Chapter XLVII: Part II: Professional Commercial Service (6)

Welding sheet metal is an important application of the process, which is superseding to a large extent riveting and soldering. Very careful work may be required but in the main the work is not particularly difficult, and it can be easily mastered if the training given is thorough. Electric resistance welding, however, is superseding oxy-acetylene in many manufacturing operations.

PLAN No. 1146. METALLIC FURNITURE

Extensive use of oxy-acetylene welding is made in the manufacture of metallic furniture and in kindred trades. Welding is an efficient and economical way of joining various parts together, as well as of making the parts themselves. The work may be more or less routine and much of it is done at the bench. This is a comparatively easy type of welding, in which a man can become proficient in a short time. It would be eminently suited to the welder who has trouble in going about or who is easily fatigued, and who would be better off in some sedentary work. The process is largely used in the manufacture of steel desks, chairs, filing cabinets, office safes, stepladders, and surgical, hospital and dental furniture.

PLAN No. 1147. CONTAINERS

Welding is fast superseding old methods in the manufacture of containers of various kinds out of sheet metal. In this class is included the manufacture of steel barrels, range boilers, kitchen utensils, light air tanks, and storage tanks. This kind of work needs a well-trained man on the job. Except in the case of larger objects, the work can be done at the welding table, and it is not of a straining nature.

PLAN No. 1148. METAL PLATE

Metal plate welding is quite similar in its scope to sheet metal work. It is largely used in the manufacture of ammonia and air receivers, vacuum driers, steam driers, and vats. The process is not used in boiler work to any extent, as the consequences of a faulty weld might be extremely serious.

PLAN No. 1149. FOUNDRIES

In steel foundries the process is extensively used in cutting away risers, gates, and heads from castings. As compared with the old method of cutting with a saw, the gas process is much quicker and much more economical. This sort of cutting work is simple and does not require great dexterity. The welder should be capable of bending over or assuming more or less cramping positions, as he has to work on the castings in positions in which they have been left on the floor. Welding is almost universally used in the reclamation of defective castings, and by this process castings are saved which for some slight defect would have been consigned to the scrap heap. The process finds application also in the welding of blowholes, cold shuts, porous spots, and cracks. It is used to some extent in manufacture, two parts being cast separately and joined by welding.

PLAN No. 1150. FORESTRY PURSUITS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This monograph was prepared by Capt. S. T. Dana, in the Forestry Service of the Department of Agriculture, under the direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Research Division of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings of the Research Division for editorial assistance.

WHAT FORESTRY IS

Forestry is the business, or the art, or the science, depending on the point of view from which you look at it, of handling forests for timber production or stream-flow protection. It does not, as is often mistakenly thought, have anything to do with fruit trees, or even with street and park trees. The care of these comes under horticulture and arboriculture. Forestry is distinct from either in that it has to do primarily with entire stands of trees, or forests, rather than with individuals. Forests are really nothing more nor less than tree societies, or communities, comparable in many ways with human communities, every member of which has an influence upon and in turn is influenced by its neighbors; and it is this fact that gives to forestry its distinctive character.

Forestry should also not be confused with lumbering. Lumbering has to do merely with harvesting the trees on any given area, with cutting them, transporting them to the mill, and converting them into lumber or other products. While the chief task of the forester is to manage forest lands, he has to do with the production of trees as well as with their utilization. Forestry is concerned fully as much with the future as with the present. Like agriculture it looks forward to keeping the land continuously productive by the growth of successive crops. Only in the case of forestry the crops instead of being wheat, or rye, or corn, are trees, which in turn can be converted into fuel, fence posts, telephone poles, railroad ties, wood pulp, lumber, and a host of other wood products. How much the forests mean to the economic development of a community through the crops which they produce and the employment which they offer is evidenced only too plainly by the desolation which has followed destructive lumbering in many a once prosperous forest region.

