246 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



istered, "in any case in which the laws of the United States authorize 

 an oath to be administered," should be guilty of perjury. In the exe- 

 cution of the public land laws, it was often necessary that certain facts 

 be established by oaths which were not specifically required by the 

 laws of the United States, but were required by department regula- 

 tions or orders, oaths essentially necessary in disposing of the public 

 lands. It was repeatedly held that a charge of perjury could not be 

 based upon an affidavit required only by departmental regulations,^"^ 

 and in 1905, the Commissioner of the Land Office urged upon Congress 

 the amendment of this section, but such an amendment has not been 

 made. 



During the past thirty years or more, a great many efforts have 

 been made in Congress to secure grants of land to various states for 

 forestry purposes, but, as previously stated, these attempts were of 

 little importance as indications of an interest in forest conservation. 

 In 1904, 20,000 acres of land were granted to Minnesota, and two 

 years later, a similar grant was made to Wisconsin. Since then there 

 have been several efforts to secure grants for forestry purposes, but, 

 except for the grant of some small islands to Wisconsin, no results 

 have accrued from these efforts. ^°^ 



RAILWAY LAND GRANTS ONCE MORE 



The land grant forfeitures hitherto referred to were for failure to 

 build the road.^In 1907 and 1908, however, the land grant question 

 came up from a new angle — the failure to comply with the conditions 

 regarding the sale of granted lands — the chief offender in this respect 

 being the Oregon & California Railroad Company, now owned by the 

 Southern Pacific. In the grants to this road, a provision had been 

 inserted, requiring the lands to be sold to settlers in tracts not exceed- 

 ing 160 acres, at not more than $2.50 per acre.^°* Even as early as 

 1872, according to the Attorney-General, the Oregon & California 



^0^ Report, Sec. of Int., 1905, 339. 



^0-! Stat. 33, 536; 34, 517; 37, 324: S. 1438, H. R. 7096; 61 Cong. 1 sess.: S. 6247, 

 S. 7902; 61 Cong. 2 sess.: S. 5076; 62 Cong. 2 sess. A bill introduced by Senator 

 Dixon of Montana passed the Senate in 1912, granting $7500 a year to state univer- 

 sities in the forest reserve states for the training of forest rangers. This bill, how- 

 ever, never came up in the House. (S. 5076; 62 Cong. 2 sess.) 



los Stat. 14, 239; 15, 80; 16, 47, 94. 



