The High Court ruled that—

"Under the Acts establishing forest reservations, their use for grazing or other lawful purposes is subject to rules and regulations established by the Secretary of Agriculture, and it being impracticable for Congress to provide general regulations, that body acted within its constitutional power in conferring power on the secretary to establish such rules; the power so conferred, being administrative and not legislative, is not an unconstitutional delegation."

Forestry is a technical business, and foresty administrations should possess powers wide enough to permit of the management of the forests in accordance with the technical considerations attached to every particular case.

The forest laws of most of the Australian States are hedged by restrictions unknown to the American enactments. What was deemed "impracticable by the United States of America Congress was attempted by our State Parliaments, which have closely governed and limited the regulations frameable thereunder, and made them subject to Parliamentary approval.

To the Australian forester, the powers possessed by the United States of America forestry administration are enviable and it is believed that the extraordinary development of the United States forest system is almost entirely due to Congress realising that it was not technically qualified to draw rules of forest management!

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That the confidence of Congress in the forest administration was not misplaced is indicated in the letter of the Secretary of Agriculture to the Forester, dated February 1, 1905, in which the general forest policy under the organic Acts of 1891 and 1897 was laid down for his guidance in framing the regulations and instructions for the use of the national forests. It is worth quoting—

"In the administration of the forest reserves, it must be clearly borne in mind that all land is to be devoted to its most productive use for the permanent good of the whole people and not for the temporary benefit of individuals or companies. All the resources of forest reserves are for use, and this use must be brought about in a thoroughly prompt and businesslike manner, under such restrictions only as will insure the permanence of these resources. The vital importance of forest reserves to the great industries of the Western States will be largely increased in the near future by the continued steady advance in settlement and development. The permanence of the resources of the reserves is, therefore, indispensable to continued prosperity, and the policy of this department for their protection and use will invariably be guided by this fact, always bearing in mind that the conservative use of these resources in no way conflicts with their permanent value.

"You will see to it that the water, wood, and forage of the reserves are conserved and wisely used for the benefit of the home builder, first of all, upon whom depends the best permanent use of lands and resources alike. The continued prosperity of the agricultural, lumbering, mining, and livestock interests is directly dependent upon a permanent and accessible supply of water, wood, and forage, as well as upon the present and future use of these resources under business-like regulations enforced with promptness, effectiveness, and common sense. In the management of each reserve, local questions will be decided upon local grounds, the dominant industry will be considered first, but with as little restriction to minor industries as may be possible; sudden changes in industrial

conditions will be avoided by gradual adjustment after due notice, and where competing interests must be reconciled, the question will always be decided from the standpoint of the greatest good to the greatest number in the long run."

Surely words of wisdom!

CHAPTER VI.

BIRTH OF THE U.S.A. FOREST SERVICE.

Democracy also has its disadvantages. One of them is that national development is subject to a many-sided and fickle public will.

In a democracy, therefore, a necessary step towards reform is the education and cudgelling of the public to the necessity of reform.

Whence the development of publicity as an essential part of the machinery of democratic government.

Up to 1905, the work of the old Bureau of Forestry had been propagandist. During the first twenty years of its existence, it produced 20,000 pages of printed matter.

Later, it became more advisory; working plans-so-called-were prepared for public owners; its publications became more technical.

Up to 1905 the surveying of the National Forests had been controlled by the Department of Geological Survey.

It had completed some 70,000,000 acres, out of 162,000,000 acres at a cost of £300,000, or about one penny per acre.

Up to 1905, the administration of the National Forests had been vested in the General Land Office. A force of superintendents and rangers existed, wholly supervisional and essentially "practical," condemning technique, and without any real conception of forest management and the task before it.

The assemblage of these scattered sections of the forest control created a living force, which, as the newly constituted United States of America Forest Service, started out immediately on a career of extraordinary development.

