EXAMINING
APPLICANT
&
Tour Uncle Sam be says to me, "I want a
man to ride,
To pack a hoss, and shoot a few, and sleep
outdoors beside;"
o J signed with him as a ranger bold, to
ride the forests free.
But Lord! you ought to see ths stunts your
Uncle tarn gave me.
It's law In the moraln.', science at night.
Study all day, and flsrger and write;
He gets hlgh-hrowed work on a hlgh-
browed plan.
loes the Government's handy man.
T
HE above lines pretty well describe
the feelings of the' ambitious young
man who takes Uncle Sam's annual
examination for the position of forest
ranger. The old-fashioned notion that a
forester is a lucky individual whose only
work is to rest "under the greenwood
tree." and occasionally arrest some ten
derfoot who has let a campfire spread, is
being fast dispelled, for there are few po
sitions in the Government service that
call for more varied qualifications than i
the forest ranger finds demanded of him.
When the forest service was begun, i
under the adminisfration of President ;
Cleveland, the duties of the forest guards
were comparatively simple. Since then
their work has become more complex
every year, and eventually only men who
aro specially trained will be able to as
sume the ranger's duties. Annual ex
aminations for forest ranger positions
are held in the various states containing
the great National forests. Many hun
dreds of men ambitious to enter the for
est service are examined as to their quali
fications, and selections are made strictly
under civil service rules. The flrsf day
of an. examination is spent in indoor
work. The applicants are given questions
dealing with problems confronting one in
the forest service and bringing out each
man's educational fitness. This examin
ation, while not particularly rigorous,
bars the totally uneducated from the
ranks of the Government's foresters.
The second day of the examination is
devoted to field tests, and it is here that
the applicant must demonstrate his abil
ity along practical lines. He must chow
some knowledge of the surveyor's com
pass, and is required to pace off a half
mile or so in a triangle, and then reduce
the distance to rods and feet. Then he
must satisfy the Government officials who
conduct the examination that he knows
something of the art of packing a horse.
For that packing Is an art is well known
by any man who has had actual expe
rience away from the haunts of civiliza
tion in the West. The man who takes to
the trail without some previous knowledge
of packing will soon find that he Is help
less as an infant and the best thing he
can do Is to put back to town and hire a
guide.
At a forest ranger examination held in
Denver a few days ago, the applicants,
some 26 In number, spent most of the
flay packing and unpacking two patient
horses. Each man was required to put
on the pack-saddle, which is an apparatus
looking not unlike a "saw-buck," and on
the horns of which a skilled packer can
load an enormous quantity of camp stuff.
, it'. 05 & k'xtitn .. k-lir ' - i -,1
Sparing the Eyes of the Public
( Xew York City Proposes Eleven Reforms for. Easing the Strain to
THE average life of a public school
text book Is two years. With few
exceptions at the end of two full
school terms new books replace those In
use. It was this circumstance which en
couraged the Association "of Women Prin
cipals of New York City Public Schools
to believe that all the suggestions formu
lated at a conference between Its com
mittee on children's welfare and an ad
visory board of 13 oculists, which was
held about five weeks ago In the DeWltt
Clinton High School would be adopted
promptly by the Board of Education.
One reason for holding the conference
was the discoVery that the percentage of
pupils with defective vision is higher now
nearly 40 per cent higher than it was
ten years ago, when for the first time a
systematic examination of the eyes, of
school children was begun by the late
Dr. Agnew. It was proposed to study the
remediable causes of eye strain In pres
ent school conditions, and before the con
ference ended 11 suggestions were made
and unanimously adopted.
Up to that point it was smooth sailing
enough, but to Incite t.ie Board of Educa
tion to action has proved harder. From
the welfare . committee's standpoint to
adopt the suggestions would be as easy
as It was to adopt the new course of
study thaf began in 1906.
"At that time." said the chairman of the
committee, 'the publishers met the de
mand for new books instantly. Similarly,
should the Board of Education now say
to the publishers, 'We don't want any
more shiny paper and we do want outline
drawings substituted for halftones: we
want the length of line In school books to
be hereafter from a minimum of 2
Inches to a maximum of 3 inches and the
space between lines to be not less than
three millimeters," that would settle IL
The publishers would, I belisve, go to
work and give us what we want.
