The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-03-23
A Homestead Bill has Passed the
House.

We rejoice to learn from Washington,
that on Monday last, the 18th inst, bill
granting homesteads to actual settlers upon
the public lands, passed the House of Rep
resentatives, by vote of la yeas to e.
nays. This bill provides that any person
who is the head of family, or who has
arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and
who is a citizen of the United States, or
shall have declared his intention to become
such, shall be entitled to enter at the U. S.
Land Offices, free of cost, 16O acres of pub
lie lands, upon which such person may have
filed presumption claim, or which, at the
time such application is made, shall be SUBJ
ject to presumption at $l.25 per acre. The
settler in lieu of l60 acres at $l.25 per
acre, has the privilege of selecting eighty
acres of lands, the minimum price of which
is $3.50 per acre.
Under the act, no certificate or patent is
to be issued until the expiration of five
years from the date of the entry. We quote
the following from one of the homestead
bills introduced in the House, which, We
judge, by the muddy telegraph announcing
the passage Of the bill, is in the act which
finally passed. 1t refers to the rights
accruing to the heirs or devisee of the ORR
ginal claimant of the land:
No certificate shall be given or patent issued
thereof, until the expiration of five years from
the date of such entry, and if, at the expiration
of such time, or within two years thereafter,
the person making such entry, or, if he be dead,
his widow, or, in ease of her death, his heirs or
devisee, or, in case of a widow making such
entry, her heirs or devsee, in case of her death,
shall prove by two credible witnesses, that he,
she or they have continued to reside upon and
cultivate said land. and still reside upon the
same, and have not alienated the same or any
part thereof; then, in such case, he, she or
they, if at that time citizen of the United
States, SHALL on the payment of ten dollars be
for by law. And provided further, in case of
the death of father and mother, leaving an in.
FAINT child or children under twenty-one years
of age, the right and fee shall enure to the ben.
eft of said child or children and the executor.
administrator, or guardian may, at any time
within two years after the death of the surviv-
ing parent, and in accordance with the laws of
the State in which such children for the time
being have their domicil, sell said land for the
benefit of said infants, but for no other pur.
pose; and the purchaser shall acquire the alb
solute title by the purchase, and be entitled to
a patent from the United States, on payment of
the Office fees and the sum of money herein be-
fore specified.
All lands acquired under the provisions of
the act, shall, in no event, become liable for
the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior
to the issuing of the patent therefor. No
individual is permitted to make more than
one entry under the provisions of the act.
The Registers and Receivers of the several
Land Offices are entitled to receive the same
compensation for any lands entered under
the provisions of this act that they are now
entitled to receive when the same quantity
of land is entered with money, one-haf to
be paid by the person making the applica-
ton at the time of so doing, and the other
half on the issue of the certificate, by the
person to whom it may be issued.
This is very liberal bill-too much
so, we fear, to meet the approval of the
Senate. The settler is not required to pay
even the cost of the purchase of the lands
from the Indians, or the survey of the same
by the government. We would like to see
any good bill of this kind pass the Senate,
but the supporters of this measure, in
claiming too much, may lose everything
We hope not, however.