But if this is the first matter to be considered in deciding upon a profession, it is by no means the last, and the practical considerations of a fair return for good work, bread and butter for a man and his family, the certainty or uncertainty of employment,--such questions as these must have their full share of attention.
There are in the United States Forest Service 1059 Forest Guards, 1247 Forest Rangers, 233 Supervisors, and Deputy Supervisors, and 115 Forest Assistants and 177 Forest Examiners who, as already explained, are the technical men in charge of practical forestry on the National Forests. The six District offices together include in their membership about 50 professional Foresters, and about 65 more are attached to the headquarters at Washington, so that allowing for duplications there are about 335 trained Foresters in the United States Forest Service.
The number of new appointments to the Forest Service in the different permanent grades varies from year to year but may be said to be approximately as follows: Rangers, 240 new appointments; Forest Assistants, 35; other technical positions, 10. All appointments as Supervisor are by promotion from the lists of Forest Rangers or Forest Examiners.
The yearly pay of the Forest Guard, who, like the Ranger, must be a citizen of the State in which his work lies, is from $420 to $900. Forest Rangers, who enter the Service through Civil Service examination, receive from $1100 to $1500 per annum. Forest Supervisors, practically all of whom are men of long experience in forest work, receive from $1600 to $2700 per annum. Forest Assistants enter the Forest Service through Civil Service examination at a salary of $1200 per annum, and are promoted to a maximum salary of $2500 per annum, as Forest Examiners. Professional Foresters at work in the District offices are recruited mainly from among the Forest Assistants and Examiners. They receive from $1100 to $3200 yearly. The technical men in charge at Washington get from $1100 to $5000 per annum, which last is the pay of the Forester, at the head of the Service.
The pay of the State Foresters, or other trained Foresters in charge of State work, ranges from $1800 to $4000, and that of their technical assistants from $1000 to $2500. Out of the total number, only 2 are directly in charge of their own work, responsible only to the Governor and the Legislature, while 19 act as subordinates for State forest commissions or commissioners, who in the majority of cases are political appointees. In striking contrast with the United States Forest Service, politics has so far been a dangerous, if not a dominating, influence in the forest work of most of the States which have undertaken it.