Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-05-02
May Withhold Land or Dispose of il
at Any Time.
FENCE LAWS nor APPLICABLE
Wilful TreSpaSses Not Authorized by
Existing Measures
Ls OF RULES is CRIME
Offens' Against Secretary. but is
Con 20 Laws Of United

wAsHINGi~ ay THE legal battle
against tn 81 at reserves Of the west
IN particular and conservation by the fed
eral government OF, natural resources in
general was lost today in tho supreme
court o. the United States.
That tribunal not only upheld the con-
sututlonality OF the establishment Of the
reserves for any national and public pur-
pose, but II settled once for ali that the
federal government and not the states may
say how the reserves may be- used.
The immediate results Of the conclusion
Of She court are that Fred IAght, a Colo
RADIO catteman, will remain snjolned from
allowing his cattle to Craze on the Holy
Cross forest reserve In Colorado and that
Pierre Gr1maud. X. p. Carjous and Antonio
linda, California shespnen. must answer to
the Indictment charging them with grazing
sheep upon the Sierra forest reserve with
out q permit
The subject was dealt with in two
opinions delivered by Justice Lamar The
entire court oOncurred The basic prin-
oiple upon which no proceeded was that
the nation is an owner and has made
congress the principal agent to dispose OF
Its property"
The United States can prohibit abso-
property may be used. said the justice in
the Colorado case
Private owner Has Protection,
"As It can withhold or reserve the land
II can do 80 indefinitely. II is true the
United States does not and cannot hold
property as monarch may, for private
and personal purposes But that does not
lead 10 the conclusion that It is without
the rights indident to ownership, for
the constitution declares that congress
shall have power to dispose Of and make
all needful rules and regulation respecting
tho territory or property belonging to the
United States
" All tha public lands OF the nation are
held In trust for the people OF the whole
country. and IL IL not for the courts to
say how that trust shall be administered;
that is for congress to determine The
courts cannot cop1pel A. 10 set aside the
lands for settlement. nor TO suffer them
10 be used Tor agricultural or grazing pur-
posesi nor interfere when in the exercise
OF its discretion, congress establishes the
forest reserves for what It decides to be
national and public purposes. In the same
way and In the exercise OF the same trust,
Il may disestablish a reserve and devote
tho property to some other national and
public purpose. Those are rights incident
to prODrietorship. 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 wilful trespasses and
statutes providing that damages done by
animals cannot be recovered unless the
land had been inclosed with a fence Of the
size and material required, do not give per-
mission to the owner of cattle to use his
neighbors land as pasture They are
intended to condone trespasses 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 wanton
and wilful trespasses nor do they afford
immunity to those who in disregard 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
circumstances equivalent 10 driving his
cattle upon the forest reserve"
In the California case Justice Lamar
upheld the rules which the secretary Of
agriculture had promulgated for the con-
Continued on Second Page)