EEPOET OF THE SOLICITOR. 333 



108 decisions for the Government, approximately 18,000 acres of 

 land, supporting a stand of approximately 220,000,000 feet of mer- 

 chantable timber, worth approximately $700,000, were retained in 

 the National Forests. 



The remaining 364 cases received attention, varying in degree with 

 their progress in the Forest Service and in the Interior Department. 



Hearings were attended in 99 cases. Oral arguments were made 

 before the Secretary of the Interior in 9 cases. Briefs were filed in 

 83 cases. Depositions were taken in 41 cases. In 3 cases before the 

 Secretary of the Interior motions for rehearing, accompanied by sup- 

 porting briefs, were filed. Appeals to the Secretary of the Interior, 

 supported by briefs in each case, were prosecuted from 26 adverse 

 decisions of the Commissioner. 



The assistants to the Solicitor in the field examined and passed 

 upon the evidence in many cases, preparatory to reports to the Com- 

 missioner of the General Land Office recommending adverse proceed- 

 ings. They also were in frequent conferences with executive officers 

 of the Forest Service on questions arising out of claims cases. 



Revision of the joint order of the Secretary of the Interior and the 

 Secretary of Agriculture of November 25, 1910 (39 L. D., 374), pre- 

 scribing the procedure for cooperation between the two departments 

 in the handling of claims cases, was practically completed during the 

 year. This will eliminate all duplication of work in the two depart- 

 ments in these cases. As soon as the revision becomes effective, early 

 in the succeeding year, the assistants to the Solicitor of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture will be in exclusive charge of hearings directed 

 by the Department of the Interior in cases involving claims to lands 

 within National Forests, and the expense of attendance of special 

 agents of the General Land Office at these hearings will be saved. 



Decisio>;s of the Secretary of the Interior. — Of exceptional 

 interest and importance to this department was the decision of the 

 Secretary of the Interior in United States v. Svan Hoglund (43 L. D., 

 540), involving a homestead entry for lands within a National Forest. 

 This arose from a motion of this office for reconsideration of a prior 

 decision which had ordered that Hoglund be allowed to submit com- 

 mutation proof. It was urged in behalf of Hoglund that his entry 

 was confirmed by the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095), as con- 

 strued in Jacob A. Harris (40 L. D., 300). In the Harris case, as 

 stated in the report of this office for 1914, the Department of the 

 Interior held that proceedings can not be prosecuted against a home- 

 stead claim unless they were directed by the Commissioner of the 

 General Land Office within two years after issuance of receiver's final 

 receipt. The proceedings in the Hoglund case were not directed 

 within two years immediately succeeding the issuance of final receipt ; 

 but the Secretary found that Hoglund had not complied with the 

 homestead law, in the matter of residence and cultivation, between 

 the date of his entry and the date of the withdrawal of the lands for 

 forest purposes, and therefore held that Hoglund could not invoke 

 the exception in the withdrawal proclamation in favor of valid claims 

 existing at the date of the withdrawal; that the act of 1891 had no 

 application to the case ; and that the issuance to him of final receipt 

 was a nullity. 



Immediately upon rendition of this decision, Hoglund applied to 

 the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia for a writ of man- 



