THE SOLICITOR. 883 



A case somewhat similar, though not involving a prosecution as 

 for a crime, originating in Colorado, has been removed ny the defend- 

 ant, Fred Light, to the Supremo Court and is now pending. In this 

 case an injunction was granted by the circuit court to restrain Light 

 from grazing sheep on the National Forest without a permit from the 

 Department. It is alleged by the defendant that the regulations of 

 the Secretary requiring a permit are void. This cjuestion was thought 

 to have been authoritatively settled by the circuit court of appeals 

 for the ninth circuit in Dastervignes et al v. L'nited States (122 

 Fed., 30). 



In the case against the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company, pending 

 in the district court of the United States for the district of Idaho, the 

 State of Idaho is defending the action on the ground tliat the grant 

 by Congress to the State of sections 16 and 36 for public schools is a 

 grant in prsesenti which conveyed to the State full title though the 

 sections were unsurveyed, so that the subsequent inclusion of the 

 lands in a National Forest did not deprive the State of them. This 

 question has been decided to the contrary by the Department of the 

 Interior and the Attorney-General. Its final solution will settle a 

 number of vexatious questions continually arising in the adminis- 

 tration of the National Forests embracing unsurveyed sections 16 

 and 36. 



In the case against the Great Northern Railway Company, pending 

 in the district of Montana, there is involved the right of the United 

 States to recover the prospective value of immature trees and young 

 growth destroyed by the fire set through negligence of the company. 



The case agamst John C. Teller and the Union Pacific Railroad, 

 pending in Colorado, involves a demand for $316,071.10, the value 

 of timber cut from approximately 5,600 acres and sold by Teller 

 to the railroad company. An immense mass of evidence has been 

 accumulated by the Department and the district law officer has had 

 numerous consultations with the United States attorneys handling 

 the case with a view effectually to establish the Government's claim 

 in full. The defendants have made several ofl'ers of compromise, but 

 of so unsubstantial a character that the Department has declined 

 to recommend an acceptance, and the case will be pressed to an early 

 trial and conclusion. 



While not embraced in the litigation of the Department during the 

 year, there is nevertheless much importance to be attached to the 

 decision of the circuit court for the district of South Dakota, rendered 

 on March 8, 1910, in the case of the United States v. Bailey (178 Fed., 

 302). The decision is judicial authority for the action of the Depart- 

 ment in requiring stipulations for the protection of the United States 

 from damage by reason of the use of the National Forests for railroad 

 or any other purposes. In the above case the Missouri and North- 

 western Railway Company had ajiplied to the Secretary of the 

 Interior for a right of way through tlie Black Hills National Forest. 

 The Secretary of the Interior required the company to furnish a bond 

 to the United States with suflicient surety for the protection ol the 

 National Forest against fire, etc. The company started a fire on the 

 Forest which destroyed timber to the value of S6,175. This was a suit 

 to recover this amount from Bailey, the receiver of the company, and 

 the surety. The defendants demurred to the complaint on the 

 ground, among others, that there was no statute authorizing and 



