786 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mere submitted to the Forester for liis consideration and recommen- 

 <lation and were then referred to the SoUcitor for consideration of the 

 legal aspects of the cases, who prepared a rej)ort to the Secretary of 

 Agriculture recommending for or against adverse proceedings. 



The Solicitor examined durinjj; the 3^ear 163 reports of the Forest 

 Service and made recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture 

 in them, in 74 of wliich no adverse proceedings were recommended 

 and in 89 of which such proceedings were recommended. 



Although the practice of referring to the Secretary of Agriculture 

 adverse reports of the F'orest Service had a most salutary effect upon 

 the character of the reports and operated satisfactorily, it was, never- 

 theless, found that time could be saved both the Government and 

 claimants if adverse reports of the Forest Service could be given a 

 more direct route to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 

 and it was therefore thought advisable to make an investigation of 

 the probable opei-ation of a change of practice which would permit 

 the district foresters to submit these reports direct to the chiefs of 

 field division to be transmitted by them direct to the Commissioner 

 of the General Land Office, thus obviating the necessity of sending 

 the reports to Washington for consideration of the Forester, the 

 Sohcitor, and the Secretary of Agriculture. Accordingly arrange- 

 ments were made by the Forest Service, the General Land Office, and 

 the Solicitor for a committee to investigate tins matter during the 

 fall of 1910, there being also several other matters connected with 

 claims litigation to be settled between the three offices above named. 



In furtherance of these purposes the chief of field service in the 

 General Land Office, the general inspector of the Forest Service, and 

 my assistant in charge of the Forest Service legal work left Wash- 

 ington on August 18, 1910, for conferences with the chiefs of field 

 division, the district foresters, and district assistants to the Sohcitor 

 in the six districts. The chief purpose of this committee was to go 

 over carefully with these officers the joint order of June 25, 1910, for 

 the purpose of explaining the order and securing a uniform practice 

 thereunder in the public-land States. While in conference in the 

 several districts many suggestions were made and received in regard 

 to a reform of the joint order of June 25, 1910, in respect to the 

 handhng of adverse reports, and when the committee returned to 

 Washington it recommended that the adverse reports thereafter be 

 referred direct by the district foresters to the chiefs of field division 

 for submission to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. The 

 recommendation was adopted, and on November 25, 1910, the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior promulgated 

 another joint order amendatory of that of June 25, 1910. Tliis order 

 has operated beneficially and satisfactorily in every respect. 



At page 133 of this report will be found a table showmg the details 

 of claims cases pending, acted upon, or closed during the fiscal year 

 1911. These cases are arranged according to the districts in which 

 they arose. 



REGULATIONS. 



For the past three years the regulations for the administration of 

 the National Forests have been m process of revision by the Forest 

 Service. In the fall of 1910, during the fiscal year, there were sub- 

 mitted to me for examination the regulations relating to the occupancy 



