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Show plG SHEEPMAN ; ACCUSES FORESTERS i ,VilIiam Danvers of Fonte-nelle Fonte-nelle Brings Charges Against Service. RAUDS ARE ALLEGED Controversy . Over Grazing Permits May Be Basis of Federal Court Action. pedal to The Tribune, , OQD&N, Sejptj 2. A complaint to he federal courts containing serious harges against the national forest eerv-:e eerv-:e and officials of that department in harge of the Fourth district may be he outcome of a controversy between he service and William Panvere, a heepman of FonteneLle, Lincoln county, Vvo., as a result of the stockman's aabiHty to obtain a sheep grazing ermit for the Wyoming national orest. An affidavit bv Danvers charg ng collusion between the torest serv-e serv-e officials and certain holders of gra-nv gra-nv permits, false statements and fraud i obtaiuing grazing permits is now be-ig be-ig made the basis of a public attack bv he stockman upon the government ot-cials. ot-cials. . . So persistent has been Daners in his ttack that the matter has not only een threshed out from top to bottom f the forest service, but has been ap-ealed ap-ealed to D. F. Houston, secretary of he department of agriculture, and nallv to President Wood row WUson. n each case the action of the forest erviee has been sustained, and it is for his reason that Danvers has taken up he campaign of publicity and threatens ction in the federal courts. jitter Feeling Evident. Although the disapproval by the orest service of Danvers 's application """or grazing permits occurred in 1911, fhe stockman did not open his attack "'pon the forest service until about one ear ago. Since that time there has een an endless chain of official corre-londence corre-londence in the matter, until the ) Veords of the case on file in the local Tfice of the Fourth district comprise We than 100 typewritten pages. lany of the letters written by Danvers 3 Ve couched in bitter terms, esp-ecially "lose in reference to Homer K. Fenn. ! issistant district forester in charge ot razing. The culmination of the charges by ' Je Wyoming sheepman are contained Lh an affidavit sworn to by him before , S. Christmas, a notary public at rTontenelle. Wvo., on June 30. 1915. It . j bv means o'f this affidavit that Dan-? Dan-? lers has carried his case to Secretary I Houston and President Wilson. ubstance of Charges. In part the allegations of the docu-j docu-j lent are: That In 1910 he was refused a per-limit per-limit to graze 60 head of sheep on 'the Wyoming national forest and that in 191 1 he was refused a permit for i-5S0 sheep. , That the reasons given as grounds i.!for t'he refusal were intentionally " false; that after the matter had been . taken up an entirely different reason ! was given bv the district forester, who admitted' affiant was qualified, -but that there was no racge avail-r-able. That upon his attention being called to permits being obtained by p j fraud no proper investigation was made. A That a permit was issued in 1913 -'to James Malloy of Opal, Lincoln county. Wyoming, and reissued in 1914 for 95 head of sheep and that records of Lincoln county showed Mallov to own neither sheep nor real -estate : that the records show the lands upon which this permit was obtained to be ownefl by other parties par-ties and that the affiant knows of his own personal knowledge that the sheep were sold May 1, 1913. legation of Fraud. That this permit was in possession of and made use of by M. A.Thomas; ' - that tills fraud was accomplished with the knowledge and assistance of H. E. Fenn. chief of grazing in dietrict No. 4. and Supervisor J. E. Jewell; that Fenn was ordered to get in touch .with this affiant and learn details of ; .complaint: that Fenn failed so to do, and that his reasons for not so doing as given to H. S. Graves are absolutely abso-lutely false. That In 1911 a permit was Issued to Rathbun brothers for 720 head of sheep; that said Rathbun brothers owned no sheep at the time, but that - the sheep gTazed under this permit were owned by one Harriett Emerson of Ogden; that these same sheep are being run at present under this same permit ; that the legal description of -the Emerson sheep and thai under which the Rathbun sheep permit Is issued are identical. 