788 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



only extinguished many liuniau lives and destroyed lar^e private 

 interests but also consumed millions of feet of valuable timber and 

 damaged large areas along the watersheds of important navigable 

 streams. Especial attention was therefore given by the Forest 

 Service to this class of trespasses during the year, which resulted in 

 the apnrchension and conviction of several offenders, as will be more 

 fully sliown under the appropriate heading. 



Grazing. — One of the most difficult problems confronting the 

 Forest Service since the establishment of tlie forest reservation policy 

 has been the prevention of trespasses by stockmen. So accustomed 

 to graze their animals on the pubUc lands in the West without hin- 

 drance, a considerable number of them have been loath to recognize 

 the restrictions upon grazing in the National Forests and have con- 

 tended that there was no authority in the Secretary of Agriculture 

 to require them to take out permits and observe the regulations of the 

 department. Yet others, recognizing the benefits attending a fair 

 and businesshke apportionment of the range, have gladly acquiesced 

 in the policy followed by the department. As a result of the deter- 

 mination of some stockmen to graze the Forests despite the pro- 

 hibitive regulations, it was necessary during the year to report to 

 the Attorney General 24 cases for criminal prosecution ana 12 for 

 injunction suits. Of the criminal cases determined during the year 

 11 resulted in convictions, for which $800 were imposed as fines. 

 Injunctions w^ere granted in 8 of the 12 cases. Under the procedure 

 for handhng those trespasses committed without criminal intent and 

 knowledge, 86 cases were examined in this office and full reports made 

 to you thereon, with recommendations for administrative settlement. 

 Your letters to the trespassers, prepared in this office, demanding 

 the value of forest products destroyed or taken have usually met 

 with speedy remittance in full. There have been 55 remittances 

 during the year, aggregating $2,000.04. The remaining cases will 

 undoubtedly be settled in the coming year. Whenever the reports 

 of the Forest officers disclose that a trespass was committed know- 

 ingly and willfully the case is reported to the Attorney General for 

 civil suit to enforce payment not only of actual but also of exemplary 

 damages. There were so reported during the year 35 cases, in 13 of 

 which recoveries have been had of $2,094.57 actual and $817 exem- 

 plary damages. Outstanding jud^ents amount to $317.50. An 

 inspection of the tables (p. 129) will show that in several cases the 

 exemplary damages were greatly in excess of the actual, leaving 

 the trespasser no profit in his venture, and serving as an effective 

 check upon further trespasses by him and as a warning to others so 

 disposed. 



The tables at page 129 are intended to show the more important 

 details of the grazing trespasses handled during the year. Aside from 

 this, the district assistants to the Solicitor have rendered service in 

 connection with numerous reports of forest officers which were found 

 insufficient from legal considerations for administrative or judicial 

 action. 



Timber. — Litigation growing out of timber trespasses has occupied 

 a large part of the time of this office during the year. Two notable 

 cases, which had been pending for some years in an effort to secure 

 sufficient testimony to sustain the Government's entire demand, 



