REPORT OF THE SOLICITOR. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Office of the Solicitor, 



Washington, D. C, Sepiemhr 22, 1910. 



Sir: I submit liercwith the report of the work of the Office of the 

 Solicitor for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910. 

 Very respectfully, 



Geo. p. McCabe, Solicitor, 

 Hon. James Wilson, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



OUTLINE OF OFFICE WORK. 



As stated in previous reports, the duties of the Solicitor of the 

 Department arc outlined in your General Order Xo. 85, dated June 

 17, 1905, which, in effect, constitutes the Solicitor the legal adviser 

 of the Secretary and gives him supervision of all the law work of the 

 Department of Agriculture. On January 15, 1910, your General 

 Order No. 138 placed the law work of the Forest wService under the 

 immediate direction of the Solicitor. Theretofore the law work of 

 that branch of the Department, while conducted under my general 

 supervision, was in the immediate charge of the law officer of the 

 Service. In addition to a force of assistants in Washington, the law 

 officer had under his direction law clerks stationed at Missoula, Mont. ; 

 Denver, Colo.; Albuquerque, N. Mex. ; Ogden, Utah; San Francisco, 

 Cal., and Portland, Oreg. On June 9, 1910, your General Order No. 

 140, effective July 1, 1910, was issued, supplementing General 

 Orders Nos. 85 and 138; this order was made necessary by a pro- 

 vision in the agricultural appropriation act of May 26, 1910 (36 Stat., 

 416), which provides that ''hereafter the legal work of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture shall be performed under tlie supervision and 

 direction of the Solicitor." This order gives in detail tlie legal work 

 of each Bureau, Office, and Division of the Department which is 

 placed in my charge. 



The very marked increase in the volume of work in this Office 

 during the past fiscal year, together with the further duties imposed 

 by General Order No. 138, necessitated additional assistance and a 

 complete reorganization of the force. In February, 1910, I visited 

 in person each of tlie six district law offices in the field, which were 

 formerly under the immediate supervision of the law officer of the 

 Forest Service; a system of weekly reports to me was inaugurated, 

 steps were taken to see that the legal advice given on similar ques- 

 tions in all the cHstricts should be uniform, the details of office business 

 were harmonized, and the entire legal work of these ffeld offices was 



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