." 



J. M. Briscoe. 



"In regard to your letter of the 23d, asking for my opinion about ranger 

 schools, I would say that I feel very strongly that the whole matter of forestry 

 education is being overdone. The thing has been looked at entirely from an edu- 

 cational standpoint, with very little reference to the jobs open to men when they 

 get through. There are in Vermont, I know, almost no openings outside of the 

 Forest Service for men of forestry training. It is too bad that this condition 

 exists, but it unfortunately does, and is not peculiar to Vermont. The State appro- 

 priation is so small that we are unable to give salaries which would appeal to 

 men of very much technical training. We are, therefore, obliged to pick up, for 

 our rangers or patrolmen, either graduates of regular colleges or high schools, or 

 native woodsmen. Most of these positions have been created through the Weeks 



