THE SOLICITOB. 901 



nature of the case will permit, of the legal work performed in each 

 of the six districts under the proper district designation. This 

 departure is necessary to a proper conception of the character and 

 quantity of work performed by tlie district assistants to the Solicitor. 

 The more important work of the district offices, especially that in 

 which important le^al principles are involved and snould be deter- 

 mined as a guide for future conduct of the department's business 

 throughout the United States, is always passed upon finally by the 

 Solicitor. 



Experience has shown that a considerable volume of what may be 

 called routine legal work is properly left, for reasons of economy 

 and expedition, to final action by the district assistants to the 

 Solicitor. Since the transfer of the legal work of the Forest Service 

 to the Solicitor, by your order, in January, 1910, and the organiza- 

 tion of the six district offices of the Solicitor, many of the fundamental 

 principles underlying the legal work of the Forest Service have been 

 presented for consideration and have been carefully worked out, 

 so that uniformity of action in these districts has been estabhshed 

 for the conduct of the business of the department relating to the 

 administration of the National Forests. JBy appreciable overtime 

 work in the six districts it has been found possible to limit the ofiice 

 force to two assistants in districts 1, 2, 3, and 6, and to one assistant 

 in districts 4 and 5, with this exception, that during January of this 

 fiscal year it was found necessary to add a second assistant in dis- 

 trict 5. 



The work of the office for the Forest Service is divisible into several 

 distinct heads, namely, opinions, contracts, claims, regulations, 

 trespass, general litigation, and hydroelectric power permits. To 

 these divisions has been added another during the present fiscal 

 year, namely, acquisition of lands, under the act of March 1, 1911, 

 for the protection of the navigability of navigable streams, and for 

 this fiscal year there must also be added claims for relief arising out 

 of the forest fires in the Northwest during the fall of 1910, provided 

 for by items in the deficiency appropriation act approved llarch 4, 

 1911. These two additions very materially increased the work of 

 the office during the year. Each division of the work is treated 

 under the proper heading in the following pages. 



OPINIONS 



During the year the office has rendered 93 formal written opinions 

 to the Forester, the district foresters, and the district fiscal agents 

 in respect to questions involving principles requiring considerable 

 research and deliberation for their determination. Of these, 30 were 

 rendered by the district assistants and were reviewed in due course 

 by the Solicitor, and final decision rendered thereon. The district 

 assistants rendered 1,1 4S infonnal written opinions to the district 

 foresters and district fiscal agents. iVside from these written opm- 

 ions, the Solicitor and his district assistants have daily advised the 

 Forester, the district foresters, and district fiscal agents orally in ref- 

 erence to questions arising in the administration of the National 

 Forests, ana they have frequently furnished opinions to other depart- 

 ments of the Government relative to questions affecting the two 



