The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-01-30
ST. CLOUD MINNESOTA,

: $50 Il" NO. 28.
} - y: required and directed BY the SC,
end section Of said act before any &c,
t'heate shall be giren or patent issaee
before the clerk of the court for tn
county i" which the applicant is .
.s'oa' =: resident, in Like n,.nner and f.
axe cause as in the preceding sectio
PROVIDED tor, aud under such rule, .n,
regulations as shall be prescr;he,, !,
tne co'nm'esioner Of the General Lant
Office. '''">
To- support Of this very i,npor.an
amendment to tho Homes,.,d - ~
Donoclly said:
J A"M state to the Hou.e that III.
homestead Law provides for th,ec % de-" ~.
e"t aihdavit' that may be made bv the
settler And although the law doe,
not require that those ufid.yi,s shall I.e
made ut the l.nd Office. or in tho , nrss ~.
ence Of the register aud receiver. We,
such has been the interpretation eiyen
oy inc General Land Office. Tie re.
suit is that in order to make the .A;d,
WITS w.t. re. required BY the act or to perfec.
ms title the settler is required to tr.vcl.
~ some cases, forty, fifty, or in 81 me-
cases one hundred, miles from the nl.ce
o' n's settlement to the land Office
Congress has already iutcrvcued to
prevent this hardship p to the settler
ny an act passed On the 2lst Of March
1904, We provided that persons in the
Army and Navy Of the United States
who might seek the benefits Of the
homestead law. could make tioc required
preliminary affidavit before the Office,
Ia command either in the Aru,v or In
the Navy. The same act further pro.
,.ded that the settler, when living At ,
distance or laboriag under bodily ip-
trinity, could make the first ,fidav;t
required BY the homestead act. before
the clerk o. the court Of the county in
which he resided. 80
Nov, Mr.. Speaker, there are two
otner amdsv't' contemplated By the
homestead lax-ooe when the settler
perfects bis title at the exp1ration of
the hve ye1rs of settlement, and the
other when he may seek to commute
nus title from = homestead title to m
immediate title under patent BY the
land.
If this bill passes, the homestead
settler, living perhaps fifty or one hun
dred miles from the land Office, and
being almost necessarily i. poor m,n,
becau.c the homestead law is taken al.
vantage OF only by those in very mod
crate circumstances, can 80 before the
clerk Of the court of his county and
make the required affidavit and furnish
the necessary proofs: In the absence
OF such bill as this he IS obliged t,
travel In many cases a considerable d,s
tarce, 1t \ serious expense, because it
Is not travel in 40 old country provided
~ith railroads, but in \ new country,
where the expense of travel is very
great. For instance, in my own d,s.
trict, there is land Office known as the
St. Cloud land Office, and the settle
ments extend eighty miles beyond tha;
land Office. A settler upon the
frontier is required to 20 to the land
office at St. Cloud to make the REQUIRED
affidavit before the register and receiv-
er. He cannot make that trip for less
than twenty-five or thirty dollars. This
Is to him 4 considerable sum. Besides
that, he is required to take with him
two witnesses, whose expenses he is
also obliged to pay. Thus the poor
man, to whom the Government has
offered this boon Of laad without price,
is BY this incidental requirement put to
almost IS much expense IS he would be
at to take the land under the preemp-
tion laws or to purchase it with land
warrants or agricultural scrip. Now,
there IL no reason for this. = We have
already provided that he may make the
first affidavit required by the law before
4 clerk Of the county court or the COM
mander of regiment 0, naval vessel.
This bill simply proposes that he shall
be permitted to make the other afiidavits
in the same way. I do not see how
this provision can work any injustice.
It certainly will relieve the settlers Of
the country from very great hardship.
Mr.. Speaker, I shall be glad to ans
vcr any questions which gentlemen
may desire to ask:
Mr.. Washburue of Illinois, opposed
the bill because it operated to change
the law with regard to the entry of
lands and opened the way for fraud aud
perjury. He held that the applicants
should in all cases appear before the
Register aud Receiver of tho Land
OAice.
To show that the proposed amend
,nent was no innovation, Mr.. Donnelly
had read by the Clerk the act of March
21. 1864, whereby Soldiers aud Sailors
in: the servicet.: of tho United States
could mako all the afidavits REQUIRED
befarc their commanding officer. He
continued:
This bill simply contemplate. that
the affidavit made by the actual settler
when he commutes his homestead title
AID pays cash, or when he proves up
his title at the end Of Eve years, may
be made before the clerk Of the county
court in which he resides, instead Of
travelling to the register and receiver
Of the land Office. Now: it appears by
the law just read that iu 1864, in the
case of any person in the military or
naval service, it Was provided that such
an affidavit, could be made before the
commanding officer Of such soldier or
sailor; aud furthermore, that in The
case Of any<aetual settler the first and
preliminary affidavit, by Ill odds The
most important Of all the aaidavits re-
quired to be made under The homestead
hw, might b made before the clerk Of