The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1911-05-23
Government CON-
trolls THE FORESTS
Especial to the Silver State.)

! cisions handed down by the Supreme
| Court, on May /, concerning the right
of the government to control grazing
on the national forests are of great in
terest to western people, and especial
! ly to the western stockmen. The right
of the government to control its own
lands within the various states and ter.
ritories is so clearly defined that it is
regarded by Secretary Wilson as es
tablishing absolutely the position these
lands occupy under the law 81 am
very sure said Secretary Wilson to-
| day, that the stockmen of the west.
as well as the western people gener-
ally, will accept this decision of the
Supreme Court at its full worth and
that the controversy which has here
tofore existed regarding the right to
use the grazing lands within the va
rious national forests without permit
from the department of agriculture
will be brought to an end.
"The two cases decided were the
so-called Light case, which originated
in Colorado, and the case of the United
States against Grimaud, Carajour and
linda, three California stockmen. In
the Light case one of the principal is
sues joined was on the question wheth-
er the Tense laws of the state must be
complied with in order that the United
States might sustain action for tres
pass on the national forests. The
California case concerned the question
whether violation of the national for
est regulations is punishable as
crime
Light is a Colorado stockman who.
in 1906, turned his cattle loose on pub
lie land adjacent to the Holy Cross
national forest in such way that they
would naturally drift upon national
forest lands. Mr.. Light refused to
take any steps to prevent this and also
refused to take out a grazing permit
1t was maintained by Lights law
yers that, inasmuch as the laws of
Colorado do not allow a private person
any remedy against owners of stock
which stray upon his land unless the
land is fenced, the government is with
out redress. An injunction was Sc
cured from the District Court requir-
ing Mr. Light so to handle his stock
as to prevent them from trespassing
upon the national forest Mr.. Light,
however, refused to do this and, with
the backing of other stockmen of his
state and, eventually, of the state of
Colorado itself, which made a special
appropriation for the purpose, carried
the case up to the Supreme Court for
final decision.
"In the effort to establish the con-
tention that the government was
wrong, not only the validity of the
grazing regulations but the constitu-
tionality of the entire national forest
policy was challenged on every ground
which the counsel representing the
stock interests and the state were able
to raise. The fact that their eonten-
tions were, one after the other, set
aside by clean-cut statements of the
law is a matter of extreme satisfaction
to me. I nevertheless believe that the
stockmen who have so vigorously con-
tested the government s position will
feel that thy have been fairly dealt
with both by the department and the
courts.
SIN the second case. known as the
Grimaud case, the contention of the
stockmen was that the act of congress,
under which the secretary of agricul
4
for the national forests, was unconsti-
tutional in so far as it delegated to the
secretary of agriculture the power to
make rules and regulations and made
violation thereof penal offense.
The unanimous decision of the case is
exceptionally clearcut and final. The
power of congress to authorize the sec
retary to establi1h such regulations
for the administration of these forests
is absolute, the court holding that con
gress had the full power to authorize
the secretary to make these regulations
and enforce them. The punishment
was fixed by congress and the secre-
4 tary's 8 regulations merely provided the
methods of enforcing the law and in
the event of its violation, of applying
/ the penalty fixed by the law. AS the
court in its decision says, the secretary
/ is authorized to regulate the occupan-
I cy and use and to preserve the forests
I from destruction. A violation of
reasonable rules regulating the use and
occupancy of the property is made a
crime, not by the secretary, but by
congress. The statute, not the secre-
tary, fixes the penalty
81 feel very certain the secretary
stated, "now that these questions are
so definitely settled, that we shall have
no further trouble in regulating the
use of national forest ranges by live
stock Indeed we have had very little
for some time. because the stockmen
themselves, although originally inclin-
ed to resent the interference of the
government with their long and uncon-
trolled use of the lands now within
these forests, have, recently, accepted
the situation and are rapidly realizing
that their occupancy of the grazing
lands is vastly more satisfactory under
present conditions than il was in the
old days when these areas were open
to all comers and it was a constant
| st rn nnln to nhtain feed for their