OPINIONS OF HON. CHARLES J. BONAPARTE, OF MARYLAND. APPOINTED DECEMBER 17, 1906. FOREST SERVICE FURNISHING OF INFORMATION RESPECTING THE WORK OF THAT BUREAU. The Forester may lawfully distribute, in typewritten form, brief statements of facts collected by the Forest Service upon the general subject of forestry, the general work of the Forest Service, and the specific subjects for which investigations, tests, and other studies by the Forest Service are authorized by the agricultural appropriation act of May 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 259), not only to the chiefs of the Forest Service division stationed in Washington, D. C., and by mail under frank to inspectors and supervisors in the field, but also to State foresters and agricultural and forestry institutions, to individuals interested in such matters, to newspapers and magazines, etc., especially interested in forestry, and to writers for the newspaper and periodical press, who request or are interested in the information. Such information requested by a newspaper or magazine writer, or publisher, may also lawfully be sent in the form of a letter. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of June 29, in which you state certain facts and request my opinion upon certain questions of law thence arising, as follows: It seems that the Government Forester compiles and proposes to compile from time to time Forest Service information consisting of brief statements of facts, collected by and available in that Service, upon the general subject of forestry, the general work of the Forest Service, and the specific subjects for which investigations, tests, and other studies by the Forest Service are authorized by the agricultural appropriation act of May 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 259), containing these provisions among others: "To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to experiment and to make and continue investigations and report on forestry, * * * to collate, digest, report, illustrate, and print the results of experiments and investigations made by the Forest Service." Typical statements of such information submitted. with your letter relate to the forest policies of the South American republics, their timber and fruit trees, the cultivation of the olive and the orange; to the paper beech and its use in industries; the forest areas of Porto Rico and the plans for putting the same under national administration; the commercial and profitable use of the white fir of the Pacific coast; the facts relating to the advantageous introduction of foreign species of trees, etc. It is proposed to distribute such statements in typewritten form, not only to the chiefs of the Forest Service division stationed in Washington, and by mail under frank to inspectors and supervisors in the field, but also to State foresters and agricultural and forestry institutions, to individuals interested in such matters, and to newspapers and magazines, including trade journals, especially interested in forestry, and to writers for the newspaper and periodical press who request or are interested in the information. Your inquiry is whether the Forester may lawfully distribute information to the individuals and bodies enumerated, in the manner set forth. You also ask whether, "if a single newspaper or magazine writer or publisher requests an article or information for use by him in the preparation of an article, may such information be lawfully sent to the inquirer in the form of a letter?" Section 520, Revised Statutes, provides: "There shall be at the seat of government a Department of Agriculture, the general design and duties of which shall be to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture, in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants." The appropriation act of 1908, above referred to, contains the following provision (p. 259): "Provided further, That no part of this appropriation shall be paid or used for the purpose of paying for in whole or in part the preparation or publication of any newspaper or magazine article, but this shall not prevent the giving out to all persons without discrimination, including newspaper and magazine writers and publishers, of any facts or official information of value to the public." You express the view that in distributing such information as is compiled and sent out by the Forest Service, especially to persons engaged in the practice or study of forestry, and generally to the public at large through the newspapers and magazines, you are fulfilling the primary and fundamental duty imposed upon the Department of Agriculture by the section of the Revised Statutes above quoted. Information thus given out will be accompanied by a notice that it is sent in accordance with the proviso to the appropriation act of 1908 just cited. There will therefore be no discrimination; and you say, further, that no money will be paid on this account to any newspaper or magazine or to any newspaper or magazine writer or publisher, or to any person not regularly employed in the Forest Service. Obviously, such information as has been collated and distributed heretofore and will continue to be sent out is of value to the public, and certainly your determination that it is so, as head of the Department of Agriculture, is conclusive. Under this state of facts I can see no reason to doubt that your conception of your official duty in this respect is legally correct, and that the Forester may lawfully distribute information as proposed; and I am also of opinion that information requested by a newspaper or magazine writer or publisher may lawfully be sent in the form of a letter. Very respectfully, CHARLES J. BONAPARTE. The SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. TREATY WITH MEXICO-DETENTION OF CRIMINALS FOR EXTRADITION. The forty days during which a prisoner may be detained under the terms of Article X of the treaty of February 22, 1899 (31 Stat. 1825), with Mexico, "to await the production of the documents upon which the claim for extradition is founded," must be considered as meaning forty days prior to the production of the documents to the State Department in the United States, or to the corresponding branch of the Mexican Government; and if such documents are thus produced within the forty days, the suspected criminal has no absolute right or release under the treaty, but may be detained for a reasonable additional period to afford time for an investigation into his probable guilt or innocence. If one construction of a treaty assures a reasonable opportunity for each Government to furnish the other the proofs necessary to justify the continued detention of suspected criminals, while another construction facilitates the escape of fugitives from justice and tends to impede the punishment of crime, the former is to be preferred in the absence of compelling words to the. contrary. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, July 10, 1908. SIR: Your note of April 17 transmits a note from the Mexican embassy of the 3d ultimo, requesting a ruling by this Government upon the meaning of that part of Article X of the extradition treaty of 1899, which specifies the period during which fugitives shall be detained pending the production of the documents necessary for the hearing and determination of a demand for extradition; and you request my opinion on this question because of its importance and because of the desirability of uniformity of interpretation on the part of both Governments. Article X of the treaty of extradition with Mexico of February 22, 1899 (31 Stat. 1818, 1825), provides: "On being informed by telegraph or otherwise, through the diplomatic channel, that a warrant has been issued by competent authority for the arrest of a fugitive criminal charged with any of the crimes enumerated in the foregoing articles of this treaty, and on being assured from the same source that a requisition for the surrender of such criminal is about to be made accompanied by such warrant and duly authenticated depositions or copies thereof |