work--lumbermen,
cattlemen, sheepmen, settlers, forest users of all kinds--are often by
very much his superiors in usable knowledge of the details of their
work. Their opinions are entitled to the most complete hearing and
respect. There is no other class of men from whose advice the Forester
can so greatly profit if he chooses to do so. He is superior to them, if
at all, only in his technical knowledge, and in the broader point of
view he has derived from his professional training. It is of the first
importance that the young Forester should know these men, should learn
to like and respect them, and that he should get all the help he can
from their knowledge and practical experience. The willingness to use
the information and assistance which such men were ready to give has
more than once meant the difference between failure and success.

The young Forester, like other young men, is likely to be impatient. I
do not blame him for it. Rightly directed, his impatience may become one
of his best assets. But it will do no harm to remember, also, that the
human race has reached its present degree of civilization and
advancement only step by step, and that it seems likely to proceed in
very much the same way hereafter. As a general rule, results slowly and
painfully accomplished are lasting. The results to be achieved in
forestry must be lasting if they are to be valuable.

In general, the men with whom the Forester deals can adopt, and in many
cases, ought to adopt, a new point of view but slowly. To fall in love
at first sight with theories or policies is as rare as the same
experience is between persons. As a rule, an intellectual conviction,
however well founded, must be followed by a period of incubation and
growth before it can blossom into a definite principle of action, before
the man who holds it is ready to work or fight in order to carry it out.
There is a rate in the adoption of new ideas beyond which only the most
unusual circumstances will induce men's minds to move. Forestry has gone
ahead in the United States faster than it ever did in any other land. If
it proceeds a little less rapidly, now that so much of the field has
been won, there will be no reason for discouragement in that.

AS A SUBORDINATE OFFICER

Necessarily the young Forester will begin as a subordinate. How soon he
will come to give orders of his own will depend on how well he executes
the orders of his superior. In particular, it will depe