872 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



decision is rendered thereon, returned to the law officer who rendered 

 the opinion, and a copy sent each of the other district law officers, 

 with instructions to follow the decision in future advice on the ques- 

 tion to the Forest Service. 



As might be expected, this system of handling the formal opinions of 

 the Office has eliminated hasty and ill-considered advice, and the 

 results have been most satisfactory. With the benefit of the inde- 

 pendent judgment of six well-trained men on each question, the oppor- 

 tunity for error in a ffiial decision of the question is reduced to the 

 minimum. j\lany of the questions arising in the administration of the 

 National Forests upon which the opinion of the Office must be given, 

 embrace difficult problems of law, frequently questions of first impres- 

 sion, upon which there has been no judicial expression and often 

 little to be deduced from decisions on allied branches of the law. 

 With a vast area of the United States in National Forests, affecting 

 directly and vitally many thousands of citizens, it is apparent that 

 the duties of the Department of Agriculture in the administration of 

 the forests must be exercised with care and circumspection. Legal 

 questions touching the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the 

 Department in this great trust must be carefully solved, and for the 

 performance of this task it has been the endeavor during the year to 

 equip the Office. 



Since February 2, the date on which final reorganization of the 

 work was eftected, 51 formal opinions were rendered the Forest Service 

 in Washington, and numerous informal opinions, of which no record 

 was preserved, have been given daily. These informal opinions arise 

 in conferences with members of the Forest Service and in the exami- 

 nation of correspondence submitted for consideration. Two decisions 

 were rendered on formal opinions of the district law officers prior to 

 Jmie 30. 



Aside from informal daily advice given the district foresters and 

 their assistants by the district law officers during the period from 

 January 15 to June 30, they rendered opinions and submitted com- 

 ments on formal opinions of the district law officers as follows: 



District No. 1: 



Formal opinions 21 



Informal opinions 38 



Comments 44 



District No. 2: 



Formal opinions 14 



Informal opinions ' 60 



Comments 51 



District No. 3: 



Formal opinions 12 



Informal opinions 35 



Comments 26 



District No. 4: 



Formal opinions 5 



Informal opinions 5 



Comments 39 



District No. 5: 



Formal opinions 14 



Informal opinions 47 



Comments 30 



District No. 6: 



Formal opinions 18 



Informal opinions 74 



Comments 30 



