Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-01-05
GRAZING FEES WILL BE
COLLECTED ON RESERVES
Regulations UnmodIfied by Recent Decl-
sion of Federal Judge MIsappre-
henson Corrected.

| Regulations Unmodlfied by Recent Decl-
! sion of Federal Judge MIsappre-
hensIon Corrected.
| A recent decision of a federal Judge
| has been widely commented upon
throughout the West on the snpposition
that it declared illegal the regulation Of
grazing on forest reserves and the sys-
tenn Of charging for grazing permits. AS
a matter of fact the decision, which was
handed down by Judge Whitson of the
United States district court for eastern
Washington, in the case of the United
States VS.. Matthews, has no bearing
whatever upon the legality of the graz.
1g regulations or of grazing fees, which
stand precisely as before. The legal
question involved was simply this: Does
the law authorizing the Secretary of
Agriculture to issue regulations make
the breach of those regulations q crime ?
Judge Whitson's decision merely ans
wers this question "No." 1t was in sub.
stance that the objection to the indict.
ment against Walter Matthews was the
absence of a law defining the act therein
charged as a criminal ofiense. Upon
that ground the court held that the de-
murrer must be sustained and the de-
fendant discharged.
Though the point was simple and clear
enough, it was entirely misconstrued in
the press reports of the decision, and in
! editorial comments upon it. For in
stance, in the Wyoming Tribune ofTues-
day, November 6, news of Judge Whit
sons action was given under the head
lines; Grazing Fees Illegal Decides
Federal Judge" and the article declares
that Gas a result of the decision Mat
| thews, who entered the Mount Rainier
forest reserve without the permit re-
quired by the Secretary, is still using
the reserve and is not paying the fee
imposed by the Secretary" As mat
ter Of fact Mr.. Matthews sheep were
Immediately removed upon notice by
the forest officers and have not since en-
| tered the reserve.
In the Sheridan, Wyoming Post it is
said "A decision fraught with impor-
tance to Wyoming stockmen is that ap-
pearing in this issue, wherein it is held
by the United States District Court that
the collection of fees for grazing live
stock is illegal Since its i'm.
position this fee has been regarded as H..
legal and arbitrary by many we'll in
formed Wyoming people and the views
expressed by the court in this decision
met with general approval here. y
The litgant is still running his sheep on
the Rainier reserve without paying the
! fees"
Decisions like Judge Wilson's had
before been made by the federal courts
in three other districts, one of them six
years ago, but none of these interferes
in the slightest with the right of the
! United States TO institute civil action
against trespassers violating the grazing
regulations, or with charging the graz
ing fee. The United States Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
decides definitely, in the case Of Daster-
vignes VS.. United States, also the provi-
sions of the Act Of March 4, 1897, dele
eating to the Secretary the power to
make regulations, is CONSTITUTIONAL that
the regulation prohibiting the pasturing
of sheep on forest reserves without a
permit is valid and that the Federal
courts will enforce the regulation by in
junction. The supreme court ofArizona,
three judges sitting, in the case Of Dent
VS. United States (76 Pacific Reporter,
455), went still further, under circum-
stances which made the decision most
emphatic. Dent was criminally prose-
cuted for grazing sheep on forest re-
serve without permit in violation of
the regulations, and the court had held
that his act was not a crime, but as soon
as the Dastervignes case was decided for
ed a rehearing of the Dent case and held
that the Dastervignes decision was bind
ing on all courts in the Ninth Circuit in
criminal as we'll as civil cases, and that
Dent was therefore guilty of crime.
So far, therefore, the court decisions
as to the criminality of ftrespass contrary
to the forest reserve regulations are con-
ficting. Final adjudication of the point
can not be had until the ruling of a
higher court has been secured but no
court has questioned the right of the
Secretary OF Agriculture to make regula-
tions and recover damages for trespass-
ing through civil action.
Grazing trespassers will be restrained
from violation of the regulations by in.
functions and sued for civil damages un-
Ill the higher courts shall have reached
a decision as to the criminal character OF
such trespass. The Forest Service will
continue to exclude unpermitted stock
from all forest reserves and to collect
} grazing fees for all stock under permit
:. ~-~
T Mr.. Fl. d. Rogers died at the resi-
dence Of his daughter near Custer Dec
30th, 1906, in the 10Th year of his age
Mr.. Rogers was born in Bradford coun