1 7 That these facts have all been available avail-able to the officials of district No. 4, and that such investigations as were made were farcical and were made solely to cover these frauds. That H. E. Fenn and Supervisor "Jewell cotispired to prevent the af-gjlfiant af-gjlfiant from obtaining a grazing permit. per-mit. Showing of Records. The records of the case show that on . -ipril 19. 1911. James E, Jewell, then ' pervisor of the Wyoming national for-- for-- t, but who has since died, informed Jjt'nvers his application for grazing &30 eep in 1911 was disapproved under the , gulatlons regarding class A applicants-i applicants-i class A applicant Is defined as a small rfar-by owner of land, a person living or close to the national forest and vning an improved ranch, who is de- ndent upon the uae of national forest nge. The supervisor reported that ac-v.rding ac-v.rding to the application of Danvers s land produced neither hay nor grain. ;'A. r McCain reported from his Infection In-fection of the Wyoming forest that ' anvers owned no agricultural land, hile Malloy 's application claimed 1m-oved 1m-oved farming land which had produced venty tons of hay per season. These ports were further based upon the re- poii of Fred lii'Aham, isnaar, who i portejd m March) 1411, that Dtrrvere owned a bomtetemd of lth acres contuln-Lnjj contuln-Lnjj i to euluwttel land; that It had no water and Improvement! oonilttlrtf, of Onb alu'cp stunU, t'oriHls, and wu fein ed with three wires. The runtier was doubt ful about 1 1 h 1 1 ii k Dunvttra In chtsn A. Malloy. accord I u to i Irabu id's report, owned ft0aOrOI ot laud, which hud produced pro-duced levari ty tOM Of lui.v. and that he VrtJ uniu8t loimbly in flasa A as an up- . pUoajii for foreat iun. wither appii- cam had requested to grate sheep prior to 9ll. It was reported!. Refusal Explained. In u letter dated August 1914, A. v.. Mct'aln, ucting district forester. Informed In-formed (tamers that his application 'or range In 10U w.i turned down in favor oi Mallo . htvaUHc the ud Isoi v board of the Uinta Count v WooUi ow oi V association associa-tion In special meeting ut Cokevllle, Wyo.. April f, 1911. had approved Malloy e application. ap-plication. At that time there was rang available for 1193 sheep, to be dlstributn.l among fourteen olaai a applicant after the approved application had been granted. grant-ed. The regulations for grn.lng provide for an annual reduction of from 10 to 20 per cent In the approved applications for the benefit of the class A sheapmtn. When range bud been approved by the association advisory board for thirteen or the Claai A applicants. M alloy's nn me appeared In fourteenth, order. The name of Danvers was next. Thin is the acting district forester's reference to the decision: deci-sion: U was understood by all that neither nei-ther yourself (Danvers) nor Mr. Malloy Mal-loy raised either hay or grain, and it was therefore necessary lo make a close decision. The permit was given giv-en tO Mr, Mallov because agricultural atue of Jiis land had been proved bevond a doubt, while yours produced neither hay nor grain. It Is regretted t hat botli permits could not be granted. FosslMv vou would have g-otten permits per-mits had you applied in 1912. 1913 and 1914. but vou have made no application ap-plication since 1911. in 1911 Malloy applied for permit to graze lf3f and was granted permit for 600; in 1913 6t0 and got 6fto; in 1913. (too and got 972: In 1911, lofl and got 950. Explanation by Thomas. This report also contained a denial from M. A. Thomas that he had bought the Malloy sheep, but that he was grazing them under a leasing arrangement because be-cause of a mortgage and Mallov s poor health. After more correspondence with various officials of the foreat service Danvers Dan-vers wrote to" the national forester and In August, 1914. L. F. Knelpp. now forester for-ester In the Fourth district, advised the acting district forester from the Washington Wash-ington office to present a concise statement state-ment of the controversy. He expressed surprise at the time that Danvers had waited three years to make his complaint. com-plaint. After considering the report submitted Kneipp wrote to the district forester on .September 1. 