6 BULLETIN 718, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
which if taken into account would reduce their efficiency close to 
zero. The custom of trading lumber for inexperienced labor, so 
prevalent in many places, should never be practiced by the small 
operator. 
A real knowledge of how to handle horses is very essential in 
logging. Thousands of dollars' worth of good horseflesh is ruined 
by ill-tempered, incompetent teamsters. Xo part of the operator's 
investment needs closer supervision than the hauling. A poor 
teamster is poison (I know of no more expressive term) to a good 
team. An operator will save money by keeping his horses idle in 
the barn, no matter how badly their services are needed, rather than 
allow a brainless teamster to pound them through, the timber and 
over rocks, stumps, and mud holes. Discharge such a person at once. 
Teams when properly handled will be 100 per cent efficient all the 
time and thrive. 
High wages do not always secure the service of competent labor, 
particularly in woods work. One gang of sawyers may cut the same 
amount of board feet in logs as another gang, and yet may cut their 
logs with such a disregard of correct lengths and of crooks and with 
such an indifference as to how the trees are felled for skidding pur- 
poses that the value of their labor may be only 50 per cent as much 
as that of the other crew, who do their work as it ought to be done. 
The millman who neglects to supervise his operations rigidly is 
surely preparing the way to financial disaster. An operator usually 
works hard at some particular job, such as sawing, and leaves the rest 
of the work to run itself. His proper place is " bossing the job," and 
if he does that thoroughly he will have his hands full. In order to 
instruct men in woods work, the operator must understand it himself. 
If he lacks this knowledge it would be wise for him to keep out of 
the portable-mill business or else hire a competent man to run it 
for him. 
Clean, wholesome living and sleeping quarters for the men, as well 
as properly cooked food, deserve close attention — a good deal more 
attention, in fact, than is usually bestowed upon them. " Sour 
dough " grub and rough living may sound very romantic in a cheap 
novel, but when actually practiced they fail to bring results. Pay 
the men good wages and feed them well, and see that they earn it. 
Always have money on hand to pay off men if they quit or you dis- 
charge them. 
Make it very plain that you want value for every cent you pay 
in wages or in board. Tolerate no " deadheads " around your camp. 
Be boss yourself or delegate the job to some one who is qualified 
to fill the bill. Do not make your camp a dumping ground for all 
your male relatives. You are supposed to be running a sawmill — 
not a rest cure. 
