The Glenwood post., 1909-01-09
Saturday. January, 9, 1909.
SHOULD OCCASION NO suzPR1sE.

the defendant in the Fred Light forestry
tresspass case should not and will not
cause any surprise to those who have
made even superficial study of the
law under which forest reserves are
established and regulated.
The law is as plain as any law could
possibly be. made authorizing the set
ting apart of public lands, wholly OF
in part covered with timber or under
growth of commercial value or not, as
forest reserves. Congress has by di-
rect legislation authorized the secretary
of the interior and later the secretary
of agriculture "to make such rules and
regulations and establish such service
as will insure the objects of such re-
servations, namely, to regulate their
occupancy and use and to preserve the
forests therein from destruction" In b
suit to test the constitutionality ot
this act the courts have held that it
was not unconstitutional as delega,
tion of legislative authority.
About two years ago Mr.. Light, At
the suggestion of some of his friends,
some of whom were cattlemen and some
of whom were not, entered into u
friendly agreement with Mr.. Pinchot,
the chief forester, that for the pur.
pose of making a test case, Light,
would refuse to pay the grazing fee de-
manded by the government but would
permit his cattle to go upon and Craze
upon the forest reserves and would ad-
nit that they so went upon the re-
serve, and thus pass the matter up to
the courts for test decision.
When testimoney was submitted at
Denver and Glenwood Springs Nj.
Light did not seem quite willing to ad-
init that his cattle went on the reserve
with his knowledge or by his as
sistance but claimed that there was no
necessity for them ranging on the re-
serve as there was plenty of gooo
feed for them between his ranch and
the reserve. The cattle, however, seem
ed to entertain notions at variance with
those of their master and, without
waiting to secure his permission, they
sought the juicy and suculent grasses
of the high country included within the
forest reserve. Mr.. Light knew that
his cattle were grazing on the reserve as
he was frequently informed of the fact
by the forest officials who demanded
of him the government grazing fee,
which he as frequently refused to pay
At the hearing of the case Light 5
attorney, Mr.. Ethelbert Ward, admitted
in statement that the defendant g
cattle grazed on the forest reserve ana
that Light knew this to be true. Mr..
Ward, however, depended for his de-
fense largely on attacking the cons,,-
tutionality of the act creating forest
reserves and the attempt of the govern
ment to administer the reserves by
rules and regulations instead of definite
and positive laws passed by congress
and laid great stress upon the theory
that the government, if it would pro-
tect its forests from tresspassers must
first fence the forests and thus comply
with Colorado's 3 fence law.
This latter claim is probably the
strongest argument the cattlemen have
ever advanced in support of their con
tention but in this they seem to lose
sight of the fact that the state law
only applies to subjects of this state
and the people and property over
which the state has direct Jurisdiction
and could not reasonably be construed
as applying to lands over which neither
the state or its citizens have any juris-
diction or control.
So far as the argument goes with
reference to administration by rules
and regulations this should not be tax
en- seriously by any one because to
do so would be to attack the federal
postoffice administration, the United
States land Offices throughout the coun-
try, the ports of customs, the navy de.
partment and numerous other branches
of the government which are admins
tered by cabinet officers or heads of de-
partments under rules and regulations
Of their own making, although the
authority to make such rules and regu-
lstions is delegated to these officials by
congress in precisely the same way as
in the forestry service.
The Post sincerely hopes that this
|ase may be appealed and carried tn
~ hieest court in the land for moth.