THE SOLICITOR. 871 



Solicitor. The assistants to the Solicitor are constituted the legal 

 advisers of the district foresters on all questions of law arising in the 

 administration of the National Forests. Requests for formal opinions 

 will be made by the district forester, and the assistants to the Solic- 

 itor will render their opinions thereon in writing. In matters of minor 

 importance, where written opinions are not necessary, the chiefs of 

 office may informally request and receive opinions from the assistants 

 to the Solicitor. All correspondence with the Department of Justice 

 in Washington and with the United States attorneys will be prepared 

 and conducted by the assistants to the Solicitor. In contested claims 

 cases regardmg lands in the National Forests the assistants to the 

 Solicitor will have complete charge as soon as adverse reports of for- 

 est supervisors are transmitted to the General Land Oflice. The 

 intent of the order, as stated therein, is that the Forest Service shall 

 handle no matters of law nor the Office of the Solicitor any matters 

 of administration, and that the cooperation between the two branches 

 of the Department shall be complete and cordial, in order that the 

 largest extent of efficiency may be promoted thereby. 



In this connection it should be stated that the officers of the Forest 

 Service, both in Washington and in the field, have cooperated fully 

 with this Office in every particular. 



These two orders present a general outlme of the work of this Office 

 for the Forest Service. More specific and detailed instructions were 

 given by the Solicitor to the district law officers in March, and the 

 work has smce proceeded smoothly and efficiently. 



The work of the Office for the Forest Service comprehends five 

 sharply defined and distinct divisions, each in itself imposing upon 

 the Office a large volume of business. These divisions are opinions, 

 contracts, claims, general legislation, and trespass settlements. The 

 scope of each will be defined in its proper place as the separate head- 

 ings are taken up for a report upon the work of the Office thereunder 

 since January 15, 1910, the date of your order transferring the legal 

 work of the Forest Service to the Solicitor. 



OPINIONS. 



One of the chief functions of the Office is to advise the Forest 

 Service and the Secretary in all matters of law arising in the admin- 

 istration of the National Forests. ]\Iany questions are submitted to 

 the Office which can safely be answered only after careful attention 

 and exhaustive research of the decisions of the courts. Instructions 

 were, therefore, early issued to all the district law officers that no 

 opinion should be rendered for tlie guidance of the Forest Service in 

 the administration of tlie National Forests in any case where a formal 

 opinion is required until all the facts upon whicli the question calling 

 for the opinion arises are submitted to them, nor until a careful and 

 painstaking consideration of the question has been made. Many of 

 the questions submitted to the Office by the Forest Service are of 

 general application and may, and often do, arise in widely separated 

 districts. With a view to uniformity and finality in the opinions on 

 these questions, it is required that a copy of every formal opinion 

 rendered by a law officer or his assistants shall be at once sent to the 

 Solicitor and to each of the other district law offices. The district 

 law officers are required to submit to the Solicitor their comments 

 on the opinion as early as practicable. The Solicitor then examines 

 the opinion for approval or modification, as necessity requires, and a 



