480 ANi^UAL EEPOPvTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



WEEKS FORESTRY LAW. 



[36 Stat., 961.] 



During the period of the war Congress made no additional appro- 

 priation for the extension of tlie work under this act, and as a conse- 

 quence, as well as because of the many war activities demanding the 

 attention of the individual members of the force engaged upon the 

 work, the results during the fiscal year have not been as extensive 

 and the acreage acquired not as great as in the previous year. It is 

 believed, however, that the work accomplished, when considered from 

 tlie standpoint of the force engaged thereon, relatively has been as 

 large as in previous years. 



During the 3-ear the National Forest Reservation Commission au- 

 thorized the acquisition of 226 tracts of land aggregating 127,029 

 acres. 



In order to meet the demands of the work incident to additional 

 authorized acquisitions, new offices have been established at Mena, 

 Ark., and at Murphy, N. C, the former to facilitate the examina- 

 tion of titles to lands to be acquired in the Arkansas and Ozark 

 areas and the latter for the purpose of making further examination 

 of title to the so-called " Olmstead " lands turned over to the depart- 

 ment for forest purposes by the Treasury Department under the act 

 of Congress of 1912, and also for the purpose of examining titles of 

 interior and contiguous tracts to be acquired for filling out the area. 



In the past considerable delay in the acquisition of lands and the 

 payment therefor was occasioned by the congested condition of the 

 work in the offices of the United States attorneys, due to the unprece- 

 dented amount of work arising from war conclitions. It was, there- 

 fore, necessary, in order to meet the complaints on the part of the 

 vendors at the delay in receiving payment of purchase money and 

 awards for lands taken over by the department, to effect arrange- 

 ments whereby the United States attorneys' offices could, be relieved 

 of a portion of the detail incident to the condemnation of lands 

 which could not, because of defects in titles, be acquired by direct 

 purchase. This condition is now being met by this office preparing 

 all the petitions and other papers incidental to the condemnation 

 proceedings. 



AVhile this procedure has considerably increased the work of this 

 office, the results attained have undoubtedly warranted the undertak- 

 ing and have materially expedited payments to vendors as well as 

 relieved the pressure in the offices of the United States attorneys. 



The following is a summary, in terms of acres, of operations under 

 the Weeks forestry law from the beginning to June 30, 1919. 



