The Dillon tribune. [volume] (Dillon, Mont.) 1881-1941, 1885-11-28
LAND RULING.
An Important Decision as to the l.an,,
Laws.

Commissioner Sparks has recently made
ruling, which is probably destined to have
an important influence upon the course OF
transactions in public lands. He has de-
cided in substance that the communication
Of the homestead is in effect and law the
turning Of an entry into a presumption,
ana as such, is ills gal when the claimant
has previously had the benefit Of pre.emp.
tion. Since the passage Of the homestead
law it has become almost universally the
practice for settlers to secure claims under
both that and the pre.emption law; in ad-
dition to which they have usually taken
the benefit Of the timber culture law, thus
aggregating, under the three laws, max.
imum estate Of $50 acres to each settler.
1t has been customary to take up pre-
emption and stree claim" alone, and after
the lapse of the shortest necessary interval
to mortgage the former tor enough To pay
the Government price OF it, when, having
secured title, the settler was at liberty to
move away and take the benefit Of the
homestead law. The ruling OF the Com.
missioner is calculated to put an end to
this practice. 1t leaves the settler still the
right to secure either the pre-emp,ion or
homestead in addition to his stree clai. )"
and as Tar as the ruling itself goes it Aves
him the right to secure Il pre-em. ton
claim in the usual way, and then secure
homestead by living upon the land five
years, but the latter right General Sparks
does not concede. 1t has been stated that
he has made ruling to the effect that no
person is entitled to the benefits Of both
the pre-emption and homestead laws. This
is incorrect, no such ruling having been
made. There is reason to believe, how.
ever, that when this question comes be.
fore him in way to demand a formal ruling
on the subject he will hold that in passing
the homestead law Congress intended only
to give the choice to settlers Of limited
means, by affording them method of Oh.
tanning 16o acres of land without any
other outlay than the payment Of the Gus
tomarv fees, in the place Of purchasing
under the pre-emption law. Such ruling,
he SAYS, would he in concurrence with the
views which have inspired the movement
in Congress to repeal the prescription law
outright, and should the timber culture be
repealed, it would have the effect OF re-
stricting the area obtainable by the single
claimant to one quarter section. General
Sparks held that the laws (the homestead
and pre.emption), interpreted rs they have
heretofore been, offer a temptation to
fraud and place premium upon it. The
hope OF securing second claim is held
out by one law as an induccment to make
settlement and improvements upon the
first claim Of the most temporary and in
expensive character. ltis simply designed
to make false show of good faith and 10
"swear BY" as Immediately after the final
proof or communication, as the case may be,
they are to be abandoned and another resi-
dence established upon claim No. 2. Gen.
Sparks holds that if Congress designed to
| give the same settlers the benefit Of both
laws it would have imposed upon him re-
! ouircments TO establish temporary home
in one place only to be abandoned for an
other within a few months. Should tho
ruling Indicated as probable never be made,
that already made prohibiting the com,
mutation of homestead claims b. persons
who have previously been pre'emptors
will still, he believes, have an important
result in preventing, to considerable ex-
tent, speculation in claims. The oblsa'
tions to liv. five years upon claim is a
test of good faith, to which only actual
farmers who desire land for their own cn'-
tivation will care to submit.
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