which the matter was settled by mutual agreement, and in the other a decree for the Government was granted. In 1 suit in the State court by a mining claimant to enjoin a special-use permittee of the Forest Service from making use of his permit intervention by the United States resulted in a decree by the State supreme court in favor of the defendant. Three suits to cancel patent were handled, in one of which a demurrer to the bill was sustained, with leave to amend, and in the other two the bills were dismissed. A suit instituted by a mining claimant to enjoin a forest supervisor from selling timber on his mining claim, although he had consented thereto, was settled by mutual agreement. An action against a forest supervisor, instituted by a packer under an alleged Government contract, is pending. Two actions on uncompleted timber-sale contracts resulted in judgments for the United States. Two suits to quiet title to public lands were handled, one of which resulted in a decree for the United States; the other was pending at the close of the year.

There were also pending 1 suit to restrain the unauthorized use of an easement, 1 to cancel an easement, 1 to collect charges under a stipulation, and 1 to enjoin the maintenance of an unlawful fence. In a suit instituted by a claimant to public land to enjoin Forest Service permittees from watering stock thereon a decree was rendered for the defendant. A suit to recover for the unlawful use of Government-owned hay was pending at the close of the year, as were also three proceedings before the State railroad commission and Interstate Commerce Commission to establish or regulate railroad rates. Another proceeding to regulate railroad rates resulted in the granting of the petition and the establishment of the rates as prayed for. A request upon the State of Idaho for the proceeds of Government lands rented by the State to individuals through error is pending action by the legislature.

CRIMINAL CASES.

Thirty-three criminal prosecutions were handled during the year. Of these 20 were prosecutions for violation of the law and the regulations of the department governing the Pisgah National Forest and Pisgah National Game Preserve, N. C. Four convictions were secured, one case was closed on the defendant absconding, and the remaining cases are pending. Two prosecutions under the State game laws are also pending. In an action for criminally libeling a forest officer the defendant was convicted in the State courts. A prosecution for removing an established section corner resulted in an acquittal. In prosecutions for illegally cutting Government-owned hay, for forgery, and for failure to register under the draft law defendants were convicted. A prosecution for conspiracy to collect money on a Government fire-fighter's check was dismissed.

There were pending at the close of the year 1 prosecution for larceny and 1 for bribery. There was also pending 1 prosecution for theft of Government property, and in a similar case the grand jury failed to indict. Also, a prosecution was pending against a forest officer on a technical charge of murder, for shooting a man while assisting a United States marshal in making an arrest.

FORESTRY COURT DECISIONS OF INTEREST.

In United States v. Thomas Nolan, Bob Solen, and E. A. Matson the defendants, who were indicted on October 31, 1917, were convicted and sentenced by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on December 31 to imprisonment for one year and a day in the Federal penitentiary at McNeil's Island for conspiracy to violate sections 49 and 52 of the Penal Code, which prohibit, respectively, cutting or wantonly destroying timber on the public lands of the United States and willfully setting fire to or leaving it unattended near such timber. The defendants, members of the I. W. W., on August 22, 1917, went to the camp of the Snow Creek Logging Co., purchasers of Government timber in the Snoqualmie National Forest, where a severe fire had broken out on July 14, and made such representations to the men who were fighting the fire that about one-half of them quit work and left the camp on the following morning, after which the fire continued burning several weeks and destroyed additional Government timber. The case has had a very beneficial effect.

In United States v. Cameron et al. the circuit court of appeals for the ninth circuit, in an opinion of May 6, 1918, affirmed the judgment of the United States District Court for Arizona enjoining the defendants from occupying or conducting any business upon or in any manner interfering with the administration or use by the Government of certain land within the Tusayan National Forest and Grand Canyon National Monument, formerly embraced in what was known as the Cape Horn lode-mining location, but which had been declared null and void by the Secretary of the Interior upon rejecting defendants' application for patent.

In Cameron v. Bass (168 Pac., 645) the Supreme Court of Arizona affirmed the action of the lower court in refusing to enjoin the defendant, a Forest Service permittee, from erecting certain buildings on land within the Tusayan National Forest and Grand Canyon National Monument claimed by the plaintiff under the Cape Horn lode-mining location above mentioned, which upon application for patent therefor had been declared null and void by the Secretary of the Interior. The court held that the Secretary of the Interior had jurisdiction to determine whether the land was mineral, and his decision that it was nonmineral is binding on the world and renders the location void ab initio in the absence of fraud, accident, imposition, or mistake.

In Emigh v. Matthews et al. the Idaho State court refused an injunction sought by the plaintiff, a squatter on Government land within the Minidoka National Forest, to restrain the defendants, who held grazing permits from the Forest Service, from watering sheep at a spring within the squatter location, the decision being based upon the fact that the squatter location was invalid because it was not made until after the land had been withdrawn for the national forest.

