886 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



SUIT AGAINST DEPARTMENT INSPECTOR. 



On April 26, 1910, judgment was entered in the sum of $764.75 

 against the defendant, an inspector of the Bureau of Animal Indus- 

 try, in Gutierrez v. Wiley. Tlie suit was based on the following cir- 

 cumstances: On August 20, 1908, Inspector Morris 0. Wiley, of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, dipped 2,019 head of sheep, the property 

 of Justiniano Gutierrez, of Albuquerque, N. Mex., at the dipping 

 station in Bernalillo County, N. Mex. At the time Doctor Wiley 

 was acting in cooperation with the territorial authorities in the 

 enforcement of their regulations for the eradication of sheep scabies. 

 He used the ordinary dip employed by inspectors of the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry for the purpose and approved by the Department. 

 He exercised due care in handling the sneep during the operation. 

 Gutierrez asserted that 319 head of sheep from the flock died as a 

 result of the inspector's negligence, though it appears that the 

 sheep had been without water for five days previous to dipping and 

 were in very poor condition at the time. Proceedings were insti- 

 tuted against Inspector Wiley by Gutierrez on October 13, 1908, 

 $1,276 being claimed; judgment was entered, however, for but 

 $764.75. The case is now pending on appeal. Execution was about 

 to be sought in this case, but the assistant to the Solicitor at Albu- 

 querque, acting under instructions from this Office, and being on 

 the ground, obtained a stipulation from counsel delaying execution 

 long enough to permit steps to be taken looking to an appeal. 



PREPARATION OF LEGAL INSTRUMENTS, CONTRACTS, LEASES, 



AND BONDS. 



It would appear that the number of contracts and leases prepared 

 during the fiscal year 1910 was not as great as the number of similar 

 instruments prepared in the preceding fiscal year. The discrepancy 

 is due to the fact that the general supply committee prepared all 

 the supply agreements heretofore drawn in this Office, leaving only a 

 small number to be drawn in the Department of Agriculture. Dis- 

 regarding the supply contracts prepared in the fiscal years 1909 and 

 1910, the records of the Office show that there was a larger number of 

 contracts and leases prepared for practically &vevj Bureau in the 

 Department in 1910 tlian in 1909. In addition to the preparation 

 of all legal instruments to which the Department is a party^ this 

 Office passes upon the sufficiency of the execution of the same. In 

 all, there were 409 agreements and 87 bonds prepared by the Office 

 during the fiscal year 1910, the execution of the same being also 

 scrutinized; of this number 356 agreements and 30 bonds were pre- 



Eared by the main office in Washington, and 53 agreements and 57 

 onds were prepared by the assistants to the Solicitor in the field. 

 The bonds mentioned are those given by disbursing officers of this 

 Department in accordance with section 174, Revised Statutes. Sev- 

 eral requests for certified copies of contracts with the Department 

 for construction work were prepared and furnished to subcontractors, 

 in accordance with the act of February 24, 1905 (33 Stat., 812), in 

 order that proceedings might be instituted on the bonds given in con- 

 nection with such agreements. The greater part of the experiment 



