Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-11-21
SPARKS AND THE LAND LAWS.

80 SS
say, a person who makes proof as pre-
emptor and subsequently takes a home
stead cannot have the benefit of the
Communication clause of the homestead
law. This decision flies squarely in the
face of the homestead law itself, which
provides that If a homestead settler does
not wish to remain five years on a tract,
he may pay for it with cash at the end
Of the required six months residence.
There is nothing in tRe pre-emption act
which deprives a settler of the benefits
of the Communication clause in the home.
stead law; neither is there anything in
the homestead law compelling q home
stead settler who has made proof on a
presumption to reside upon the land five
years. That is optional with the settler.
He may obtain a free title to a home
stead at the end Of fve.year residence,
or he may pay $l.25 per acre at the end
of q six months residence and obtain a
guaranty from the government that title
will issue.
The effect of Sparks decision, should
it be sustained, would be to do away with
the Communication clause of the home
stead law without congressional enact.
ment. and consequently millions ofacres
of commuted lands in Dakota and North
ern Minnesota now under cultivation,
and to which patents have not issued,
would be thrown back upon the market;
for there are thousands of homesteaders
who have made proof upon pre-emp.
tons now engaged in %cultivating their
lands under both rights, having paid cash
for both in compliance with law.
Sparks decision is in the case ofJames
Britton, who committed his homestead
to cash entry in September, 1884. having
previously made proof as q pre-emptor
Oh another quarter. MI. Britton's case
is not unlike that of at least $50 other
homesteaders in this district alone,
whose proof and cash have been accept
ed and received by the government
agents in this city, and whose papers are
now in Mr.. Sparks hands. Many Of
these ho%n,esteaders, acting under the
law rs interpreted by former admins
trations permitting these entries, have
made valuable and permanent improve
mcnts upon these lands, and in many
cases have borrowed money from east
ern capitalists who have sought invest
ments in western realty. These lands
have also been entered up for taxation
in the counties in which they are situa-
ted. On the official blanks furnished
the local land Office by Mr.. Sparks de-
partment permission is given, without
any reservation, !, O make this cash en-
try. Notwithstanding all this, Mr..
Sparks, without having issued any order
notifying the general public of his new
Interpretation, puts forth q decision the
effect of which will be to destroy the title
to nearly all commuted homesteads, be-
cause many of these entries have been
made by settlers who have heretofore
enjoyed the presumption right.
There is another hardship which this
| Sparks decision will entail, for it is a
two edged sword and cuts both ways.
Hundreds of men in the northwest have
exercised their homestead right, paying
cash for their land, and subsequently
sold it. Following the tide of immigra-
ton, they have used their pre-. emption
right and put a second farm under cul-
tivation. If patents have not been issued
to this class of pre.emptors, under the
Sparks decision their time and labor arc
wasted, for he holds that q settler can
purchase but Ole quarter section; and
even if a pre-emptor of this class has re-
ceived a patent the title, according to
the Sparks theory, may be attacked.
Congress made the land laws, and
congress must unmake them if they are
wrong; Mr.. Sparks cannot apply the
remedy. But the decision of the com.
missioner is not an assault upon the
laws; it is an assault upon the settler
and upon investors. Congress has said
that the settler is entitled to exercise
certain rights in acquiring lands for
homes; Nj. Sparks, whose duties are
merely ministerial, says the settler shall
not exercise those rights. That is the