THE GRAZING CASES DECIDED 



(Opinion of the Supreme Court in the California and Colorado National Forest Cases) 



On the first of May the Supreme Court 

 of the United States handed down decisions 

 In the grazing cases which were fixed 

 upon by the enemies of the national forests 

 to test their legality and that of the regu- 

 lations adopted for their control. The first 

 of these cases was that of The United 

 States, plaintiff in error, v. Pierre Grimaud 

 and J. P. Carajous, with which was joined 

 that of the same v. Antonio Inda. Both of 

 these cases were brought up from the Dis- 

 trict Court of the United States for the 

 Southern District of California. 



OPINION OF THE COUBT. 



By the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 

 1103), the President was authorized, from 

 time to time, to set apart and reserve, in 

 any State or Territory, public lands, wholly 

 or in part covered with timber or under- 

 growth, whether of commercial value or 

 not, as public forest reservations. And by 

 the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat, L. 35), 

 the purposes of these reservations were de- 

 clared to be "to improve and protect the 

 forest within the reservation, and to se- 

 cure favorable conditions of water flows, 

 and to furnish a continuous supply of tim- 

 ber for the use and necessities of citizens 

 of the United States." * * "All water 

 on such reservations may be used for do- 

 mestic, mining, milling or irrigation pur- 

 poses, under the laws of the State wherein 

 such forest reservations are situated, or 

 under the laws of the United States and 

 the rules and regulations established there- 

 under." (30 Stat., 36.) 



It is also provided that nothing in the 

 act "should be construed as prohibiting the 

 egress and ingress of actual settlers resid- 

 ing within the boundaries of such reserva- 

 tion," * * "nor shall anything herein 

 * prohibit any person from entering 

 upon such forest reservation for all proper 

 and lawful purposes, * * provided 

 that such persons comply with the rules 

 and regulations covering such forest reser- 

 vation." 



There were special provisions as to the 

 sale of timber from any reserve (except 

 those In the State of California, 30 Stat, 

 35; 31 Stat, 661), and a requirement that 

 the proceeds thereof and from any other 

 forest source should be covered into the 

 Treasury, the ace of February 1st, 1905 

 (33 Stat, 628), providing that "all money 



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received from the sale of any products or 

 the use of any land or resources of said 

 forest reserve shall be covered into the 

 Treasury of the United States for a period 

 of five years from the passage of this act, 

 shall constitute a special fund available, 

 until expended, as the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture may direct, for the protection, ad- 

 ministration, improvement and extension 

 of Federal Forest Reserves." 



The act of 1905, as to receipts arising 

 from the sale of any products or the use 

 of any land was, in some respects, modified 

 by the act of March 4, 1907. It provided 

 that all moneys received after July 1, 1907, 

 by or on account of forest service timber, 

 or from any other source of forest reser- 

 vation 'evenue, shall be covered into the 

 Treasury, "provided that ten per cent of 

 all money received from each forest reserve 

 during any fiscal year, including the year 

 ending June 30, 1906, shall be paid at the 

 end thereof by the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury to the State or Territory in which said 

 reserve is situated, to be expended, as the 

 State or Territorial legislature may pre- 

 scribe, for the benefit of the public schools 

 and public roads in the county or counties 

 in which the forest reserve is situated." 

 34 Stat, 1270. 



The jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, 

 over persons within such reservation was 

 not to be affected by the establishment 

 thereof "except so far as the punishment 

 of offenses against the United States there- 

 in is concerned; the intent being that the 

 State shall not by reason of the establish- 

 ment of the reserve lose its jurisdiction, nor 

 the inhabitants thereof their rights and 

 privileges as citizens, or be absolved from 

 their duty as citizens of the State." 



The original act provided that the man- 

 agement and regulation of these reserves 

 should be by the Secretary of the Interior, 

 but in 1905 that power was conferred upon 

 the Secretary of Agriculture (33 Stat, L. 

 628), and by virtue of those various stat- 

 utes he was authorized to "make provision 

 for the protection against destruction by 

 fire and depredations upon the public for- 

 ests and forest reservations * * * ; 

 and he may make such rules and regula- 

 tions and establish such service as will 

 insure the objects of such reservation, 

 namely, to regulate their occupancy and 

 use, and to preserve the forests thereon 



