14 



arrested on the complaint of the claimant and charged with malicious mischief. 

 The charge was changed to petit larceny. The claimant and his attorneys admit- 

 ted that no discovery had been made, but asserted nevertheless a right to the 

 exclusive use of the surface. The Department of Justice instructed the United 

 States attorney for Nevada, by wire, to defend Mr. Nanani and secure his release 

 by writ of habeas corpus from the Federal court if necessary. An intent to 

 steal must be proved to maintain a prosecution for larceny. It is an established 

 principle of law that the taking of property under a claim of right is not lar- 

 ceny ; therefore, every timber purchaser from the Forest Service would be 

 secure against criminal prosecution, even if the claim from which the timber is 

 sold were valid. It is expected that the criminal case against Mr. Nanani will 

 be decided in his favor on this ground without a decision upon the necessity 

 of discovery as the foundation of a valid mining claim. The Statute (Rev. 

 Stat, Sec. 2320) provides expressly " but no location of a mining claim shall 

 be made until discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim 

 located." The United States Attorney will probably make arrangements for a 

 civil suit to test this question if the claimant will admit in such a suit that 

 there has been in fact no discovery upon his claim. 



It is the policy of the Department to protect purchasers and permittees of the 

 Forest Service to the fullest extent and to request the assistance necessary from 

 the Department of Justice for that purpose. 



AUGUST 31, 1907. 

 The FORESTER, Forest Service, Washington, D. (7. 



SIR: My attention has been called to a letter, dated July 23, to Mr. G. S. 

 Arnold, Acting Law Officer of the Forest Service, from Mr. George V. Alexander, 

 of Republic, Wash., representing himself to be attorney for Ernest W. Grant, 

 in a case of timber trespass on the Colville National Forest, reported June 6, 

 1907. The letter is scurrilous and abusive. You are therefore instructed to 

 receive no communications from Mr. Alexander as attorney or agent in any 

 matter, and to transact no business with him as such attorney or agent until 

 you are otherwise instructed. 



Please notify Mr. Alexander, Mr. Grant, and the proper officers of the Forest 

 Service of this action. 



I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



JAMES WILSON, Secretary. 



BRANCH OF SILVICULTURE. 



OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT. 



Application for Advance Cutting 



The application form for advance cutting which appeared on page 20 of the 

 August Field Program has not been printed and will not be furnished on 

 requisition. Whenever it is necessary to apply for advance cutting the form 

 must in each case be typewritten in the .supervisor's office. This is necessary 

 in order to emphasize the fact that definite reasons must accompany each 

 application for advance cutting. 



Equivalent of Board Feet 



All Forest officers in charge of Forests who have been authorized to make 

 Class B sales not to exceed a maximum of so many thousand feet B. M. should 

 interpret this to include material that is not measured by the board foot, 

 such as mining timbers, ties, shingle bolts, etc., to an amount approximately 

 equivalent to the specified number of feet B. M. 



It has been shown by check scaling that too often all logs in the skidway are 

 not scaled. In one instance 20 were missed out of 136. Work of this kind 

 will not be tolerated and supervisors will be held strictly responsible. In all 



