SEC. 6. Nothing herein contained shall restrict the use of any water on public lands within such grazing districts for mining, milling, domestic, or irrigation purposes, or the granting of easements or permits therefor under existing laws; or ingress or egress over the public lands in said district for all proper and lawful purposes, including the use and enjoyment of rights and property or prospecting, locating, developing, entering, leasing, or patenting the mineral resources of such districts under laws applicable thereto; or the movement of livestock from one locality to another over established driveways or under such restrictions as are necessary to protect the users of the land which will be driven across: Provided, That such persons comply with the rules and regulations governing such grazing district or districts.

SEC. 7. The Secretary is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to examine and classify, within grazing districts, any lands which are irrigable from any known source of water supply or are valuable and suitable for the production of crops other than native grasses and forage plants, and to open such lands to homestead entry in tracts not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in area; but such lands shall remain parts of the grazing district until patents are issued.

SEC. 8. The Secretary shall give reasonable notice by publication in newspapers of local circulation and fix a date which shall not be more than one year from the establishment of any grazing district, and after such date the pasturing of any class of livestock on public lands in said grazing district without permit or any other act in violation of the rules and regulations of the Secretary herein authorized to be provided, shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 9. Where such action will promote the purposes of the grazing district or facilitate its administration, the Secretary be, and he hereby is, authorized, in his discretion, to accept on behalf of the United States any lands within the exterior boundaries of a grazing district as a gift, or in exchange therefor may patent not to exceed an equal value of reserved or unreserved grazing land.

SEC. 10. Where the objects and purposes of this act can be most effectively and economically accomplished by the addition to national forests of lands of the character herein described, the President may, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, and he is hereby authorized, subject to the provisions of section 1 of this act, add such lands to national forests by proclamation or Executive order, and the lands so added shall be subject to all laws and regulations applicable to the national forests; or the President may, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, add lands now within the limits of national forests chiefly valuable for grazing to the grazing districts authorized under this act, and lands so added shall be subject to this act and to regulations approved hereunder.

SEC. 11. (a) There is hereby established in the Department of the Interior a board to be known as the Board of Grazing Appeals (hereinafter referred to as the board), to be composed as follows:

(1) Two members who shall represent the Department of the Interior and shall be officers or employees of the United States serving in such department, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior.

(2) Two members who shall represent the livestock-grazing industry, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior from persons whose names are submitted to him by livestock associations under regulations prescribed by the Secretary.

(3) The four members thus appointed shall select a fifth member of the board, who shall represent the public.

(b) One of the members first appointed by the Secretary shall be appointed by him for a term of two years, one for a term of three years, one for a term of four years, one for a term of five years, from the date of the passage of this act. The selected member of his successors shall serve for a term of one year. Thereafter the term of each appointed member of such board shall be four years, except that any individual chosen to fill a vacancy in the office of an appointed director occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed, shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of such predecessor. Any vacancy in the board shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment and shall not impair the power of the remaining members to exercise the functions of the board. The members representing the livestock-grazing industry and the public shall serve without compensation except reimbursement for travel, subsistence, and

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other necessary expenses incurred in the performance of the duties vested in them by this act. The members representing the Department of the Interior shall serve without compensation except that received for their service in such department and reimbursement for travel, subsistence, and other necessary expenses incurred in the performance of the duties vested in them by this act.

(c) The board shall meet on the call of the Secretary of the Interior and at such places as he may determine.

(d) The Secretary of the Interior shall furnish the board with such clerical assistance, quarters, stationery, furniture, office equipment, and other supplies as may be necessary for the performance of the duties vested in them by this act.

(e) The expenditures of the board shall be paid upon vouchers approved by the board signed by the chairman thereof. For the expenditures of the board for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1926, and annually thereafter, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $5,000.

SEC. 12. (a) Appeals may be taken by any owner of livestock grazed upon the public lands, from any administrative order, action, or decision in respect of

(1) The revocation of permits to graze livestock on a grazing district; and (2) The making or reductions in the number of livestock admitted to a grazing district under a grazing permit.

