(From the Forest Service, U. St Department of Agriculture*) 



COURT SAYS FEDERAL ?O r .7KR IS 

 SUPREME 031 FEDERAL LAF7DS 



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'The contention of the government that power companies 

 can not secure rights of way across national forests without 

 complying with the regulations 6f the secretary of agriculture 

 has been completely sustained, according to the officers of the 

 forest service, by the opinion of the circuit court of appeals 

 filed on November 14 in the case of* the United States versus 

 the Utah Power and Light Company, 



In its decision, the court announces that congress 

 has assumed complete control of the water-power question, so 

 far as the public lands are affected, and that a state in the 

 exercise of its sovereign authority can not interfere with or 

 transcend this constitutional power of congress. 



Since December 15, 1900, the Utah Power and Light 

 Company has operated its hydro-electr,ic power Works on certain 

 public lands in the state of Utah, now forming a part of the 

 Cache national forest* The federal government sought to enjoin 

 the occupancy of these lands until the company should comply 

 with the provisions of the Act of May 14, 1896. This act em- 

 powered the government to permit the use of, or rights of way 

 upon, public lands and national forests, for the purpose of 

 generating, manufacturing, and distributing electric energy. 



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