New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1862-06-06
FREE uomEsTEADs-FoR wnOMs

oil SldVo OtuoCi@Sy'
FREE HOMEsTEADs-FOR WHOM =
LYONS, N. Y, May 2s. 1861
To the Editor Of The n. " Tribune:
SIR: You would oblige myself, and others inter-
esed in the new Homestead law BY answering the following
questions through your Daily, of which am constant
reader:
l. Can any person answering the requirements OF the Ia"
20 and file preempion claim to any quarter'ecop Of
land surveyed and In market must We wait
till January. 1867
Where. At some of the nearest points in the West
such land be found In Iowa or Minnesota or some portion
Of Kani II In either or all those States in chat part Of
them7
O. Are there Offices in the vicinity Of those lands where
claims en- be 6led
Information on these points VIII DO very sceepsoo.
Yours, truly. VIZ
Anmsr.-Any person, male or female, who
is over twenty-one years of age, and citizen
of the United States, or who, not being yet
citizen, has made legal declaration Of his In.
tention to become one, or who, being ci;zen
under twenty-one years Of age, il nevertheless
the head of family, or has spent fourteen days
or over in the military service OF the United
States, aud has never borne arms against the
Federal Government nor given aid and comfort
TO its enemies, is entitled to enter and secure
at any time after the LIST day of January next.
any quarter-section of the Public Lands Of the
United States which has hitherto been subject
to private entry at the lowest price Of 81 %
per acre. There is limited amount Of Pub
lie Lands which lie within few miles of the
line of one or another of the Railroads which
the Government has appropriated Public Lands
to construct. and the price of whch-(that Is,
of the alternate sections reserved by the Gov
eminent when granting half the adjacent lands
us aforesaid)-has been raised to 81 30
per acre. and whoever chooses to locate
on these reserved lands can only secure to
himself eighty acres under this bill. There Is
nothing in the act, however, to prevent single
man and single woman, each being twenty
one years of age, from locating each eighty
acres of these reserved and bgher-prced lands;
and they are at perfect liberty to get married
the day afterward. In our judgment. how
ever, eighty acres is enough for good farm TO
be cultivated by the owner; and when We have
all been cured of the passion for getting rich
out of others labor rather than our own, and
shall aspire 10 live aud LET live rather than to
monopolize and forestal the common heritage
of mankind, settlers will prefer eighty acres Of
eligibly located land 70 one hundred aud sixty,
thereby reducing by a. half to each pioneer
cultivator the cost Of opening roads, bridging
streams, building school-houses, churches, &C.,
&c. We are a nation Of lsndjobbers; and
one great benefit of the Homestead Act, We
trust, will be its tendency to discourage Land
monopoly and land speculation.
i. But to w. P's first question: We see
no practical difficulty in the way OF any loyal
citizen of the United States selecting and To-
cating bis quarter-section at oaoe-to-day-
time. For. though the Home
stead Act doss not formally take effect TIL the
LIST of January next, the Public Lands chat
i., the Agricultural, not the Mineral) are and
long have been open to pre-emption--that any
loyal citizen is at liberty 10 select and settle
any previously unappropriated quartersection,
making his home upon it and entering his
Presumption claim at the proper Land-Offce.
This precudes any adverse settlement or claim
upon that quarter. section for the two years
ensuing; and on the Ist Of January next, or
at any time within eighteen months thereafter,
he can comply with the acquisitions of the
Homestead Act and secure ths land according;
ly. The first section Of this act expressly pre-
scribes that each settler may, on or after the
LIST of January, 1868, enter any quarter
section upon which he may have previous
ly "flod q Presumption claim" - which
may be done OF any time. II he has
already bought or pre-empted 40, 90, or
l2O acres, and there is any unappropriated
land adjoining him, he may pre-empt enough
under this act to make up full quarter-sec-
ton, or 100 acres, unless it DO the reserved
and higher.priced Railroad land aforesaid,
For the land 30 taken, the settler is to pay
so to the United States, and shall pay the
legal iees OF the Register aud Receiver Of tho
Land Office, which we believe are 50 for each
auarter.section entered-one.half payable on
making the entry. and the residue when his
title is perfected by five years actual settle
ment and cultivation aud patent issued. The
land thus becomes just as thoroughly and per-
feclly the settlers as though he had bought aud
paid for it under the old system. UntI no
shall have perfected his title BY five year. resi-
dence aud cultivation. be cannot sell it, nor is
it liable meantime to alienation for debt. nor
can it erer be taken from him or his family by
legal process in satisfaction of any debt incurred
x,Ea.-iaua 70 tina iaaua Of liz nafant afaresaid