(b) The board shall make such investigations as it may deem necessary for arriving at a just determination of the matter brought before it on appeal. Decisions of the board on any such appeal shall be final.

(c) While an appeal is pending before the board and before final decision is rendered by the board no action shall be taken by the Secretary of the Interior to enforce any order, action, or decision from which the I appeal is taken.

SEC. 13. The board shall make such regulations as it deems necessary for the efficient administration of its functions under this act.

On February 1, 1926, Hon. Hubert Work, Secretary of the Interior, submitted the following report on S. 2584 to Hon. Robert N. Stanfield, chairman Committee on Public Lands and Surveys:

Hon. ROBERT N. STANFIELD,

Chairman Committee on Public Lands and Surveys,

FEBRUARY 1, 1926.

United States Senate.

MY DEAR SENATOR STANFIELD: I have your request, under date of January 18, 1926, for report on Senate bill 2584, having for its stated purposes promotion of the development, protection, and utilization of grazing facilities on public lands, and stabilization of the range stock-raising industry.

The bill, in so far as it relates to the unappropriated and unreserved public lands, provides for the establishment of grazing districts on petition, allocation of grazing rights, under contract, by the register of the United States land office for the district in which the land is situated, from whose action an appeal may be prosecuted to a State grazing board, and all subject to appeal to, and supervisory control by, the Secretary of the Interior.

With respect to certain grazing lands within the national forests, similar procedure is provided for, except that original action is had by an employee of the Forest Service, designated a supervisor, and supervisory control is imposed upon the Secretary of Agriculture.

Title II of the bill, dealing with the unappropriated, unreserved public lands, is made applicable to the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah, and Title III relating to national forests, includes Washington and Wyoming in addition to the States named above.

There are 24 district land offices in the States named in Title II and 124 national forests in the States named in Title III. Under the provisions of the act, therefore, there would be 148 officials having original jurisdiction over the allocation of grazing privileges and the issuance of contracts therefor. For each of the 11 States there is provided a State grazing board to have immediate supervisory and appellate jurisdiction over the registers and

supervisors. Each board is to be composed of three members, residents of the State, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Section 407 (a) purports to confer broad appellate jurisdiction upon the Secretary of the Interior over the action of these boards with respect to the public lands. It will be observed, however, that appeal may be taken to the Secretary only from a decision of the board rendered on an appeal made to the board under Title II." Under Title II, section 216 (a), appeal may be made to the board from the action of the register in only three classes of cases, to wit: (1) Alteration of a grantee's grazing privilege, (2) termination of a contract before the expiration thereof, and (3) refusal to renew a contract.

The Secretary's appellate jurisdiction is, therefore, a mere shadow of authority, which could not be invoked in connection with the actual disposition of grazing privileges, but only in cases of proposed alteration, termination, or refusal to renew grazing privileges already granted. Furthermore, paragraph (b) of said section 407 provides that the action of the board in approving any contract for grazing privileges shall be final and no appeal shall be had, thus depriving the Secretary of any vestige of real authority. This, it seems to me, is a wholly unwise and unwarranted surrender of the Government's power and duty to control its own lands in the best interest of all the people.

Section 503 (a) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to appoint such employees as may be needed, in accordance with the civil-service laws, and to make all such expenditures as may be necessary efficiently to execute the provisions of the bill. No appropriation is provided.

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The bill is subject to the general objection that it is restrictively regulatory; it confers governmental supervisory powers, but materially minimizes them by the imposition of limitations, some of which should be left to regulation. Under Title II, section 202 (a), the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to establish grazing districts, but only after a petition is filed as provided in section 203." Therefore, the Secretary is without power to establish a grazing district unless he is petitioned to do so, and under section 203 (a) only livestock raisers who have used lands in the proposed district for grazing purposes may qualify to sign such petition, and it must be signed by a majority of the persons so qualified.

