Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-05-22
WILSON ON GRAZING DECISION
Secretary Discusses Opinion of Court
on Control of National Forests.
POWERS OF CONGRESS ABSOLUTE
Contention Taken by Department of
Agriculture ReGardinE Pasture
within Reserve Upheld In
Every Respect.

WASHINGTON. May H-Cspecisl.)-The
decisions handed down by the supreme
court on May l, concerning the right OF the
government TO control grazing on the ma
tional forests are Of great interest to west
ern people. and especially to the western
stockmen. The right Of the government 70
control its own lands within the various
states and territories Is 30 clearly defined
that it is regarded by Secretary Wilson as
establishing absolutely the position these
lands occupy under the law. Il am very
sure" said Secretary Wilson today, that
the stockmen Of the west, as well as the
western people generally, will accept this
decision of the supreme court at lite fun
worth and that the controversy which
has heretofore existed regarding the right
to use the grazing lands within the various
national forests without permit from the
Department OF Agriculture will be brought
TO an end.
Two Cases Reviewed.
THE two cases decided were the So
called Light case, which originated In Col
orado, and the case OF the United States
against Grimaud. Carajous, and linda,
three California stockmen. In the LAght
case one Of the principal issues Joined was
on the question whether the fence laws of
the state must be complied with in order
that the United States might sustain &C
ton for trespass on the national forests.
The California case concerned the question
whether violation of tho national forest
regulations il punishable as a crime
Light is a Colorado stockman who, IN
1906 turned his cattle loose on public
land adjacent 20 the Holy Cross national
forest in such a way that they would nat
urally drift upon national forest lands Mr..
Light refused TO take any steps to pre-
vent this and also refused To take out a
grazing permit. II was maintained by
Lights lawyers 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 il
fenced, the government is without redress
An Injunction was secured from the dis
trict court requiring Mr.. Light 20 to ham
die his stock as to prevent 1t from tres
passing up the national forest Mr.. LAght.
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 70 the
supreme court for final decision.
"In the effort to establish the contention
that the government was wrong, not only
the validity of the grazing regulations
but the constitutionality of the entire ma
tionRl forest policy was challenged on
every ground which the counsel represent
ing the stock interests and the state were
able to raise. The fact that their con-
tentions were. one after the other. set
aside by clear cut statements of the law
is matter Of extreme satisfaction to me-
nevertheless believe that the stockmen
who have so vigorously contested the gov
ernment's position will feel that they haze
been fairly dealt with, both by the depart
ment ana the courts.
I'm the second case known as the Orr
maud case, the contention OF the stock
men was that the act of congress under
which the secretary OF agriculture is au-
thorized to make regulations for the ma
tionRl forests was unconstitutional insofar
as II delegated TO the secretary of agricul-
ture the power to make rules and regula-
lions and made a violation thereof a penal
offense. The unanimous decision Of the
case Is exceptionally clear cut and final
The power of congress TO authorize the
secretary to establish such regulations for
the administration OF these forests Is ebso-
lutte, the court holding that congress had
the full power to authorize the secretary
to make these regulations and enforce
them. The punishment was fixed by con-
gress and the secretary's regulations
merely provided the methods Of enforcing
the law, and. in the event OF It's violation,
OF applying the penalty fixed by the law.
AS the court in fits decision says, the secre-
tary is authorized to regulate the oc-
cupancy and use and to preserve the
forests 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 secretary, fixes the
penalty"
Questions Definitely Settled.
II 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, be-
cause the stockmen themselves although
originally inclined to resent the interfer-
enoe Of the government with their long
and uncontrolled use of the lands now
within these forests, have, recently. ac-
cepted the situation and are rapidly reallz-
Ing that their occupancy of these grazing
lands is vastly more satisfactory under