1914. expressing satisfaction over the action of the district officials and asaertlng that no trouble would be had in making a satisfactory explanation to any ofNelal of the federal government who might desire to investigate. Considerable correspondence followed, in which the forest officials obtained affidavits af-fidavits from various eitiaens of Lincoln county. Wyoming, tending to show that Malloy owned the sheep for which he had obtained grazing permits, and that the Wyoming forest supervisor had acted In accordance with the regulations In recommending rec-ommending Malloy's application, it was also shown In the affidavits that white Rathbun brothers were leasing soma 600 head of, sheep from Mrs. Emerson, they had also purchased more than fifWi head from a bankrupt sheep firm and were running only their own sheep under a permit granting forest range for about 1000 head. Bills of sale and other documents docu-ments were filed with the forest officials at the time to prove this. There Is also a report from Fenn showing that he made a trip to Fontenelle to see Danvers. but that the sheepman was thirty miles away on a sheep range. Danvers Fights On. During the early months of this year Danvers devoted his attention to obtaining obtain-ing records of the case, at one time complaining com-plaining to the secretary of agriculture that the forest officials were withholding information. He charged that Charles A. Beam, supervisor of the Wyoming forest, for-est, with headquarters at Afton. Wyo.. had insisted on his making a trip to that place, a distance Oi 200 mile's, to obtain copies of records that would have required only twenty - minutes to make. When the complaint was given to the national forest service for consideration, W. B. Greeley, acting associate forester, referred it to L. F. Kneipp, who had been appointed forester for the Fourth district, for further consideration. On the recommendation rec-ommendation of this official the forest supervisor furnished to Danvers copies of applications for gcazing permits as made by MaUoy in 1914. and also E. J. Brandly In 1909. Carries Up Complaint. These copies and the affidavit swern to by Danvers on June 17 of this year were made the basis of the sheepman's complaint to Secretary Houston, tli reply re-ply to which, under date of June 23, 1915, is as follows: I have reviewed the records of your case and find that your affidavit is simply a reiteration of former statements state-ments which have been fully Investigated Investi-gated by the district forester at Ogden. Og-den. Utah, and replied to both by the district forester and forester In detail, and 1 fall to find a single instance where the grazing regulations and instructions in-structions have not been fully complied com-plied with In handling your case. Therefore there does not appear to be any necessity for further investigation investi-gation by a representative of this office, and no investigation will be made. (Signed) D. P. HOUSTON, Secretary. The next com pla i n t by Dan v a rs wa s addressed to President Wilson, a copy of his affidavit and the letter from Secretary Sec-retary Houston being Inclosed In a letter of July 'la, 1915. and sent through Frank W. Mondeli, the Wyoming congressman. Danvers advised the congressman that the complaint was an appeal from the decision of the secretary of agriculture, and requested Congressman Mondeli to look over the content a thoroughly, "so you may be able to learn something of the methods of the forest service In an attempt to drive from business any person per-son on whom their displeasure falls," Is Again Referred, Danvers's letter of complaint was transmitted to President Wilson and was apparently referred to C. F. Marvin, acting act-ing secretary of agriculture, who sent the following letter to the sheepman under date of August 6, last: The charges set forth In your affidavit affi-davit have already been fully replied to by letters from the forester, associate asso-ciate forester and district forester, sustaining tJie action taken In your case. Since their action is strictly in accordance with the grazing regulations regu-lations and Instructions governing the national forests, the decision rendered in the secretary's letter of June 23 is sustained. District Forester Kneipp declares that, while the case seems to have been handled to the entire satisfaction of the.national forester and the secretary of agriculture, he ia not averse to presenting the facts In any other Inquiry desired. In the matter of the public campaign inaugurated inaugu-rated by the Wyoming sheepman against the forest service the local district forester for-ester has thrown open the recordjs to . any person desiring to Investigate, with j the department restrictions that the records rec-ords be not removed from the office. |