On the flood of the tide of educational enthusiasm following the establishment of forest schools at Cornell in 1898, Yale in 1899, and Michigan in 1903, arrived the new American forester, crammed full of technique and energy.

The first phase was that of the purely European ideas. The new department attempted strenuously to copy German technique, before it had acquired any fundamental knowledge of American conditions or how to adapt forestry practice to those conditions. European forms had to be followed. All else was regarded as forest quackery. Working plans bulked largely in the scheme, and the initiation of intensive silviculture was begun forthwith.

This was revolution rather than evolution. And it failed-because of that fact, and because in Europe business training was a minor quantity in forestry. The administration bumped against the practical problems of the moment, the biggest one of democratic government. It fell foul of the conflicting interests of the lumberman, the grazier, and the settler. It was styled academic, inane, ignorant, incapable, incompetent, and unjust. Significantly enough, neither graft nor dishonesty was amongst the charges levelled at it.

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Its first problem, however, was not silviculture, but administration. It had to protect its vast forests from fire and trespass, so that its timber and grazing resources could be utilised economically and systematically. These facts overshadowed the plagiarist policy, and with an enormous domain to be handled and only the nucleus of a forest force at its disposal, it was inevitable that the new Forest Service should find itself immediately overwhelmed with problems of administration. The forests of the United States of America were peculiarly subject to destruction by fire, owing to their inflammability and the steep configuration of the land they occupied. Fire protection was the dominating need, calling for the organisation of the forest and its force for defence. Trails, ranger cabins, telephone lines were required. A timber sales policy had to be developed. Grazing lands within the forests had to be administered. The foundations had to be laid before technique could be added.

Followed a period of very rapid change, due to an earnest striving after development. The administration was strong, aggressive, and venturesome. It over-reached itself on occasion, but its mistakes chastened rather than discouraged it. And they focussed attention on the problems, compelling solution. Development, after all, is the correction of the errors of venturesomeness. Final solution comes only after initial failures.

Very largely, the influence of the expanding science of management made itself felt in the development of the new service. Intensive investigation and experiment were features of its growth; the fitting of the individual and his work, and the fixation of individual responsibility, standardisation of the best methods, planning, due recording of accepted procedure in the wonderful National Forest Manual-all these things made for an extraordinary expansion.

It is ten years since the United States of America Forest Service was launched into existence. To-day it ranks as one of the greatest Forestry Departments of the world. It controls some 164 tremendous forests, averaging 1,000,000 acres each. It has a force of 3,875 persons, of whom 3,275 are employed upon the National Forests as supervisors, deputy supervisors, rangers, and guards, and 600 are engaged in administrative, scientific, and clerical work at the Washington and district headquarters. In 1915 it negotiated 90,000 transactions, sold 850,000,000 feet of timber (log measurement) for £255,000; and grazed 9,000,000 head of stock for £236,000.

Its total receipts were £517,000. Its expenditure was £1,545,000.

Its motto is the national motto, "100 per cent. efficiency." And it lives up to it.

CHAPTER VII.

U.S.A. FOREST SERVICE ORGANISATION.

The work of the United States Forest Service is described as consisting of "the administration and protection of the National Forests, the development of their resources, and research into technical problems connected with forestry, and the discovery and diffusion of knowledge concerning the best use of forests and forest products."

Its organisation is of more than ordinary interest to us, because of the similarity of basic conditions, and of tendencies of development. The Australian organisation is as yet merely one of sketchy supervision with

limited functions, the nucleus of a forest force. It is more than probable that similar tendencies will lead to a development along the lines followed by the American service.

The American forest administration is confined exclusively to the 164,000,000 acres of National Forests, which are grouped within seven different forestry districts, each controlled by a district forester responsible directly to the forester at Washington on points of general policy, but otherwise vested entirely with authority to plan and manage his district in his own way.

