Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-08-10
Settling On puaits .and.

and lives on il for FIVE years lie IA
10 pay for the papers and legal for
malities required. about so in all
! This j. called making Homestead.
+, Congress has, from time to time
made extensive grams Of land &c
states and companies in aid Of tbs
construction OF Railroads through thu
public Domain. These grants arr
usually % alternate sections Tor square
iniies for certain distance on either
side Of the projected Railroad.
The alternate sections reserved by
the Government are doubled In price;
and ne who settles on these and pro.
ceeds 10 acquire q home under the
Homestead act is allowed but eighty
, instead Of the usual one hundred and
sixty acres.
The general price Of the Public
Lands il $l.25 per acre, or $500 for
100 acres. The alternate sections
reserved by the Government along
the lines of the Railroads are held al
double price, or $2l per acre.
The Railroad Companies generally
charge more for their alternate sec
lions; but, as the Government land
is held at $2l per acre, and eighty
acres may be acquired by settlement
for less than $40, the Government
sections are likely to have the pre-
ference.
1t is decidedly advisable that those
who have means should buy their
lands, either Of the Government or
the Railroads. 1t precludes all con-
troversy as to the due performance OF
the Homestead requirements, gives
All instant and perfect title, and ena-
bles the owner to sell and convey, 90
and come, lease or rent, without peril
Of creating an adverse title or invali-
dating his own.
College scrip is extensively used in
purchasing by those who wish to
economize. In 1862, Congress grant
cd to each State a quantum Of Public
Lands proportional to its representa-
ton in that body, in aid Of Education
in Agriculture and the Useful Arts.
College scrip represents these grants,
and is generally procurable by set
tiers at 81 per acre. In large quanti-
ties, it Is sold somewhat lower. A
warrant or scrip calling for quarter
section will buy 100 acres; but it will
not buy 80 acres Of the reserved alter
nate sections along u line Of a Rail-
road. OF these reserved sections, 100
acres can be bought in one tract with
5000 in cash and one l60-acre warrant
or scrip. With this exception, pre-
emtors can always use College Scrip
in paying for Government mot Rail
road Company's) lands. BY act Of
Congress Of July 1st, 1870, the scrip
is made receivable from pre-cmptors
in all the States and Territories,
without any limit, the same as Mill
tary or Soldiers Land Warrants, thus
saving to pre-emptors about $40 on
each quarter section. But specula-
tors who buy or hold scrip in large
quantities are not allowed to locate
more than three sections Tor square
niles Of that scrip in any one town
ship. This is to prevent the monop-
olizing Of large tracts by means OF
scrip. With cash or Soldiers War
rants any quantity may be purchased
of the Government at the foregoing
rates.
No one can legally locate, whether
with cash or scrip, quarter-section
actually in the possession, by legal
occupancy and residence, OF a settler,
though he has not paid and does not
mean to pay for it. But this princi-
pie does not apply to the alternate
sections granted TO Railroads, which
do not recognize presumption.
a quartcr-section of Public Lands
is not necessarily regular quarter OF
some designated section, but may be
made up of two eighties or four forties
forming one compact body, though
those were part Of different quarter
sections technically considered. liz.
The WORK Of DeMag0gues.
The following is one Of the planks
in the present Democratic platforms:
Res0ired, That il is n fragrant out
rage on the rights of free laborers
and mechanics of Iowa, that the
labor Of penitentiary convicts should
be brought into conflict with theirs,
and that ii is the duty of the next
legislature to enact such laws as will
certainlyand eii'pctually protect them
from such unjust and ruinous COM
petition.
If this resolution means anything