public domain of which they are part. At a time when the Forest Service
is new in the saddle and as yet subjected to the most violent attacks by
the special interests on the floors of Congress, it seems unwise to do
anything that might tend to arouse public opinion against it."

As though to give point to this, there now commenced in Congress that
virulent assault led by some of the Western senators, aimed at the very
life of the Service itself. Allegations of dishonesty, incompetence,
despotism; of depriving the public of its heritage; of the curtailments
of rights and liberties; of folly; of fraud were freely brought forward
and urged with impassioned eloquence. Arguments special to cattlemen, to
sheepmen, to lumbermen, to cordwood men, to pulp men, to power men were
emphasized by all sorts of misstatements, twisted statements, or special
appeals to greed, personal interest and individual policy. To support
their eloquence, senators supposedly respectable did not hesitate boldly
to utter sweeping falsehoods of fact. The Service was fighting for its
very life.

Nevertheless, persistently, the officials proceeded with their
investigations. Bob had conducted his campaign so skilfully against
Samuels that Thorne used him further in similar matters. Little by
little, indeed, the young man was withdrawn from other work. He now
spent many hours with Amy in the little office going over maps and
files, over copies of documents and old records. When he had thoroughly
mastered the ins and outs of a case, he departed with his pack animal
and saddle horse to look the ground over in person.

Since the _eclat_ of the Samuels case, he had little hope of obtaining
relinquishments, nor did he greatly care to do so. A relinquishment
saved trouble in the courts, but as far as avoiding adverse public
notice went, the Samuels affair showed the absolute ineffectiveness of
that method. But by going on the ground he was enabled to see, with his
own eyes, just what sort of a claim was in question, the improvements
that had been made on it, the value both to the claimant and the
Government. Through an interview he was able to gauge the claimant, to
weigh his probable motives and the purity of both his original and
present intentions. A number of cases thus he dropped, and that on no
other than his own responsibility. They were invariably those whose
issue in the courts might very well be in doubt, so that it was
impossible to tell, without