THE SOLICITOR. 913 



laws. The early sale of this fire-killed timber was recognized as 

 imperative, both by the department and by the claimants of the 

 lands. The department was of the opinion that no authority existed 

 in the claimants of the lands to sell the timber and that the authority 

 of the Secretary of Ao;riculture to sell the timber standing on the 

 claims was very doubtful. In this \'iew of the case the department 

 submitted to the iVttoniey General a plan which it was conceived 

 would conserve the value of the timber and at the same time protect 

 the contingent interests of the United States therein. By this plan 

 it was proposed that purchasers of the timber should make an arrange- 

 ment with the claimants to the lands looldng to the removal of the 

 timber and file with the department a bond securing the United 

 States for the value of the timber in the event the claims to the 

 lands should subsequently be canceled, abandoned, or relinquished, 

 or decided by proper authority not to belong to the claimants. In 

 response to this suggested plan, the Attorney General, on November 

 23, 1911, advised the department that it might be legally put into 

 operation, since the Government had sufficient interest in every 

 unperfected claim to authorize the proper executive officer of the 

 Government to take action looking to the protection of the interests 

 of the United States. 



\ CLAIMS FOR RELIEF. 



li 



In recognition of services rendered in the suppression of the 

 unusual and destructive forest fires of the summer and fall of 1910, 

 Congress, in the act of March 4, 1911, making appropriations for 

 deficiencies in the appropriations for the fiscal year 1911, appropriated 

 $15,000 to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to pay all necessary 

 expenses involved in the interment of the bodies of men who were 

 kUled while in the employment of the department fighting forest 

 fires in the National Forests prior to December 1, 1910, and to grant 

 relief to their dependent relatives, and to pay for hospital services 

 and medical attendance for the injured men. An additional sum of 

 15,450 was included in this act to enable the Secretary to reimburse 

 temporar}' employees of the Forest Service for the value of time lost 

 from their usual employment by reason of injuries sustained while 

 fighting fires, and a further sum of $2,742.90 for reimbursement of 

 the owners for the value of horses and equipment destroyed while 

 being used by the Government in fighting those fires. 



In order that these appropriations should be properly disbursed by 

 the department, it was essential that the validity of claims upon the 

 appropriation should be established by proper and satisfactory evi- 

 dence. To tliis end the Solicitor early in the year prepared a set of 

 forms to be used in the proof of claims under the several appropria- 

 tions. In addition to this, numerous questions arose as to the appli- 

 cation of the appropriations to cases not phiinly witliin its provisions. 

 A numbei of opinions were rendered the Forester relative to these 

 questions. When the evidence required for the establishment of a 

 claim was assembled and the recommendation of the Forester sub- 

 mitted to the Secretary, the papers were referred to the Solicitor for 

 review and examination, both as to the sufficiency of the evidence 

 to establish the claim and as to the application of the appropriation 

 to each cause. During the year 123 claims were referred to the 

 Solicitor for action. Of these, 16 were claims for payment of burial 



TCMSl"— AGR 1912 58 