In addition to yielding crops which have a commercial value, forests in mountainous regions perform another important function which is none the less valuable because its benefits are difficult to measure in dollars and cents. By decreasing erosion and regulating stream-flow the mountain forests conserve water for domestic supplies, irrigation, power, and navigation, and at the same time help to lessen the damage caused by destructive floods. So far-reaching is this influence and so great is the population affected by it, that the treatment which such forests receive becomes a matter of vital interest to the general public. One of the primary concerns of forestry is to see that they are handled in such a way as to afford the maximum amount of protection, even if this involves, as it not infrequently does, the restriction or entire prevention of lumbering operations.

WHAT FORESTERS DO

In order to handle to the best advantage the area under his charge there is a wide range of work which a forester may be called upon to do. He must be able to identify different kinds of trees and must know the uses to which each can be put and the sites to which they are best adapted. He must be able to map the area and to determine the amount and value of the timber upon it. He must be able to draw up a complete plan for protecting the forest from fire and to carry out the details involved in its execution. He must know how to control the attacks of destructive insects and fungous diseases. He must be able to handle the many details connected with the collection of seed and the production of young trees in forest-tree nurseries. He must know where and how to plant these, or how to sow the seed on areas where this is preferable. He must know whether any given stand is too dense, and if so, what and how many trees should be taken out to stimulate the growth of those that are left. He must be able to determine the rate at which trees are growing and the age at which they should be cut and to make plans for harvesting them in such a way as to secure natural reproduction. And finally, he must be able to draw up a “working plan” providing in detail for the handling of the entire forest in such a way as to keep it continually productive.

All of this obviously involves a good deal of office work in the formulation of plans, the maintenance of records, and the miscellaneous administrative work connected with any business enterprise. It also involves a good deal of practical out-of-door work. The average forester must take long walks and horseback rides. He must often camp out in a tent or with no shelter whatever. He must take his part in fighting forest fires, which means the liberal and energetic use of the axe, the mattock, and the shovel. He must run compass and transit lines, and make topographic maps. He must estimate the size and contents of standing trees by the use of calipers and height-measures, and must scale the fallen timber. He must mark, or blaze, the trees to be removed in lumbering and must see that the operations are carried out in accordance with the approved plans. He must collect tree cones, extract the seeds from these, sow them in the nursery, care for the young seedlings, and later set them out in the forest.

He must also do a hundred and one other things which are not strictly forestry but which are so closely connected with it that they must be handled by the forester along with his other work. Grazing is a good example of this, since most of the forest regions in the United States produce forage as well as trees. In order to utilize this to best advantage the forester must know how many stock the range will support and how they should be handled. In regions where mineral deposits occur he must be familiar with the mining laws and must have at least enough knowledge regarding mining to enable him to deal intelligently with prospectors and others. Since most of the forests occur in undeveloped regions he must know how to open these up by building ranger and lookout stations and by constructing such other permanent improvements as roads, bridges, trails, and telephone lines. In short, the average forester, particularly in pioneer regions, must be a veritable jack-of-all-trades.

WHERE FORESTERS WORK

Forestry is primarily an out-of-door occupation. Some indoor work in the formulation of plans, writing of reports, handling of correspondence, and other office routine, is of course necessary, particularly in the case of those charged with the administration of large areas. But the average forester must spend the bulk of his time in the open, in the forests for which he is caring. Sometimes his headquarters may be in a small town or sometimes in a more or less isolated situation in the woods themselves. In either case his daily work will ordinarily take him into the open in sunshine and in rain. Occasionally he may be absent from home for several weeks at a time carrying his bed and provisions on his back, or, if he is fortunate, on a pack animal.

So far as geographical location is concerned, opportunities for foresters have heretofore been mainly in the mountain regions of the West where the National Forests are located. As forestry comes to be practiced more and more on State Forests and on private lands, however, similar opportunities will develop in the East. There is no reason why large numbers of foresters should not eventually be employed wherever forests occur, and this means practically throughout the country except in the Great Plains and in the farming regions of the Central States and Middle West.