In United States v. Hammond Lumber Co. the United States District Court for Oregon, on October 29, 1917, held that a school section (sec. 36, T. 9 S., R. 5 E.) within the Santiam National Forest was unsurveyed, notwithstanding that the south and east township lines had been surveyed and the quartersection corners established, and that since the interior survey of the township had not been made prior to the forest withdrawal the defendant did not acquire any title to the land by conveyance from the State.

In United States v. Thomas E. Marks, involving the unlawful occupancy of land within the Snoqualmie National Forest, the United States Court for the Western District of Washington, on November 27, instructed the jury that the defendant, a settler prior to the creation of the forest, had no right to the land after service of the decision of the Secretary of the Interior denying motion for rehearing of a decision holding the squatter location invalid.

In United States v. Frank C. Hunter, trustee in bankruptcy for the Elk Mountain Mercantile Co., a suit to enjoin disposition of the company's assets until the Government should establish priority for a claim of $22,076.46, for which judgment was recovered December 21, 1916, on account of a fire trespass on the Medicine Bow National Forest, the court, on September 14, 1917. dismissed the Government's bill, holding that since the claim of the United States had not been liquidated on the date (Jan. 13, 1916) of the adjudication in bankruptcy the Government was not entitled to priority of payment. Priority, except as to claims for labor performed within three months which are preferred under the bankruptcy act, was claimed under section 3466 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that in case of insolvency debts due the

United States shall be satisfied first. The court held, however, that the Government was not suing in its sovereign capacity, but as a proprietor or owner of land which had been damaged by the negligence of the company, and that consequently it must be treated as any other litigant and was subject to the provisions of the bankruptcy act in the presentation, allowance, and liquidation of its claim. Therefore, since its claim was not reduced to judgment until 11 months after the adjudication in bankruptcy, it was not entitled to priority. Hence the Government would merely be entitled as a general creditor to a pro rata distribution of the assets of the company after the allowance of preferred claims.

In United States v. Carbon Timber Co., R. D. Meyer and Andrew Olsen, trustees, the United States District Court for Wyoming, on June 19, 1918, held that the United States was entitled to priority and directed the trustees to pay its claim of $4,507.70, together with interest from the date of judgment. The Carbon Timber Co., on September 15, 1915, being then insolvent, had made an assignment of its property to the trustees above named for the benefit of its creditors, and the Government, on December 21, 1916, recovered judgment in the amount stated against the company on account of a timber trespass on the Hayden National Forest. The company being insolvent at the time of the assignment, the court held that the Government was entitled to priority under sections 3466, 3467, and 3468 of the Revised Statutes, and that the American Surety Co., having paid as surety the amounts due the Government by reason of the default of the Carbon Timber Co. on certain contracts in connection with which bonds were given, was entitled to the same rights as the United States. The judgment, together with interest and costs, was paid into the registry of the court on or about June 25.

In United States v. Hartford & Eastern Railway Co. and Northern Pacific Railway Co., involving the reasonableness of rates on logs as affecting the Snoqualmie National Forest, the public service commission of the State of Washington, on January 2, 1918, in response to the petition of the Forest Service, directed the defendants to establish rates on logs of $1.60 to Everett and $1.75 to Kirkland. The rates quoted and against which complaint was filed were $2.40 and $3.20, respectively.

In United States v. Edward B. Franklin, an interlocutory decree was granted by the Federal Court for the District of Arizona restraining the defendant from interfering with the public use of the waters of Wolf Hole Lake. The court reserved jurisdiction for final decree until the Land Department passes on the defendant's homestead application for the land upon which the lake is located. In Exploration Co. v. United States (247 U. S. -), it was held that the act March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1093), limiting to six years the time within which suit may be brought to vacate and annul patents for public lands, does not begin to run in the case of fraud that has been concealed or was committed in such a manner as to conceal itself until it is discovered by the Government.

IMPORTANT FORESTRY DECISIONS OF THE COMPTROLLER.

In Frank C. Clark's case, it was held on January 17, 1918, that a temporary laborer employed at the rate of $100 a month, with the understanding that he was to furnish a horse to assist in packing supplies, could be reimbursed for the loss of the horse under the act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat., 843), in view of the implied contract of hire, which might be inferred from the understanding that he was to furnish the horse, and that the rate of compensation was greater than would have been paid for the owner's services alone.

In Raleigh R. Bryan's case (24 Comp. Dec. 358), it was held on December 18, 1917, that a statutory forest officer furnishing a horse for the use of the Government, under the provisions of a regulation (Reg. A-4) by which the Government agrees to furnish a part of the feed in return for the use of the horse, may be reimbursed under the provisions of the act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat., 843), for the loss of the horse while used on official business, since a contract of hire arises upon the furnishing of a horse in response to the offer made by the regulation.

IMPORTANT FORESTRY OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.

In an opinion of May 27, 1918, with reference to the case of United States v. Charles Curtis, involving an alleged fire trespass on the Idaho National Forest, the Attorney General expressed the view that a mere passer-by, seeing a fire burning in or near inflammable material on the public domain, is not

guilty of an offense under section 52 of the Penal Code for leaving the fire unattended. That section makes it a criminal offense to leave or suffer fire to burn unattended near any timber or other inflammable material on the public domain.

