NATIONAL FOREST MANUAL LAWS. 79 



by the Secretary of Agriculture for the construction and maintenance of 

 roads and trails within the National Forests in the States from which such 

 proceeds are derived; but the Secretary of Agriculture may, whenever 

 practicable, in the construction and maintenance of such roads, secure 

 the cooperation or aid of the proper State or Territorial authorities in 

 the furtherance of any system of highways of which such roads may be 

 made a part. 



In all, for general expenses, three million one hundred and seven 

 thousand two hundred and eighty-five dollars. 



Not to exceed fifteen per centum of the total of all sums appropriated 

 under "General expenses, Forest Service," may be used in the discre- 

 tion of the Secretary of Agriculture as provided above under general 

 expenses for Forest Service for all expenses necessary for the general 

 administration of the Forest Service. 



Total for Forest Service, five million three hundred and forty-three 

 thousand and forty-five dollars. 



DECISIONS RELATING TO FISCAL MANAGEMENT, APPROPRIATIONS, 

 AND REFUNDS. 



IN GENERAL. 



Where judgments are recovered in actions for trespass on National 

 Forests, such amounts thereof as represent punitive damages, costs of 

 suit, or amounts to cover replanting are not such revenues of the Na- 

 tional Forests as are subject to the 25 per cent deduction for distribu- 

 tion to the states and territories in which the National Forest con- 

 cerned is located. (17 Comp. Dec., 688.) 



A force employed in the District of Columbia to supervise and con- 

 trol the field work of employees engaged in making examinations, 

 surveys, etc., under the Weeks' forestry law of March 1, 1911, can not 

 be paid from the appropriation made by that act. (17 Comp. Dec., 780.) 



Publications of advertisements affecting National Forests made by 

 supervisors or rangers pursuant to written instructions from the Forester, 

 issued under authority of the Secretary of Agriculture, specifying the 

 newspapers to be used are publications authorized by Revised Statutes, 

 section 3828. (13 Comp. Dec., 446.) 



The withholding of moneys due a corporation by the United States 

 is not authorized as a set-off against the liability of such corporation 

 to the United States for indefinite profits arising out of a timber trespass 

 committed by another person. (15 Comp. Dec., 113.) 



Costs adjudged against forest officers in the prosecution by them, 

 before a justice of the peace, of one arrested for setting a fire which 

 spreads to National Forest lands, are not chargeable against the United 

 States and cannot be paid from Forest Service appropriations. (Comp. 

 Dec. of May 6, 1912; 2 Sol. Op., 693.) 



Expenses of Government officers in going, returning, and in attend- 

 ance on court, when sent away from the usual place of their duties, as 

 witnesses, for the Government, as the result of knowledge obtained in 

 the discharge of their official duties, are payable from the appropriate 

 appropriation of the department from which they are sent, and not from 

 the judicial appropriations for fees of witnesses. (12 Comp. Dec., 391; 

 see also 14 Comp. Dec. 80 and 516; 15 Id., 154, 298 and 757.) 



Where authority is exercised by a special class of officers in the arrest 

 of persons for violations of the laws of the United States, all expenses 

 incident to such arrests are defrayed by the Government and paid out 

 of appropriations made for certain purposes, and not until prisoners 

 come into the custody of the United States marshal by virtue of a duly 

 recognized authority can it be said that a judiciary appropriation may 

 be available for the payment of such expenses. 



(8 Comp. Dec., 127; 11 Id., 753; 15 Id., 602; 16 Id., 371; 17 Id., 566.) 



When an offender is arrested by a forest officer for violation of the for- 

 estry laws or regulations and taken before a United States Commissioner, 

 the liability of the judiciary appropriations would commence with the 

 complaint and warrant; but in no case would such appropriations be 

 liable for any fees or expenses of the forest officer where it is his duty 

 to aid in the detection, prosecution, and punishment for violations of 

 such laws and regulations. (14 Comp. Dec., 113.) 



