while on duty, to exercise strict supervision of the privates of their respective platoons, to instruct the privates concerning the laws and regulations and the provisions of the police manual, and to report to their commanding officers derelictions of duty or any unusual conditions found to exist.

It has been and should continue to be the effort of the department to select only the most trustworthy men obtainable for this important office. It has been well said that a police sergeant is the eye of his precinct commander.

PRIVATES

The private is the officer who comes most directly in contact with the public. His duties are arduous and often unpleasant.

It is obvious that the entrance salary should be sufficient to attract young men of high character, who will enter the service with the object in view of making for themselves a career, and it is equally obvious that the maximum salary provided for privates after the lapse of a period of years should be sufficient to constitute an ever present incentive to the young officer to conduct himself in such a manner as to compel the respect of the public and to warrant the full confidence of his superiors to the end that he may attain the maximum salary grade provided for that rank. That being accepted as a fundamental, it naturally follows that the salaries provided for officers of the higher ranks should be scientifically graded so as to constitute a sure incentive to all members of the force to strive for promotion and those higher grades.

The fact should be recognized that the public to-day demands more of its policemen than it demanded in years past; that while courage is still essential, a police officer must also possess tact, judgment, and a knowledge of human kind; his intelligence, indeed, must be above that of the average man.

The fact should be recognized that the man engaged in the difficult task of regulating the conduct of other human beings must possess personal qualities of a high order; they must have a strict sense of their duty to the public and to the department, in addition to which they must possess both physical and moral courage in a high degree. The duties of a police officer demand quick and accurate judgment. The police officer should possess such intelligence and education as will enable him to comprehend the laws and regulations and the elements that go to constitute violations of such laws and regulations.

They must be able to define their legal rights and to define clearly to themselves and to others the legal limitation of the power and authority conferred upon them, and they must above all have a clear and wholesome conception of the constitutional rights of the citizens. The police officer must be prepared at a moment's notice to act as judge and jury in emergencies that are constantly arising in the course of his work.

Mediocre men can be used in many business lines and in many municipal departments where specific tasks are easily defined and their accomplishment easily assured, but in police work where personal judgment and initiative play so large a part in dealing with the multitude of general conditions with which the rank and file of a well

regulated police department come in contact and with the numerous and complex conditions of as wide a variety as is the whole gamut of human relations the mediocre man will not do.

POLICE DEPARTMENT

The following table shows the salaries paid to officers and members of the Metropolitan police force of the District of Columbia prior to the act of December 5, 1919, subsequent legislative increases, and salaries proposed by H. R. 5713 and S. 2370:

1 Basic salary of $1,900 with annual increase of $100 for 5 years; maximum, $2,400.

The following table shows the salaries paid to officers of police departments in the 22 cities named hereunder:

The following table shows the salaries paid to privates of police departments in the 22 cities listed in Table No. 2:

1 New York City: Maximum salary of privates recently approved (in election) for $3,000. New entrance salary not available. Former entrance salary, $1,769.

Boston: Maximum salary increased from $2,000 to $2,100 after 5 years' service. Salary changes, if any, in other classes not available. Former salaries were: Entrance, $1,600; after 1 year, $1,700; after 2 years, $1,800.

1 New Orleans: Maximum salary increased from $1,500 to $1,824. Information not available as to changes, if any, in other classes. Former salaries were: Entrance, $1,350; after 1 year, $1,350; after 2 years, $1,500.

Your committee is of the opinion that the police and fire departments of Washington, the Capital of the Nation, should set the standard not only in the quality of police and fire service but in the remuneration for men engaged in that service, and it is with the hope of attracting the class of men essential to the highest efficiency in the two departments that this bill is presented. We have endeavored within reasonable limits to make the salaries of policemen and firemen in the District of Columbia comparable with those paid in other large cities of like size and importance, and we feel that H. R. 5713, as introduced and reported, carries appropriate salary rates for the various grades in the police and fire departments of the city of Washington.

CUSTER NATIONAL FOREST

FEBRUARY 4, 1930.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. LEAVITT, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6130]

The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6130) to exempt the Custer National Forest from the operation of the forest homestead law, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendment:

Change the final period to a colon and add:

Provided, however, That the Secretary of Agriculture may, in his discretion, list limited tracts when in his opinion such action will be in the public interest and will not be injurious to other settlers or users of the national forest.

The bill as amended, which has the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture, would withdraw lands within the Custer National Forest from listing or classification under the forest homestead law (known as the act of June 11, 1906, 34 Stat. 233; U. S. Code, title 16, sec. 506), but permit listing when, in the opinion of the Secretary, it would be in the public interest. The need for this legislation lies in the fact that there are scattered areas within the forest not suitable for the growth of trees and, under strict interpretation of the law, subject to listing as chiefly valuable for agriculture and so open to homesteading. The greatest good lies in use for grazing by those cultivating better lands nearby. The bill would permit handling the tracts to this best advantage and allow, where it appears proper, listing as under existing law.

Largely signed petitions favoring the enactment of this bill have been received from residents and forest users of the locality involved. The favorable report of the Secretary of Agriculture is as follows: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Washington, January 25, 1930.

Hon. DoN B. COLTON,

Chairman Committee on the Public Lands,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. COLTON: Reference is made to your letter of December 5, inclosing copy of a bill (H. R. 6130) to exempt the Custer National Forest from the opera