WHAT HANDICAPS ARE SERIOUS

Generally speaking, a forester must be able-bodied and in good physical health. He must have a strong heart, sound lungs, and a constitution able to stand exposure to all kinds of wind and weather. Heart disease, tuberculosis, and other serious organic troubles are handicaps that point to the choice of another occupation.

On the other hand, there are certain disabilities, and particularly injuries of various sorts, that do not constitute any serious drawback. Injuries to the mouth, nose, ears, scalp, and other parts of the head, for example, do not disqualify unless they interfere to a dangerous extent with one’s eyesight or hearing. Some deafness is allowable provided it has not gone so far as to prevent communication or to endanger one from falling trees or other accidents. Even blindness in one eye is not a real handicap if the other eye is still sound. The loss of an arm or a leg incapacitates a man for the physical work required of most foresters, but minor injuries to these limbs, such as loss of a finger or a toe, do not disqualify one.

For certain specialized duties one can have sustained even more serious injuries and still be able to give satisfactory service. One may be badly crippled and yet be successful in research work provided he is able to move about more or less freely, has some use of his arms, and can handle a microscope. Men at fire-lookout stations need little more than good eyes and sufficient hearing to use a telephone. On the other hand, one would hardly wish to take up fire-lookout work as a permanent occupation, and unless his condition can be improved sufficiently to enable him to resume active physical work his chances for advancement are poor. Special appliances for handling tools are not necessary, as is the case with many industrial workers. The average forester must be able to turn his hand to a wide variety of activities and to use such homely implements as the axe, the hammer, the shovel, and the mattock.

The danger of further injury is no greater in forestry than in most other outdoor occupations. Accidents due to forest fires, bucking horses, falling trees, and rolling stones are always possible, but the proportion of those seriously injured in such ways as these is not large. Those employed by the National Government receive compensation in case of injury incurred in line of duty.

WHAT TRAINING IS NECESSARY

Forestry requires the services of three more or less distinct grades of workers--the professional forester, the forester ranger, and the forest guard. The professional forester handles the larger and more technical phases of forest management. He determines what the forest under his charge contains, how much it is worth, how fast it is growing, when and how it should be cut, what kinds of trees should be favored, and other questions of the same kind; and also exercises general supervision over the execution of whatever measures are decided upon. The forest ranger acts as a sort of semi-technical assistant to the professional forester. He does not need so thorough an education as the professional forester but must have sufficient technical knowledge to enable him to carry out intelligently the plans formulated by the latter. His work is to a large extent “practical” and involves the routine of fire protection and fire fighting, marking the trees to be removed in timber sales, scaling the felled logs, handling planting operations, surveying, building trails, running telephone lines, and doing other work connected with the administration of the forest. The forest guard is ordinarily a non-technical assistant who helps the forest ranger in those aspects of his work which require little or no knowledge of forestry. Forest guards are frequently appointed for short periods only to help the regular force during the busy season and particularly in the work of fire protection and fire fighting. Previous experience in the woods or in similar occupations such as lumbering and surveying constitutes a valuable, but not essential, preliminary training for foresters of all grades.

Twenty-five years ago the professional forester was almost unknown in this country and there was not a single educational institution at which he could secure the necessary training. To-day the profession is well recognized and there are more than 20 schools offering instruction of a grade similar to that required of civil engineers, doctors, lawyers, ministers, and other professional men. As a basis for the more technical phases of his education the man who desires to become a professional forester must have had courses of collegiate grade in botany, geology, organic chemistry, mathematics through trigonometry, plane surveying, mechanical drawing, economics, and either French or German, or preferably both. With these as a foundation he is ready to go ahead with the technical subjects such as dendrology, silvics, silviculture, forest mensuration, forest valuation, forest management, and forest regulation. Obviously a comprehensive training of this sort can not be obtained with less than four years of collegiate work, at least two of which must be devoted almost entirely to professional forestry subjects. If a man has already had a college education, however, he can readily prepare himself for the profession by two years of post-graduate work. The degree of bachelor of science in forestry is usually given on the completion of a four-year professional course, and of master of science in forestry, or master of forestry, on the completion of a five-year professional course or of two years of postgraduate work following four years of regular college work.

