874 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The numbor of contracts and leases prepared in the six districts 

 since January 15, 1910, is shown in tiie following table: 



District No. 1: 



Contracts 4 



Bonds 3 



Leases 29 



District No. 2: 



Contracts 15 



Bonds 15 



Leases 30 



District No. 3: 



Leases 18 



District No. 4: 



Contracts 21 



Bonds 20 



Leases 41 



District No. 5: 



Contracts ■ 13 



Leases 32 



District No. 6: 



Bonds 9 



CLAIMS. 



Under this heading fall all the contests of the Department against 

 claims to lands within the National Forests initiated and maintained 

 under the public-land laws, much the larger number of which arise 

 out of the homestead and mining laws. At the time this Office 

 assumed the duties enjoined hf your General Order No. 138, although 

 the Department of the Interior had frequently held that the with- 

 drawal of lands for National Forests constituted the Government, 

 through this Department, an adverse claimant to lands entered under 

 the public-land laws, the status of the Department in these contests 

 before the Interior Department was more in the nature of one sug- 

 gesting action to be taken by the latter Department than an adverse 

 claimant invested with all the rights appertaining thereto. The 

 procedure w^as somewhat informal and lacked directness. The neces- 

 sity for a change in the procedure before the Interior Department was 

 early realized and plans were formulated to effect the desired results. 

 Action was not customarily taken by the Department on decisions of 

 the Interior Department adverse to the United States until notice 

 of the decision. Briefs were then prepared, accompanied by letters 

 to the Secretary of the Interior requesting reconsideration of the 

 cases. Naturally the Department of the Interior was averse to 

 reopening the cases after full consideration had been given them, 

 especially when no new evidence was adduced by this Department. 

 Nevertheless, the Department was fairly successful in its contests 

 and many valuable tracts of timbered lands were rescued from 

 exploitation by speculators and designing entrymen. The work 

 incident to these contests was not completely taken over by this Office 

 until late in the year, owing to the press of other work for the Depart- 

 ment and the informal manner of handling the claims. However, 

 upward of twenty briefs were filed by this Office in the Interior 

 Department. 



Finally, on June 25, 1910, the efforts of this Office to place the 

 claims work of the Department on a solid foundation resulted in 

 joint order of the Secretary of the Interior and yourself, under 



