ocracy, in which the responsibility of
each man for a particular piece of work shall not only be defined but
recognized, in which the credit for each man's work, so far as possible,
shall be attached to his own name, in which the opinions and advice of
your subordinates are often sought before decisions are made; in a word,
a democracy in which each man feels a personal responsibility for the
success of the whole enterprise.

The young Forester may be years removed from the chance to apply these
principles in practice, but since no superior officer can put them into
fruitful effect without the cooperation of his subordinates, it is well
that they should be known at both ends of the line.

A PUBLIC SERVANT

I repeat that whether a Forester is engaged in private work or in public
work, whether he is employed by a lumberman, an association of
lumbermen, a fishing and shooting club, the owner of a great estate, or
whether he is an officer of a State or of the Nation, by virtue of his
profession he is a public servant. Because he deals with the forest, he
has his hand upon the future welfare of his country. His point of view
is that which must control its future welfare. He represents the planned
and orderly development of its resources. He is the representative also
of the forest school from which he graduates, and of his profession.
Upon the standards which he helps to establish and maintain, the welfare
of these, too, directly depends.

STATE FOREST WORK

The work of the States in forestry is still in the pioneer stage, and
the work of a State Forester must still bear largely on the creation of
a right public sentiment in forest matters. In State forestry the need
for agitation has by no means passed. It is often the duty of the State
Forester to prepare or endeavor to secure the passage of good State
forest laws, or to interpose against the enactment of bad laws. In
particular, much of his time is likely to be given to legislation upon
the subjects of forest fires and forest taxation. Upon the latter there
is as yet no sound and effective public opinion in many parts of the
United States, and legislatures and people still do not understand how
powerful bad methods of forest taxation have been and still are in
forcing the destructive cutting of timber by making it impossible to
wait for the better methods of lumbering which accompany a better
market. I have known the taxes on standing timber to equal six pe