For the forest ranger no such intensive training is necessary. With a high school education as a background, one year of rather elementary training in such subjects as fire protection, surveying, timber estimating and scaling, nursery practice, methods of planting, range management, and report writing is sufficient to enable a man to qualify. In general, the course covers much the same ground as that taken by the professional forester, but in a much briefer and more elementary way. Those who have already had considerable practical experience along these lines can secure a sufficient foundation for their work in three or four months, although even for such men the longer course is preferable if time to take it can be found. Many of the forest schools of the country now offer courses of this sort and the opportunities for instruction are ample.

Since forest guards are engaged almost wholly on nontechnical work no particular course of training is necessary. No one with any ambition, however, would wish to remain a forest guard indefinitely when other opportunities are open to him merely by taking a free course of instruction. If one wishes to take up forestry, therefore, and is not in a position to take the professional course, he should by all means attempt to qualify as a forest ranger. Should lack of other openings then make it necessary for him to serve as a forest guard for the time being, he would be in a position to take advantage of the first opportunity for advancement.

WHAT OPPORTUNITIES ARE OFFERED

Opportunities for employment for foresters may be classed as fairly good. The point has now been passed where the supply is totally inadequate to meet the demand, but at the same time the war has greatly depleted the ranks of foresters throughout the country, and there is no question that many new men will be needed during the process of reconstruction and afterwards. The National Forests already offer opportunities for the employment of many men and it can not be doubted that similar opportunities will soon be offered in State forests as well as in the case of forests still in the hands of private owners. With the steady decrease in the timber supply, the Nation will soon be face to face with the necessity of practicing forestry extensively as a national safeguard and unless private owners take upon themselves the task, there is little question but that the Federal and State Governments will take matters largely into their own hands.

Altogether it is a safe prediction that any one who desires to engage in forestry and who qualifies himself for the work will be able to find employment. The entering salary for forest guards in the national service averages about $900 a year and for forest rangers about $1,100 a year. Technically trained foresters ordinarily enter at approximately the same salary as forest rangers, $1,100 or $1,200 a year, but with greater opportunities for advancement later. In State and private work approximately the same entering salaries may be expected although some private owners may be unwilling to pay quite so much to forest guards and forest rangers at the start.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES FOR PROMOTION?

Chances for limited promotion are reasonably good. It should be recognized frankly, however, that one can not hope to get rich in the profession and that a comfortable living is all that can ordinarily be looked forward to. In exceptional cases unusually able and well qualified men will doubtless be able to draw salaries of $4,000 or $5,000 a year. The average professional forester, however, can hardly hope to advance much beyond $2,500 or $3,500 a year except by acquiring an interest in some lumber business or in the forest itself. For the forest ranger a salary of $1,500 or $1,600 may reasonably be looked forward to. Moreover, this salary often carries with it a ranger station which can be occupied as long as he stays in the service, and also an opportunity to produce some crops for his own use. Forest guards can hardly hope for more than $900 or $1,800 a year.

In other words, in forestry, as in all other professions, the better educated you are the better are your chances for promotion. Even at best, however, the chances for large salaries are small and those who are bent on getting rich should look elsewhere for an opportunity to do so. On the other hand, one who is satisfied to make a comfortable living, to spend a large part of his life in the open, to occupy a responsible and respected place in his home community, and to enjoy the satisfaction which comes from having an important share in a work of great public service, can not look for a more congenial or attractive occupation than forestry.