NATIONAL FOKEST MANUAL LAWS. 21 



transmit the report, the district forester's letter of recommendations, 

 and his own recommendations to the Commissioner of the General 

 Land Office for decision. Should the Commissioner of the General 

 Land Office approve the recommendations of the Chief of Field Divi- 

 sion, he will notify the Solicitor of the Department of Agriculture. 



2. Upon order or application for hearings upon reports covering lands Hearings, 

 or claims within a National Forest, the register and receiver will send 

 duplicate notices thereof to the Chief of Field Division and the proper 

 district assistant to the Solicitor. Before setting date for the hearing 



in any such case, the Chief of Field Division will confer with the proper 



district assistant to the Solicitor and thereupon suggest to the register 



and receiver a date for hearing, and the names of witnesses to be sub- Setting dates. 



poenaed upon behalf of the Government. In the event the Chief of 



Field Division and the district assistant to the Solicitor are unable to 



agree as to the date of hearing, the matter will be referred by the Chief 



01 Field Division to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 



who will issue the necessary directions. 



3. In all hearings affecting lands or claims within a National Forest, 

 the Chief of Field Division or a special agent of the General Land Office, 

 and the district assistant to the Solicitor, will be entered of record as 



appearing on behalf of the Government. The Chief of Field Division Appearances 



or special agent of the General Land Office acting as attorney for the for Government. 



Government in any such case will control the Government's side of the 



case in any matter as to which counsel are unable to agree, subject to 



any direction that may be given by the Commissioner of the General 



Land Office in case the matters of difference are of such importance 



as to be presented to him for action. 



4. In all Government cases before registers and receivers involving 

 lands or claims within a National Forest, the Chief of Field Division 

 and the district assistant to the Solicitor shall each be served with 



notice of all appeals, motions, orders, and decisions required to be noted Notices of ap- 



under the rules in cases of private contests. The proper law officers P 6 ^- 



of the Department of Agriculture shall also have a right of appeal Appeals by So- 



from any decision by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, licitor. 



and to file motion for review in the department, or take other like action 



in the same manner as a private contestant; and shall receive like 



notices of proceedings and decisions: Provided, however, That the 



Department of Agriculture shall not be required to take formal appeals 



from decisions of registers and receivers. 



5. Costs incident to hearings before registers and receivers in Govern- Costs and ex- 

 ment cases involving lands or claims within a National Forest will be penses. 



paid under rules now in force. Expenses incident to appeals will be^ 

 paid by the Department of Agriculture; except that, where feasible, 

 Chiefs of Field Division may give aid in office work in preparation of 

 papers, briefs, etc. 



Very respectfully, R. A. BALLING ER, 



Secretary of the Interior. 

 JAMES WILSON, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



HOMESTEAD LAWS. 



BASIC PROVISIONS OF THE HOMESTEAD LAWS MOST GENERALLY 

 AFFECTING FOREST SERVICE WORK. 



UNITED STATES REVISED STATUTES. 



SEC. 2288. Any bona fide settler under the preemption, homestead, 

 or other settlement law shall have the right to transfer by warranty Transfer of 

 against his own acts any portion of his claim for church, cemetery, homestead lands, 

 or school purposes, or for the right of way of railroads, telegraph, tele- 

 phones, canals, reservoirs, or ditches for irrigation or drainage across 

 it; and the transfer for such public purposes shall in no way vitiate 

 the right to complete and perfect the title to his claim. (As amended 

 Mar. 3, 1905, 33 Stat., 991.) 



SEC. 2289. Every person who is the head of a family, or who has 

 arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United 



