20 



uore tlie imxjortauce of tlie iireservatiou of the timber, aud iuvite, iu a measure, great 

 waste ami greedy speculation by individuals and corporations. It is impolitic and 

 uujust in not i^reserving timber for the use of future settlers aud iubabitants, and 

 permitting it to be taken in large quantities without consideration and proper re- 

 strictions. It, however, is still the law, and so long as it remains on the statute book 

 it can be enforced. 



The act of June 3, 1878, gives the timber to the miner and settler, but if the saw- 

 mill men can come in and cut and sell it, they, and not the settlers, will get the ben- 

 efit of the timber. The interest of the settlers and lumbermen in this matter are not 

 identical. 



Bat a later circular (August 5, 1886) permits the sale of timber or 

 lumber to bona fide residents for the legitimate use of the purchasers iu 

 compliance with the provisions of the act, which means for actual per- 

 sonal consumption. In tliis circular the right of existence of saw-mills 

 using timber cut on Government land is recognized, and while it is im- 

 posed upon the saw-mill men to keep such records as will sbow where 

 the timber they manufacture comes from, and to obtain an agreement 

 from the purchaser that he will use the timber legitimately according 

 to the spirit of the act, the door is opened to circumvent the law. 



It is also stated that " there exists no authority of law for granting 

 the privilege of cutting timber on the public lands and paying stumii- 

 age therefor j" that "there is no authority to dispose of burned timber 

 separately" from the land." 



In 1887 : 



Such a record of crime as that shown by investigations made by sx)ecial agents 

 during the last two years is rarely to be found. Bold, reckless, and gigantic schemes 

 to rob the Government of its lands have been discovered and exposed iu every State 

 aud Territory containing public lands. 



The unavoidable continuance, on account of the early exhaustion of the appropria- 

 tion to pay witnesses in United States courts, of the important cases against the Sierra 

 Lumber Company, in California, involving over §2,000,000, aud in which two special 

 agents of this office devoted nearly their entire time for a year iu securing evidence 

 aud preparing for a successful i^rosecution, and of the cases against the Montana Im- 

 provement Company and Northern Pacific Kailroad Company, in Montana and Idaho 

 Territories, involving an equal, if not greater, amount, is greatly to bo regretted. 

 The delay in these cases can not fail to be exceedingly detrimental to the i^ublic in- 

 terests. The Government, so far as tbe office is concerned, was fully prepared, and 

 had every reason to expect that had said cases come to trial judgments would Lave 

 been secured for nearly the entire amounts sued for. 



During the delay iu the prosecution of the above and other important pending cases 

 the defendants are by no means idle. They not only contiuuo their unlawful depre- 

 dations on public timber in defiance of all efforts of this office to prevent that course, 

 but they avail themselves of every such opportunity to destroy the evidence of their 

 past transgressions and to nullify the efforts of this office. 



l]y the time these cases can again bo brought to trial many of the witnesses will 

 have disappeared and much of the evidence depended upon by the Government will 

 have been destroyed, necessitating a ro-investigation and the securing of additional 

 evidence in nearly every case, thereby duplicating the expenses of the special agents 

 in preparing the cases for trial, exhausting the appropriation, aud rendering it im- 

 possible for this office to cause the investigation of the many uew and flagrant cases 

 of trespass which are brought to its attention. The appropriation for this branch 

 of the public service is altogether inadequate for the purpose. 



