It is the purpose of the Forest Service to protect the lands of the United States within the National Forests from acquisition by those who do not seek them for purposes recognized by law. When it is apparent that an entry or a claim is not initiated in good faith and in compliance with the spirit of the law under which it was asserted, but is believed from the facts to be a subterfuge to acquire title to timber land, or to control range privileges, water, a water-power site, or rights of way; or if it otherwise interferes with the interests of the National Forests in any way, the Forest Service recommends a contest, even if the technical requirements of the law appear to have been fulfilled. It is bad faith, for instance, to hold a mining or agricultural claim primarily for the timber thereon or to acquire a site valuable for water power development. _The National Forest Homestead Act._ At the present time there is very little, if any, fraud connected with the Forest Homestead Act because the land is classified before it is opened to entry. The greater part of the work dealing with fraudulent claims is a relic of the old régime. Before the Forests were established many Homestead and Timber and Stone entries were made for the purpose of securing valuable timber. A large number of persons resorted to settlement in order to secure the preference right. It was the common custom in those days for land cruisers to locate men on heavily timbered land either before or immediately after survey and before the filing of the plats and the opening of the land to entry. A cabin would be built upon the land and some unsubstantial improvements made. When the National Forests were created they contained great numbers of these squatters' cabins. Many were abandoned but others attempted to secure title. Under the old Timber and Stone Act timber could be secured for $2.50 per acre, but the National Forests are not subject to entry under this act. So as a last resort the squatters tried to prove up on the land under the Homestead law. When the Forests were created the Service found a great many of these fraudulent claims on their books, many of which were being brought up annually for patent. Between December, 1908, and June 30, 1913, a total of 498 entries for National Forest land were canceled in a single administrative district. These entries represented fraudulent efforts to secure title to 85,906 acres of National Forest land for speculative purposes, involving nearly a billion feet of merchantable timber. During the fiscal year 1913 alone 300,000,000 board feet of merchantable timber in one district was retained in public ownership primarily because the Forest officers brought out the facts. The lands in all cases were covered with heavy stands of timber, very small portions of the land had been cleared, the claimant's residence on the land was not in compliance with the law, seldom was any crop raised on the land, and the claimant