36 



are unable to agree as to the date of hearing, the matter will be referred by the Chief 

 of Field Division to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, who will give the 

 necessary direction in the premises. 



3. In all hearings affecting lands or claims within a National Forest, the Chief of 

 Field Division or a special agent of the General Land Office, and the District Law 

 Officer, or Assistant District Law Officer, will be entered of record as appearing on 

 behalf of the Government. The Chief of Field Division or special agent acting as 

 attorney for the Government in any such case will control the Government's side of 

 the case in any matter as to which counsel are unable to agree, subject to any direction 

 that may be given by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in case the mat- 

 ters of difference are of such importance as to be presented to him for action. 



4. In all Government cases before registers and receivers involving lands or claims 

 within a National Forest the Chief of Field Division and the District Law Officer shall 

 each be served with notice of all motions, orders, and decisions required to be noticed 

 under the rules in cases of private contests. The proper law officers of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture shall also have a right of appeal from any decision by the Com- 

 missioner of the General Land Office, and to file motion for review in the Department, 

 or take other like action in the same manner as a private contestant, and shall receive 

 like notices of proceedings and decisions. 



5. Costs incident to hearings before registers and receivers in Government cases 

 involving lands or claims within a National Forest will be paid under rules now in 

 force. Expenses incident to appeals will be paid by the Department of Agriculture, 

 except that, where feasible, Chiefs of Field Division may give aid in office work in 

 preparation of papers, briefs, etc. 



Very respectfully, 



(Signed) R. A. BALLINGER, 



Secretary of the Interior. 

 (Signed) JAMES WILSON, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



On June 28 the following instructions for procedure in contested claims cases on 

 National Forests, signed by the Forester and by the Solicitor, were approved by the 

 Secretary of Agriculture: 

 To the District Foresters and District Law Officers: 



1. It is not the purpose or intent of the Department to initiate contests against 

 claimants who have entered lands in the National Forests in good faith to secure a 

 home, or for other purposes recognized by law, and in such cases no contest should 

 be initiated upon slight, technical non-compliance with the law. It is the purpose 

 and intent, however, to protect the lands of the United States within the National 

 Forests from acquisition by those who do not seek them for purposes recognized by 

 law, and when it is apparent that an entry is not made or a claim initiated in good 

 faith and in compliance with the spirit of the law under which the entry or claim is 

 made, but is believed to be a subterfuge to acquire title to timber land, or to control 

 water, a water-power site, or rights of way; or if it otherwise actively and materially 

 interferes with the essential interests of the National Forest in that locality, a contest 

 should be begun even if the technical requirements of the law appear to have been 

 fulfilled. As to mining claims, it should especially be borne in mind that good faith 

 almost necessarily exists when the claims are located on untimbered and unwatered 

 lands which control no means of access or rights of way. 



It is necessary that the officers of the Forest Service who make an examination of 

 claims to lands in the National Forests carefully consider all the circumstances sur- 

 rounding the claim to the end that the good faith of the claimant may be determined. 



