66 



LANDS 



Procedure in Conduct of Claims Cases- 

 Interpretation given certain paragraphs of the Joint Order of June 25, 1910, of Secre- 

 taries Ballinger and Wilson, in reference to claims contests, in the field conferences 

 between representatives of the General Land Office, Department of the Interior, and 

 of the Office of the Solicitor and the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Sep- 

 tember 28, 1910: 

 The first sentence of paragraph 1 is as follows: 



1. Forest Supervisors will submit all reports made by Forest officers to the District 

 Forester, who, when satisfied with said reports, will transmit the same to the Secretary 

 of Agriculture; the Secretary of Agriculture will forward such reports to the Secretary 

 of the Interior. 



By the prevailing practice, when the report submitted to the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture is deemed to be favorable to the claimant, the "report" thereafter submitted to 

 the Secretary of the Interior is in the form of a brief letter stating that the Forest 

 Service has no objection to the issuance of patent. This is not in accordance with the 

 Joint Order, which requires the submission of all reports to the Secretary of the 

 Interior. 



The second sentence of paragraph 1 is as follows: 



The Commissioner of the General Land Office will return said reports to the proper 

 Chief of Field Division for notation upon his records and for his approval in the event 

 he finds the same sufficient; and should the Chief of Field Division find such report 

 insufficient to warrant proceedings to hearing or the taking of other appropriate 

 action, he will return the same with endorsements, asking that the Department of 

 Agriculture make such additional investigation as may be necessary, or in the event 

 he deems it advisable he will cause an agent of the General Land Office to make such 

 additional investigation. 



Under this when a Chief of Field Division finds the report of the Forest officer 

 insufficient to warrant adverse proceedings, he may communicate directly with the 

 District officers of the Forest Service and thus expeditiously obtain the desired 

 evidence. 



Paragraph 3 is as follows: 



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 Law 

 Officer, or Assistant District Law Officer, will be entered of record as appearing on 

 behalf of the Government. The Chief of Field Division or special agent acting as 

 attorney for the 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 direc- 

 tion 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. 



This establishes the relation of associate counsel between the Chiefs of Field Divi- 

 sion and the Assistants to the Solicitor in claims cases affecting National Forest 

 lands, the Chief of Field Division occupying the position of senior counsel. It was 

 suggested in this connection that the tune for the Assistant to the Solicitor to enter 

 his "appearance" should be at the hearing, since it would be impossible in some 

 cases to know before that time which one of the Assistants to the Solicitor would be 

 able to be present. 



