THE SOLICITOR. 915 



for service in the examination of the records and abstracts of title 

 to these lands. Meanwhile, the National Forest Reservation Com- 

 mission was passinp; upon and aiitliorizini]:; the inu'chase of additional 

 tracts of land in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Vir<i;inia, and it was 

 early foreseen that the department would be required to place in the 

 field a sufficient force of trained experts to make the requisite exami- 

 nation of abstracts and records of title to the lands. Accordingly, 

 the Civil Service Commission was requested to hohl an examination 

 for the purpose of establishing an eligible list of men for employment 

 in this office in connection with the title work under the act. The 

 examination was held in the fall and selections from those qualified 

 by the examination have been made from time to time during the 

 year as the necessity of the work required. All the contracts for 

 the purchase of lands under the act are ])repared by the Solicitor 

 from information furnished by the Forester, and after execution by 

 the vendors and the Secretary, copies are sent to the United States 

 attorneys for recording in the counties where the land lies, and the 

 record examiners are furnished with a copy, together with the abstract 

 required to be furnished by the vendors. With these abstracts the 

 record examiners make a careful search and examination of the records 

 in the several counties where the lands lie, and they secure such evi- 

 dence de hors the record as may be necessary to establish the various 

 links in the chain of title. When they have concluded their investi- 

 gation of the lands embraced in each contract, they make their report 

 of the result of the investigation and of their opinions upon the evi- 

 dence, to the United States attorneys, who, in due course, transmit 

 all the papers to the Attorney General for final determination of. the 

 validity of the title to the land. 



During the fiscal year the National Forest Reservation Commission 

 authorized the purchase of 39 tracts of land of an aggregate area of 

 287,000 acres in the States of Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, 

 Virginia, and New Hampshire. The contracts covering the lands so 

 authorized to be purchased were prepared by the Solicitor. No lands 

 had yet been purchased at the close of the fiscal 3'ear, but most of the 

 work necessar}'' to procure title to the tract in northern Georgia, above 

 referred to, and another in Tennessee, had been performed, and it is 

 very probable that title to these lands will vest in the United States 

 early in the succeeding fiscal year. The title of the vendors to the 

 tract in northern Georgia having been found by the Attorney General 

 to be defective and insufficient to vest safe title from them in the 

 United States, it was necessary (o begin condemnation proceedings, 

 which had proceeded at the close of the fiscal year to the taking of 

 testimony upon the values of the lands. 



THE TWENTY-EIGHT HOUR LAW. 

 ENFORCEMENT OF THE ACT. 



During the fiscal year 1912 (he enforcement of the twenty-eight 

 hour law (act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat., 607), proceeded vigorously 

 and effectively. The d(>partTnent reported to the Attorney General 

 631 instances of apj)ar('nt violations of the statute in that period. 

 This is 33 more cases than were reported in the fiscal year 1911, 598 

 cases having been transmitted to the Attorney General in that fiscal 