THE PLANT QUARANTINE ACT.

[37 Stat., 315.]

Eleven cases were reported to the Attorney General, 10 under section 8 (domestic quarantines) of the act as amended by the appropriation act of March 4, 1917 (39 Stat. 1134, 1165), and 1 under section 7 (foreign quarantines).

At the close of the fiscal year 1917, 23 cases were pending. Sixteen of these and 1 reported during the year 1918-in all 17 caseswere terminated during the year. Of these, 13 were dismissed because of the court decision referred to below. In 4, convictions resulted with fines aggregating $95. Three were closed on pleas of nolo contendere and 1 on a plea of guilty. At the close of the year 17 cases were pending.

. A number of proposed orders of the Secretary of Agriculture to establish, and of regulations to enforce, quarantines under the law were examined as to their legal form and sufficiency.

An item of legislation, adopted by Congress, was drafted at the request of the Federal Horticultural Board, providing that any moneys received in payment of charges fixed by the Secretary of Agriculture on account of cleaning and disinfecting railway cars and other vehicles employed in the movement of cotton and cotton seed from Mexico into the United States, at plants constructed for such purpose, out of any appropriation made on account of the pink bollworm, should be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.

COURT QUARANTINE DECISION OF INTEREST.

In United States v. Boston-Maine Railroad Co. (Plant Quarantine No. 19), the circuit court of appeals for the first circuit held, in substance, that while lumber is in a sense a plant product it was not within the prohibition of the plant quarantine act. Since similar cases arising subsequent to the act of March 4, 1917 (39 Stat., 1134, 1165), amending section 8 of the act, can be prosecuted by virtue of the amendment, it was believed that no good purpose would be subserved by appealing the case to the United States Supreme Court. In view of this decision, 13 like cases were recommended for dismissal.

FEDERAL AID ROAD ACT.

[39 Stat., 355.]

Project statements for 663 projects were reviewed during the year to determine whether the projects were eligible for aid under the provisions of the act. Of these, 559 were approved and 4 disapproved. In many cases where some part or all of the project was not being used as a rural post road and there was not sufficient evidence to establish a reasonable prospect that it would be so used within a reasonable time, it was necessary to point out in detail the character of additional evidence which should be furnished to establish the eligibility of the project. In some instances elimination of a portion or portions of the project was suggested, where it was impossible to furnish sufficient evidence of a reasonable prospect of use

for mail transportation. Project agreements and certificates of approval of plans, specifications, and estimates drafted by the Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering for 218 projects, including 13 for which project statements were approved during the previous fiscal year, were examined as to their legal form and sufficiency, and subsequently as to whether they were properly executed. These agreements involved a total estimated expenditure of $14,239,939.15, and Federal aid aggregating $5,658,458.42. Project statements reviewed, but for which project agreements had not yet been executed at the close of the year, involved a total estimated expenditure of $28,038.831.23, and Federal aid to the amount of $10,391,363.32. Modifications of agreements were similarly reviewed in 11 cases. The projects for which project agreements were entered into and project statements approved during the year represent an aggregate estimated cost of $42.278,770.38 and Federal aid to the extent of $16,049,821.74, the total road mileage being 6,249.3965. Also 49 original and supplementary cooperative agreements, under section 8 of the act relating to roads and trails within national forests, were examined as to legal form and sufficiency.

Statutes of 10 States assenting to the provisions of the act were reviewed to determine whether they meet the requirements of the act. The legislation of two States was reconsidered for the purpose of determining definitely whether they had State highway departments when the act was passed. The first regular session of the Legislature of Mississippi held after the passage of the act having adjourned without assenting to its provisions, the legislation of the State was reviewed and the opinion expressed that the State had previously signified its assent by a resolution of its legislature indorsing the act when it was pending before Congress and by a subsequent statute creating a State highway department with power to do, so far as possible under the constitution of Mississippi, the things required by the act.

Proposed standard plans, specifications, notice to bidders, and contract and bond forms for use by a number of the States in carrying out the cooperation contemplated and authorized by the act, which were submitted for consideration by the several State highway departments, were reviewed as to their legal form and sufficiency. Suggestions as to changes in form and substance were made in several instances. Similar forms for the use of the department, under section 8 of the act, and also as guides for the States under the postroads provisions of the act, were likewise reviewed. Forms of resolutions to be used by the counties and other civil subdivisions in applying to their respective State highway departments for State and Federal aid, in accordance with the State laws, were drafted for the convenience of the State highway departments concerned.

Proposed amendments to the regulations were reviewed as to their legal form and sufficiency, and opinions were rendered on a number of important questions arising under the act.

A memorandum prepared by the Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering as a guide for its engineers and the State highway departments in the submission of projects was revised to indicate the percentage of nonpost route which might be included in the project