It is hardly necessary to suggest that a provision whereby the Secretary of the Interior may be prevented by a small minority from taking an action necessary to make effective the primary purposes of the bill and render its benefits available to the public is self-condemned. It may be assumed that the Secretary would give due consideration to the equities of those who had used the range, and any legislation dealing with the public grazing lands should authorize the Secretary to do so, but the establishment of grazing districts should be left to his discretion, unhampered by local interests. Surely, as might well be the case, a few persons who have for years controlled a large range area of public land and had its free use should not be permitted to perpetuate that control, as against the general public, merely by refraining from applying for establishment of a grazing district.

While the purpose of section 203 (b) is not entirely clear, it seems to contemplate that the Secretary should make no investigation of the facts stated in a petition for the esablishment of a grazing district, provided that it is signed by the required number of persons qualified to sign. I consider this inadvisable, as it is the duty of the Secretary to consider the rights and needs of entire communities, and his judgment should be predicated upon the most careful investigation and not the mere statements of a few persons who may possibly be influenced by selfish personal interest.

The fact that the greater portion of the remaining public lands is grazing in character has created the need for legislation governing its use, but provisions of the character just mentioned and other similar restrictions go a long way toward removing the public domain from the control of the Federal Government and placing it in the hands of local interests.

The bill provides that after the establishment of grazing districts the administration thereof, subject to certain restrictions, shall be in charge of the register of the land district in which the grazing district is situated; he is required to determine the grazing capacity of the various areas within the district which might properly be made a grazing unit, to fix fees, to make necessary inspections of the range, and provide rules and regulations; he must

receive and consider all applications for grazing contracts, allocate the range to the respective applicants, give notices, and receive protests or appeals to the State board.

The register is now the sole executive officer of the district land office, the office of receiver having been abolished by statute and his duties imposed upon the register. Within the last two years the number of district land offices has been reduced by half and only such employees retained in the consolidated offices as are absolutely necessary to the proper conduct of the public business. Under these circumstances the duties imposed upon the register by the proposed legislation would seriously interfere with his ability to function in the capacity for which he was appointed; while his acts would be subject to supervision by the State board and, to a limited extent, by the Secretary of the Interior, his original jurisdiction would be broad, and the advisability of lodging such powers in an official who is a political appointee and subject to the local influences naturally incidental thereto is at least subject to serious question.

The value to the public service of a district land office register is largely dependent upon his personal presence at the district office, and it is apparent that the new duties proposed for him would not only seriously interfere with those for which he is now responsible in this office but might frequently necessitate absences for considerable periods. Under any legislation of this character it is likely that the register would have a working part, but I believe that this should be limited to the receipt and notation of papers, the collection of fees and accounting therefor, and appropriate recommendations in the matter of granting grazing contracts.

The next jurisdictional step is to the State boards, of which, as has been stated, there will be 11, consisting of three members each, all residents of the State in which their respective board functions. These boards, without Government representation, are given broad powers, and any member thereof may subpoena witnesses and require the production of books, papers, documents, correspondence, and other evidence from any place within the United States at any place designated for a hearing. In my opinion, such an organization or group of organizations for the administration of the proposed law is entirely too cumbersome and will not function satisfactorily. Policies must, to a certain extent, be governed by local conditions, but there should be a certa n uniformity of action that can hardly be expected of 11 boards, distinctively local as to their respective States, on which the Government is not represented and over the actions of which it may exercise only a limited control. A desirable uniformity of policy, uninfluenced by local prejudices or conditions not germane thereto, can be accomplished, in my opinion, only by a single organization responsible to the Federal Government. Such an organization, as will be discussed hereinafter, need not be of new or independent creation, but may be molded largely from present employees of the Government and thus accomplish the purposes of the legislation more effectively and with less expense to the Government.

The expenses of these State boards are to be paid by the Government, and it will be observed that while the members are to serve without a fixed salary, they would be entitled to a per diem "for attending meetings and otherwise executing the functions of the board," and in addition each member shall receive actual and necessary traveling and subsistence expenses while away from his official residence in the performance of his duties. Section 502 also provides that the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agrciulture shall furnish each board with such clerical assistance, quarters, stationery, furniture, office equipment, and other supplies as are necessary for the efficient execution of the functions vested in them.

