REPORT OF THE SOLICITOR. 



United States Department or Agriculture, 



Office of tiie Solicitor, 

 Washington, D. C, September 10, 1917. 



Sir: I submit herewith report of the work of the office of the 

 Solicitor for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917. 

 Respectfully, 



Wm. M. Williams, Solicitor, 

 Hon. D. F. Houston, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



SUMMARY. 



The work of this office during the fiscal year has been featured by 

 several matters of unusual public interest, such as the drafting of the 

 food production or survey and the food control bills, together with 

 the legal arguments to sustain their validity ; the assistance rendered 

 in getting the Federal aid road act into operation, including framing 

 of the rules and regulations, passing upon the questions as to 

 whether the several States were qualified to contract with the Fed- 

 eral Government, and assistance rendered to the States in enacting 

 new laws for creating State highway departments and the adjus- 

 ment of existing State statutes to the underlying principles of Fed- 

 eral road legislation; and the assistance rendered in getting the 

 United States grain standards act into operation, including framing 

 of rules and regulations, and in the promulgation of standards for 

 corn and wheat. 



The United States grain standards act, the United States ware- 

 house act, the Federal aid road act, the standard basket and con- 

 tainer act, the Federal vocational-education act, and the United 

 States cotton futures act, which last is a reenactment, with important 

 amendments, of a former act of the same title, all far-reaching and 

 important statutes, were enacted during the fiscal year. Exclusive 

 administration of the first four and partial administration of the 

 last two of these acts is committed to this department. The increase 

 of the department's work in consequence of these statutes very ma- 

 terially added to the work of this office, as elsewhere shown in this 

 report. 



In the report for the preceding year special emphasis was laid 

 upon the amount of assistance rendered in drafting or reporting on 

 proposed legislation, and it was stated that more than 40 bills relat- 

 ing to agricultural matters w^ere either drawn or examined and com- 

 mented on. Similar work in the fiscal year covered by this report 

 considerably exceeded in volume that of the preceding year. 



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