332 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



partment's reports on bills dealing, among other subjects, withj [ware- 

 housing, grain standards, cotton standards, protection of game and 

 fish on lands acquired under the Weeks forestry law, and terminal 

 inspection, by any State establishing and maintaining a system of 

 such inspection, of plants and plant products transmitted through 

 the mails. A clause authorizing such terminal inspection was in- 

 corporated in the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 

 1916. 



In cooperation with the chairman of the Federal Horticultural 

 Board, a model was prepared for a State statute to prevent the intro- 

 duction and dissemination of insect pests and diseases injurious to 

 plants and plant products. This is intended for use in an effort to 

 procure uniform State laws, in harmony with the Federal law, on the 

 subject. 



An article was prepared containing a brief statutory history of the 

 Department of Agriculture, with a discussion of the constitutionality 

 of the organic act creating the department and of the various acts 

 of Congress upon which the activities of the department are based. 

 This has been accepted for publication by a legal periodical having 

 a large circulation among lawyers, with consent that the department 

 may republish all or any part of it. 



One law clerk was added during the year. Notwithstanding the 

 increase in volume of business, the work was current at the end of 

 the year. 



Tabulated statements showing, in detail, facts and status of the 

 principal prosecutions originating in the department, in which 

 United States attorneys have commenced proceedings, and of the 

 claims and. other cases affecting the administration of the National 

 Forests in which this office is concerned, are submitted for your in- 

 formation. It is recommended that these be filed for reference. 



Somewhat detailed statements of the principal activities of the 

 office, without reiteration of what has been fairly covered by the 

 foregoing summary, follow. 



ADMINISTRATION OF ACTS OF CONGRESS. 



STATUTES RELATING TO THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



LAND CLAIMS. 



Seven hundred and twenty-four claims to upward of 200,000 acres 

 of land in National Forests, under the homestead, timber and stone, 

 mineral, lien and railroad selection, and other general and special 

 land laws of the United States, were handled. 



Three hundred and sixty decisions were rendered, including those 

 of registers and receivers and the Commissioner of the General Land 

 Office, subject, respectively, to review by the Commissioner and the 

 Secretary of the Interior. The registers and receivers decided 44 

 cases for and 37 against the Government. The Commissioner de- 

 cided 131 cases for and 91 against the Government. The Secretary 

 decided 39 cases for and 18 against the Government. Of the 360 

 cases, 237 were closed during the year, 108 by decisions for and 109 

 against the Government, 10 by voluntary withdrawal of Forest 

 Service protests, 5 by eliminations of the lands from the forests, 

 4 by relinquishments filed by claimants, and 1, a mineral case, by 

 decision in part favorable to the Government. As a result of the 



