with a district forester in charge of each. Over each of the 150
forests in the seven districts there is a forest supervisor; and
each forest is further subdivided into ranger districts under
district rangers who not only look after timber sales and the use
of the forests generally, but also "help build roads, trails,
bridges, telephone lines, and other permanent improvements."

A ranger must naturally be sound in body, for he is called upon to
work for long periods in all kinds of weather. He must also know
how to pack supplies and find food for himself and his horse in a
country where it is often scarce. Besides a written test,
prospective rangers are examined in compass surveying, timber
work, and the handling of horses. [Footnote: "Government Forest
Work," Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, p. 15.]

There are also employed in the Forests great numbers of logging
engineers, lumbermen, scalers, planting assistants, guards, and
others. In the great war, the Forest Service raised two regiments
of men who went to France to assist in the various kinds of
forestry work necessitated by the war.

WORK OF THE FOREST SERVICE

The purpose of the Forest Service is to secure the use of the
forests "in such a way that they will yield all their resources to
the fullest extent without exhausting them, for the benefit
primarily of the home builder. The controlling policy is serving
the public while conserving the forests." [Footnote: "The Status
of Forestry in the United States," Forest Service Circular 167,
1909, p. 5.] Timber is cut and sold, but always with a view to