Section 453, United States Revised Statutes, provides that:

"The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall perform, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, all executive duties appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States, or in anywise respecting such public lands, and, also, such as relate to private claims of land, and the issuing of patents for all grants of land under the authority of the Government."

For more than a century the General Land Office has administered the laws governing the disposition and use of the public lands, and in its custody are all the records relating thereto. It has a force trained in the interpretation of these laws and, among other things, qualified to determine the status and

availability of lands which might be affected by the proposed legislation. While, of necessity, the General Land Office would need be availed of as an office of record and status, the bill under consideration not only fails to confer upon the commissioner of that office any administrative function in connection with its operation but deprives him of all jurisdiction by providing for appeals from actions by the State boards directly to the Secretary of the Interior.

I have mentioned only the more material objections to the method proposed for the administration of this bill if enacted into law, but I am confident they will be accepted as sufficient to bar its enactment, particularly in the light of the immediate availability of an organization competent to do the work more efficiently, under Government control, and with less expense.

The General Land Office has successfully dealt with the adjustment of enormous railroad grants, with grants to the States for school and other purposes and under the swamp land act, with State reclamation projects under the Carey Act and irrigation districts, disposition of revested Oregon and California railroad and Coos Bay wagon-road lands and timber under the acts of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218), February 26, 1919 (40 Stat. 1179), and June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 758), for the development of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas, and sodium.

That office has available a force of trained inspectors in the field, familiar with the location and character of the' public lands in the States affected by this bill and equipped with an extensive knowledge, impartially acquired, of local conditions and needs, which would enable them readily to report the facts having a material bearing on the establishment of grazing districts and the allocation of grazing rights.

With this organized material available, I see no good reason for the estab lishment of the State boards provided for by the bill, nor for a procedure prescribed and limited by law. The proposed law can be effectively administered along the same general lines now followed in the administration of the other public land laws, particularly the mineral leasing act, with the district land office as the office for original filing and transmittal to the General Land Office; the latter office to do the detail work in connection with the establishment of districts and issuance of contracts, securing such material facts as may be needed through its field inspection force, and subject to the general supervision of the Secretary of the Interior through regulations prescribed by him, and through appeal or by way of approval or disapproval of the commissioner's acts or recommendations.

In the ascertainment of the varying needs of different communities the Secretary of the Interior would naturally avail himself of such information as might be obtainable from interested individuals and organizations representing the cattle industry, as well as other interests involved, and there is little reason to doubt but that he would be given a complete and voluntary presentment of local conditions without the creation of expensive and permanent boards.

The bill is not made applicable to Alaska, though regulation of grazing in that Territory has become an absolute necessity. The chief means of livelihood of the Alaska natives is the raising of reindeer. It is estimated that there are now about 400,000 reindeer in the Territory, of which about two-thirds belong to the natives. The latter are subjected to a certain degree of encroachment on the part of the white residents, and both interests permit overgrazing. Once destroyed, it required about 20 years for the range to renew itself. Effort to secure special legislation of this character for the Territory has been suspended on the assumption that its needs would be cared for in any general legislation on the subject, and this should be done.

I have made no special comment concerning Title III, which particularly affects national forest lands. and concerning which it is suggested that the views of the Secretary of Agriculture be obtained. It is noted, however, that section 302 proposes a declaration of policy to the effect that the protection and development of uncultivated grasses and forage plants in the national forests and the utilization of such grasses and plants for grazing purposes shall be considered as one of the purposes for which such forests are established and maintained. I am opposed generally to the inclusion of grazing lands in national forests, and as such a declaration of policy is not essential to a proper administration of national forest lands, but would merely have the effect of giving legislative sanction to diminution of the grazing lands on the public domain, as well as the segregation of such areas from disposition under