Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-12-20
NATIONAL CAPITAL NOTEs.
The Senate Committees Decided ON In Caus
cus-PrOpOsed Legislation In the Inter-
est OF Settlers on Public Lands.

WASHINGTON D. e, Dec. To-
The Republican caucus of the Senate this
morning simply fixed up the committees.
and adjourned to Thursday to consider tbs
subject of electing officers. Arson B. he
Cook, of New York, and Mr. Mcpherson.
Clerk of the last House, are candidates for
Secretary, the former especially having
quite number Of warm advocates. Cana
dy, of North Carolina, is gaining ground
on Colonel Geo. W. Hooker, under the lead
ership Of Shermaa, Logan and Conger.
In the construction of the committees
Miller, of California, takes Windows place
as Chairman Of Foreign Affairs, displacing
Edmunds, who was next In order for the
position, but he preferred to retain the Ju-
dietary. The only new Senator on this
| committee is Wilson, of Iowa. The only
change in the Committee on Finances was to
add Miller, Of New York, Mr.. Morrill, re-
naming Chairman. The Committee on
Appropriation remains the same, Mr.. AIT
son at its head, with the addition of Call, OF
Florida, in place of Davis, of West Vir-
glnia. Several of the nev Senators have
places on the Committee on Manufactures,
RlddIebergers of Virginia, being Chairman,
Sabln, Dolph and Colquitt being among his
colleagues. Miller, OF New Y ork, supplants
Malone as Chairman of the Committee ON
Agriculture. The only change in the Com
mRtee on Military Affairs, of which Logan
IS Chairman, is to add Camden in place Of
Grover, Cameron, of Pennsylvania, was
left at the head of the Committee on Naval
Affairs, with Anthony second. Mr.. Hale,
the third ON the Committee, will be de facto
| Chairman. Hill, of Colorado, takes the head
| or the Post-othce and Post Roads Com
| mittee, Senator Ferry'S old place. To
this committee Palmer and Wilson, the
new Senators from Michigan and Iowa, are
added. Plumb continues at the head of the
| Committee on Public Lands, Henderson. Of
Nebraska, is placed on the COMMITTEES on
Private Land Claims. Territories and
transportation Routes to the SeaboarCl.
Dawes keeps Indian Affairs, and Mitchell
| gets Pensions, on which are CuIlon and
Sabin. Mcmillan is on Revolutionary
| Claims, and is chairman of the Committee
| on Commerce, Cameron, of Wisconsin, is
Chairman of the Committee on Claims, and
| Ingalls, is Chairman of the Committee on
| the District Of Columbia, with Palmer and
| Riddleberger among his colleagues. Platt
| has Patents and Harrison Territories. Saw
| yer is Chairman of the Committee on Rail-
roads, on which are Cullom and Sabin.,
| Wilson is Chairman of the Committee ON
| Mines and Mining, and Conger on the Re-
vision of the Laws. Blair keeps Education
and Labor, and HawleY Civil Service and
Retrenchment. Van Wyck is Chairman Of
| the Committee on the Improvement Of the;
Mississippi River, and Aldrich succeeds;
| Harrison at the head of Transportation
Routes to the Seaboard. Cullom is Chair
man of the committee to examine several;
/ branches of the civil service. The Demo-
/ *
| Committees on Private Land Claims, Rev,
dictionary Claims, Engrossed Bills, Eri-
| demic Diseases, Claims Against Nicaragua.
| Potomac Flats and Library. Malone has.
the Craftsmanship of Public Buildings and
Grounds, a very important place. OF the
new Republican Senators, Sabin, Palmer
/ Henderson, Bowen and Pike were not given
chairmanships.
The Democratic caucus made the follow
ing assignments: Private Land Claims.
| Bayard; EngrOssed Bills, Salisbury; Epi-
| demic Diseases, Harris; Revolutionary
| Claims, Jones of Florida; Nicaragua
| Claims, Maxey; Library, Voorhees,. Jonas
replaces Barrow on Elections. Vance and
Brown succeed Johnston and Call on For
| gein Affairs. Call replaces Davis of West
/ Virginia on finance.
| The bill of Mr.. Washburne, of Minnesota,
| to be introduced in the House tomorrow, is
| important to would-be settlers on public
/ land, and will no doubt receive a great deal
| of attention in Congress. the text Of it is as
| follows:
SECTION /. That the presumption laws,
| together with all laws authorizing the filing
/ of declaratory statements for entering pub
| lie lands by agent or attorney, be, and the
! same are hereby, repealed; provided, how
| ever. that this repeal shall not affect the
! disposal of the lands under treaty Stipula-
/ ton with Indian tribes, nor be deemed to
| impair any legal rights heretofore acquired
| under laws hereby repealed, but all exist
| ing settlements entries or filings may be
! perfected upon proper proof of lawful and
| bona hde character of said claims, and OF
] due compliance with the provisions and
requirements of the laws under which such
! settlement or filings were made; provided,
| further, that any person who has not here
tofore had the benefit of the presumption
| laws, and who failed from any cause to
| perfect title to a tract of land heretofore
| entered by him under the homestead laws.
may make a second homestead entry in
lieu of presumption privilege hereby re-
! pealed.
SEC. 2. That no person who has made or
hereafter shall make a homestead entry OF
public lands shall be entitled to avail HIM
self of the provisions of section 9, 301 of the
Revised Statutes of the United States until
he shall have resided upon, cultivated and
| made actual Improvement on the land eLD-
braced in such entry for the full period OF
thirty months, and it shall be the duty of
the General Land Office to require evidence
of actual compliance with the requirements
of the law in respect to settlement, resi-
| dence Improvement and cultivation in all
cases in which title now is or may hereaf-
ter be claimed under homestead or other
settlement or Improvement laws or the
United States.
Sec. 8. That any person applying for the
benefits of timber-culture laws shall make
his entry in person at the proper local land
office, and shall make affidavit that he Is an
actual resident of the State or Territory in
which the land is situated, and that he has
entered into no contract or agreement to
relinQuish the entry ne may make, and t1a.S
he has no present or prospective purpose
/ 20 make SuCn fei1nqulSEI1euGs anu inc Oh
fering for sale as a matter OF traffic, spsc1-
Iation or rsIinquishment of public land en-
tries shall be deemed prima facie evidence
that such entries were made for speOuA9-
tive purposes and not In good faith, as ne
quired by law, and such entries shalltheEe-
upon be repealed and cancelled by the
Commissioner Of the General Land Oh6ees
and the land covered thereby shall be
deemed subject to entry by the Arst legal
applicant The first section Of the act Of
May Il, 1880, authorizing lands covered by
relEnGuished claims to be held as open 10
settlement or entry without further action
Of the Commissioners of the General Land
CsfSce, and all other acts and parts Of acts
inconsistent herewith, are hereby rePealeds
provided also that when the 1Enaber~Culture
entry shall have once been made On a tract
Z OF public land subject to suGh entry and
3 the same shall be cancelled or re1inguished,
the land covered thereby shah thereafter
be subject to entry only under the timber.