"Statistics now show that In Germany
about 95 per cent of the higher class stu
dents suffer from defective eyesight and
this is attributed to the fine, close prtnt of
most German text books. In our schools
about 60 per cent of the children have
defective vision. 40 per cent of these being
In the higher classes. I believe this per
centage could be lowered by a change of
text books."
One of ths suggestions made at the con
MUST SHOW THEY
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No two men among the entire 26 went i only some recognized hitch is used and
at the task of packing in the same man- I the pack will bear the inspection of the
ner. The Goernment, however, is not I skilled rangers who conduct the examin-particuIaY-
as to the Btyle of packing, if I ations, and who know whether the load
ference advocated movab,e chairs in the
classrooms, so that children with poor
sight may sit where the light Is best and
at the same time in chairs that fit them.
As now placed the stationary seats are
graded in size, the smallest in the front,
the tallest in the rear, and If to get a
better light a tall girl moves' toward the
front of the room she must sit In a chair
too small for her or If a small girl moves
toward the rear she must sit in a chair
that Is much too high for her.
Loose seats, says the chairman, are en
tirely feasible, and she hopes that they
will be a forerunner of the modern class
room. Suggestion No. 8 recommends that
during the first two years of school life
all writing shall be done on a blackboard.
A sketch of a model class designed by this
principal shows a double row of black
boards along two sides of the room, about
three feet apart. The inner blackboard is
at the usual height from the floor. The
outer or wall blackboard surmounts a
platform raised high enough to permit
a teacher to see both boards from her
seat.
Wh.en the chairman was asked, "Is it
latter day school equipment that is mostly
to blame for the increase In the number
of cases of defective vision among the
young?" she answered:
"By no means. The schools' equip
ment jtnay certainly be Improved; on the
other hand it Is now much better than" 1n
the early days of elementary public
schools. The trouble is that up to within
50or so years human beings were trained
mostly for far sight.
"Half a century ago the number of per
sons in New York who could neither read
nor write was comparatively large. Be
fore the compulsory education law was
passed there was not nearly so much eye
strain for the reason that children did not
use their eyes so constantly.
"At that time the community depended
largely on signs. Street cars were painted
different colors, each color denoting a
particular route. No need to do any read
ing of window billboards and top signs.
Nowadays one must do a- lot of streetcar
reading or else get fined."
. "Fined V
"Why, yes. Fined. Many a time I have
had to pay an extra five cents because I
failed to read the notice pasted up in the
car about no transfers given unless asked
for w:hen a passenger pays his fare. Un
less they want to pay double fare nas-
THE AT OREONTAX. FORTTiAJTD, JUNE 21, 1908.
ME
CAN RIDE, PACK A H0RfE,AND KNOW CONSIDERABLE "ABOUT
;;lis 2- '
.r;iv J' it
'JS-.-.iiH::.?;
School Pupils
Which They Are Subjected.
sengers have got- to do a lot of reading
In the cars these days.
"In the old days cigar stores were de
noted by a wooden Indian outside the
door; barbers used a striped pole for a
sign; taverns had a bull's head or a
boar's head over the fronts door; glove
shops hung out-a, huge gold glove where
every, passerby couldn't help but see it
and so on. No searching for indistinct
numbers and closely printed signs was
then necessary.
"With the arrival of the compulsory
education bill short sight was forced upon
the people and the' willy nilly generation
after generation has had to keep its eyes
more or less on books for several consec
utive years at least. To make these books
therefore as little trying to the eyes of
adolescence as possible is manifestly the
duty of school boards everywhere."
Abraham Stern, chairman of the com
mittee on special schools, was asked what
action the Board of Education was likely
to take regarding the suggestions for the
relief of eye strain. He answered that his
committee, as well as several other com
mittees, had given the suggestions care
ful attention and that several of them
could be and probably would be adopted
at once; for Instance suggestion No. 11,
made as a result of a tour of evening
schools. It asks that "electric bulbs .used
in class rooms be made of frosted glass
and that clusters of such bulbs be
screened with pale amber shades."