Each of the million acre forests within a district is in charge of a forest supervisor, who is the general manager of his forest, planning the work and seeing that it is carried out, subject to the general direction of the district forester. He is responsible for the supervision, protection, and improvement of the forest.

His place in the scheme of organisation comes closest to that of forest guard in the New South Wales plan, but his responsibilities and functions are wider in accordance with the more expanded forest policy.

He is allotted a personnel for carrying on the work of the forest, which is determined by the district forester from annual estimates submitted by him. He has full authority over all forest officers detailed to his forest, and "may make such assignments and delegate such authority as he may consider necessary, provided such assignments or delegations of authority are not specifically prohibited."

The forest supervisor is often a graduate in forestry. The position is filled by promotion from the classified positions of the Forest Service.

The district ranger occupies the position in the organisation analogous to that of forest overseer in New South Wales, or resident forester in Queensland. It is a position which will have to be provided for in any extension of forestry practice in Australia, more especially in the western grazing forests. Probably, returned soldiers of suitable bent could be utilised.

The district ranger in the United States of America Service controls one of the eight or nine divisions of the forest-averaging 100,000 acres each, subject to the direction of the supervisor.

He has entire charge of the routine work involved in the supervision of grazing, timber sale, free use, special use, and other contracts and permits, the direction of the protection and improvement plans, and the examination and reporting on applications for any use of the forest, including settlement and other claims. He exercises, within his district, the delegated authority of the supervisor for the administration of the forest. His headquarters are either at the nearest business centre or permanent headquarters are provided on the forest.

He is given charge of the temporary labourers (called forest guards), working on the forest.

This constitutes the general administrative and supervisional forest force. Where the work is heavy or involved, the organisation is filled out by the appointment of temporary assistants, or specialists are detailed from the district office.

A typical organisation is that of the Lolo National Forest (Montana):

Supervisor.

Deputy Supervisor.

8 District Rangers.

33 Forest Guards.

4 Timber Scalers.

Casual Labourers.

1 Forest Clerk.

"The work involved in making forest surveys necessary to the preparation of definite plans of management for timber, grazing, settlement, special uses, administration and protection, is performed by officers such as forest examiners, logging engineers, lumbermen, grazing examiners, members of the district office, or by the supervisor or deputy supervisor."

This corps of specialists ordinarily is concentrated at the district office. The specialists may be attached temporarily to a forest on special work, under the direction of the supervisor, or they may act as co-operative inspectors for the district forester.

The work of the district office is organised under the offices of operation, lands, silviculture, and grazing, each of which is administered by an assistant district forester, specialising in the work.

The office of operations has general supervision of the finance, personnel, equipment, and supplies of the service, and of all fire protection, forest survey, and permanent improvement work on the National Forests.

The office of lands "examines and classifies lands within the National Forests, to determine their value for forest purposes, conducts the work in connection with claims on the National Forests prior to proceedings before United States "registers" and receivers, and assists the chief engineer of the service in connection with the use of National Forest lands for hydro-electric purposes.

The office of silviculture supervises the sale and cutting of timber on the National Forests, and co-operates with States in protecting forest lands under the Weeks Law (watersheds). Reafforestation and afforestation, working plans, forest investigations, market and utilisation problems, forest products, indus trial investigations, and co-operation, are its other lines of work.

The office of grazing supervises the grazing of live stock, and the allotment of grazing privileges. It is charged also with the work of improving depleted grazing areas, and of co-operating with the Federal and State authorities in the enforcement of stock quarantine regulations.

Accounting is in the peculiar position of being practically outside the district office organisation. It is controlled directly from Washington by the chief of the office of accounts, who has a district fiscal agent stationed at each district forestry office, solely to deal with accounts. The forest officer does not collect forest revenue. The debtor is required to pay directly to a United States depository to the credit of the fiscal agent.

Somewhat similar is the Queensland system, where the district land agent acts in an accounting capacity.

Law matters are situated much the same. There is a district assistant to the solicitor appointed for each district office.