The Holly chieftain., 1911-05-05
SUPREME COURT RULES GOVERN
MENT ALONE HAS POWER
OVER PUBLIC LANDS
TRESPASSERS LIABLE
PUBLIC LANDS OF NATION ARE
HELD IN TRUST FOR
WHOLE COUNTRY

Washington = TIE legal battle
against the forest reserves Of the
West in particular and federal CON
servstion OF natural resources in gen
eral was lost in the Supreme Court
of the United States.
That tribunal not only upheld the
constitutionality Of the establishment
of the reserves for any national and
public purpose. bur il settled once for
all that the federal government and
not the states, may say how the re-
serves shall be used.
The immediate results OF the deci-
sion are that Fred Light, Colorado
cattleman. will remain enioined from
allowing his cattle TO Craze on the
Holy Cross forest reservation in Colo
rado and that Pierre Grimaud, K. P.
Carajous and Antonio linda, California
sheep men must answer TO the indict-
ment charging them with grazing
sheep upon the Sierra forest reserve
without permit
The subject was dealt with in two
opinions delivered BY Justice Lamar.
The entire court concurred. The basic
principle upon which he proceeded
was that the nation is an owner and
has made Congress the principal
agent 10 dispose of its property"
The United States can prohibit
absolutely and fix the terms on which
its property may be used" said the
justice in the Colorado case. "As i.
can withhold or reserve the land, it
can do SO indefinitely as a monarch
may, for private and personal pur-
poses But that does not lead to the
conclusion that ii Is without the
rights incident to ownership, for the
constitution declares that Congress
shall have power to dispose of and
make all needful rules and regula-
tions respecting the territory or prop
erty belonging to the United States
".All the public lands Of the nation
are held in trust for the people of the
whole country And it is not for the
courts to say how that trust shall be
administered: that is for Congress to
determine The courts cannot com
pei it to set aside the lands for set
tlement nor to suffer them to be used
for agricultural or grazing purposes;
Nor interfere when in the exercise Of
its discretion, Congress establishes
the forest reserves for what ii de-
cides to be national and public pur-
poses.
In the same way and in the exer-
else OF the same trust it may discs
tablish reserve and devote the prop
erty 10 some other national and pub
lie purposes. Those are rights Incl
dent to proprietorship to say nothing
of the power of the United States as a
sovereign over the property belonging
to it {.
Even a private owner should be
entitled to protection against willful
trespasses, and statutes providing
that damages done By animals can
not be recovered unless the land had
been inclosed with fence of the
size and material required, do not
give permission to the owner of cat
tie to use his neighbor's land as a
pasture.
They are intended TO condone tres
passes by straying cattle; they have
no application to cases where they are
driven upon unfenced land in order
that they may feed there.
Fence laws do not authorize wan
ton and willful trespasses nor do they
afford immunity TO those who, in dis
regard of property rights, turn loose
their cattle under circumstances
showing that they were intended to
Craze upon the land of another. This
the defendant did under circum.
stances equivalent TO driving his cat