Suggestions 9 and 10, which ask "that
all rooms in which artificial light is
burned continually be closed" and "that
no part time classes be permitted to oc
cupy any room in which the light is not
entirely satisfactory," are also indorsed
heartily by the school board.
"In the modern school buildings
there are no dark rooms," said Mr.
Stern, "and in the oldest buildings we
have ' been endeavoring for several
years past to shut up as far as possible
dimly lighted rooms, of which there
are some.
"The problem of finding school ac
commodations for half a million chil
dren has held us back from discarding
class rooms which, when compared
with those In the newest buildings,
cannot be called brilliantly lighted.
Before long we, hope to see better
buildings replace some of these older
schools.
Suggestions & and 6, which read re
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will stand much travel along a rough
trail without being shaken to pieces. The
applicant is required to pack a tent, his
own bed. which consists of blankets and
a tarpaulin, cooking utensils and " Chuck '
for a week s uee. There is also the In
evitable ax. which is the forest ranger s
insignia. Some of the applicants at Den
ver proved very deft and soon had a neat
looking pack on the horse's back, fastened
with the diamond hitch, or with some
other hitch that is recognized by the trail
men. Others plainly had rro experience
In this line of work and their packs pro
voked a smile even from the examining
officials, who are always careful not to
criticize, much less to aid any applicant
in his work. While each man was pack
spectively: "That in reading the chil
dren hold their books at an angle of
45 degrees and In oral reading be re
quired to look up frequently," and
"That after a lesson demanding close
work the pupils be asked to look up
at the ceiling and out of the window
to change the focus of their eyes and
reet the muscles of accommodation,"
are approved, by the board, and doubt
less every teacher will be glad to fol
low them. It was said, without a spe
cial mandate to that effect from the
Board of Education. But this. It seems,
Is about as far as the Board of Educa
tion, or rather the different commit
tees mentioned, have got.
Suggestions 1. 2, 3, 4, 7 and .8 have
not to date made much headway. No.
1 refers to the non-use of shiny paper
In text books. No. 2 wants outline pic
tures substituted- for halftones. No. 3
refers to the length of lines. No. 4 to
the space between the . lines, No. 7
wants loose chairs, . "
Whether In the near future any of
these will reach the status of a by
law is problematical. . Mr. Stern him
self Is far from - optimistic on this
point. For example, in the case of
spacing the text, roughly speaking,
three millimeters is equivalent to al
most one-sixteenth of an inch.
"I am told by printers." Mr. Stern
declared, "that to .print school .books
with three millimeter spaces between
the lines and use the same type as now
would make the books so enormous
that the average child couldn't carry
them. They may be wrong. I haven't
figured out the question for myself,
but I am inclined to think the printers
know.
"Then as to halftones and shiny
paper. It is possible that a change to
dull finish paper and outline drawings
might be a good thing in some cases.
I have talked with oculists, though,
who attach little or no Importance to
this feature
"With the Board of Education the
question must always be. Will this or
that outlay of money be justified by
the good accomplished? To make new
plates for all the school books and re
arrange the style of make-up would
cost us at least half a million of dol
lars. It is estimated a big sum to use
without being certain that the good
results would Justify it. For the pres
ent at least I do not believe the make
up of the school books will be
changed." - "
"How about equipping classrooms with
movable chairs?" Mr. Stern was asked.
"Out of the question at present.
V
9
"'.VV'';''
ing, the rest of the applicants were re
quired to take themselves away where
they could not disturb the man who was
being examined by making any comments
and ' rattling ' him at his work.
After the applicants have taken their
examination they are notified by mall
of the average they have made and the
fortunate ones who are elected to fill
vacancies are told to report and don the
uniform of Uncle Sam's new service. The
examination at Denver was conducted
by Supervisor Fitzgerald, of the great
Piker's Peak National forest, and Dep
uty Morrill and Forest Ranger Sobey,
of the samer reserve. All these men are
veterans of the service and were quick to
There are 600 school buildings in
Greater New York with an average of
25 classrooms each and and an aver
age of 25 pupils in each classroom. Or
to put it In round numbers, there are
now about 600,000 children attending
the public schools. To take away the
fixed double seats and substitute new
chairs would cost at least $2 a head, or
something like $1,000,000 for the out
fit. This is not a fancy estimate at all.
It is an estimate based on serious and
close calculation.
"No one appreciates more than I do
the advisability of doing everything
possible to relieve school children of
eye strain. It is deplorable to see so
many young persons wearing glasses
and still more deplorable to find that
so many children are careless about
wearing glasses after they are pro
vided. As a general thing every chance
a child gets off come the glasses.
"But the Board of Education "is con
stantly facing problems, and its first
care and the best it can do is to attend
to -the most serious of them first. One
of the most serious Just now is how to
give schooling to blind children.
"In this respect Chicago and Milwau
kee got ahead of New York by provid
ing a place for them in the public
schools., and It Is now up to New York
to . do jthe same thing, although this,
like every other new departure, means
a big expenditure of money. Thej-e
can be no two opinions, though, about
the advisability, the necessity, in fact,
of this expenditure. ,
"Our plans are completed, I may say,
and when the public schools open in
September we shall enroll at least 60
blind children and a few special teach
ers. Just what schools these children
will attend is not yet decided.
"We shall use the Braille system.
Until blind pupils learn to read and
write, which will take about two years,
they will be kept in a class by tuem
selves and after that put in the regu
lar classes. At no time will there be
more than ten blind children put In
any one of. the regular classes, and
while in these classes if a blind pupil
should need extra help in solving cer
tain problems he will go to a special
teacher for ,it, so that the regular
duties of the class teacher shall not be
increased. - It is a well-known fact
that once a blind child has learned to
read and write he masters other
studies much faster as a rule than do
other children, for the reason that his
attention is not diverted by outside
objects."
i-it '...'- -t-
.Mi
size up the relative merits of the appli
cants. As a general rule the man who makes
the best showing in the outdoor work
and who demonstrates that he is famil
iar with the details of life in the open
is the man who. Is assured of a berth
In the forest service. For this reason,
men who have seen service as cowboys
are particularly desired and the forest
service contains many ex-cowpunchers
who are doing brilliant work in their
new calling. Forester Gifford Pinchot
recently declared that in the wars of
the future the Government of the United
States will have to depend for scouts
upon the rangers of the forest service,
a prediction that seems reasonable in
v if . h
Failures Who Made Good
THE number of men who have gone
down and, apparently, out in the
business world, but who are today des
ignated as successful captains of in
dustry, is large enough to be an inspira
tion. There is a popular notion that a
man who falls must be a second-class
business man. Nothing is further from
the truth. The fact .is that failure In
modern business is a mere incident, says
the Philadelphia Record.
There was Ream. He was an able mer
chant In an Iowa town, and he found
himself insolvent. He ran a general store
and sold farm implements, and the con
cern was an extensive one. But when
collections became slow, he quit paying
the collector himself, and so the credit
ors came down to look the situation over.
He made them the proposition that if
they would allow him $12 a week for liv
ing expenses he would make the wreck
pay out. They accepted the proposition,
and Ream handled- the assets and paid
out. Then he went to Chicago, Being
familiar with farm animals, he found
employment at the stockyards. Later he
turned his attention to wheat, and made
a good deal of money. "When one of the
great biscuit companies was floated there
was dificulty in " raising the last two
millions of the nine required. After
others had failed. Ream took the scheme
In hand and went to New York. His
assurance won out, and capitalists sub
scribed the needed millions.
At present he is a director and member
of the finance committee of the United
States Steel Corporation, director of half
a dozen railroads, associate of J. P. Mor
gan. When his name is mentioned in
Wail street people listen with the utmost
respect. There Is a general impression
that if Ream is in a scheme It is all
right. So that the conditions which had
floored him at the early part of his career
really did not count. '
Sage's case was different, because the
failure had been preceded by unusual
good fortune. One May afternoon 22
years ago Wall street was startled by
the announcement that Russell Sage was
"broke."' The Btreet already had more
sensations than it knew what to do with.
A week before several banks had failed.
The street held millions of Sage's pa
per, and as early as 8 o'clock the fol
lowing morning the stairway to the finan
PURVEYING-
view of the fact that the rapid settling
up of the open range has practically
wiped out the cowboy and leaves only
the forest ranger in the saddle. .
After the. applicant has been accepted
and enters the forest service, he finds
that his examination has only begun.
He must familiarize' himself with the
Use Book, a veritable encyclopedia of
forestry information published by the
Government, and which is called the
"foresti-r's Bible." He must study prac
tical forestry from all sides: must know
the commercial value of trees and how to
u?e to the fullest extent the timber sup
ply of a reserve. He must know how
to scale timber irr order to supervise the
working of sawmill." within the National
forests and must be an expert in forest
planting, in order to aid in the work of
reforestation, which the Government is
carrying out. He must know the char
actor and value of lands and be able to
determine if mineral claims or agricul
tural claims within the reserve are being
made in good faith or merely to get pos
sespion of valuable timber. He must ac
quaint himself with grazing restrictions
and know how many sheep or cattle a
certain area will support. If the range
within the reserve Is being overstocked,
he must see that the offending stockmen
cut down the sheep or cattle grazing
therein. He must know something of the
legal side of fores matters and must
be ready at all Umes to fight forest fires,
the greatest menace of t lie National tor
est. Protection of wild game under the
laws of the state in which his National
forest is located also comes within the
ranger's province, and he must keep a
watchful eye on campers and see that
the regulations of the forest are com
plied with. ,
The restrictions of the public range,
owing to its rapid settlement in recent
years, has crowded much livestock on
the forest reserves. The Government has
found it necessary to impose restrictions,
or the reserves- would soon be over
stocked. The cutting of timber has also
grown to be a big problem in which the
forest ranger is actively concerned. It
is the Government's purpose to encour
age all the cutting of timber that can
be done without wasting the natural re
sources of the National forests. The
ranger must mark every stump that Is
to be cut and must see that the cutting
is done scientifically and in a manner
that V-ill benefit the forest growth. Too
thick a forest stunts the growth of the
trees and it Is the aim of the forest serv
ice to strike a happy medium.
In spite of all the details of the work,
those who are engaged in It find It fas
cinating. There are hardships in plenty,
but the service has its rewards In the
shape of excellent positions as super
visors and inspectors, which pay large
salaries. Applicants' for forest ranger
positions are increasing every year,
showing how keenly the young men of
the Nation are interested In this new
profession.
cier's office was jammed with anxious
creditors. When the door was opened
there was a college rush for the cashier's
wicket. Payments were made for a
time with exceeding deliberation; then
they stopped. The door was shut in the
face of the crowd, and when one excited
creditor tried to kick the door down a
squad of police was required to con'ince
the crowd that money could not be got
ten out of Sage by violence. His obliga
tions were sold on the street for 50 cents
on the dollar. To redeem them meant
to face a present loss of 17,000,000. Sage
buckled down and found the money.
When he died this failure left J70.000.0CO
and a reputation for thrift and good Judg
ment second to none.
One's Judgment may bo right, and yet
some inscrutable cause may turn things
over disastrously; yet the correct Judg
ment will count. How else can one ex
plain the case of Theodore H. Price? In
1900 he said cotton was too low. But It
persisted low. and his firm failed, with
liabilities of $13,000,000. The failure, how
ever, did not disturb him, nor did ' it
change his opinion that cotton was too
low. He raised some more money partly,
it is said, by writing life insurance
and tried again. Soon after the failure
cotton was up to 11 cents Instead of 8V
cents, and Mr. Price was rich again.
If anybody ever looked more broke
than Charles T. Yerkes when he went
into Chicago some 25 years ago, the
pieces must have been too small to see.
He had had some money, but not more
than a fare was left of it. But he had
Inestimable capital in pure nerve, and
that was sufficient. He soon dominated
Chicago, and Chicago watched him
breathlessly for 15 years. Yerkes induced
some rich Phlladelphians to help him to
the money to buy control of several street
railways, and when he secured the roads
he came out of the big end of the horn,
by having spare money and the control
of the roads both. Later he went to Lon
don and addressed himself to the task
of consolidating and extending London's
underground system, which he largely
completed before his death.
Cyrus H. McCormick, inventor of the
reaper and founder of a great fortune,
and admittedly a tip-top business man,
failed early In his career. He had already
taken out the patent for the reaper, a
document that was subsequently to be
worth many millions. Yet he failed for
a sum so small as to be laughable.