Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-02-27

NOON lY. Lam, oA.
employees to comply wish all exact,ons
YOU may is. The largest fortunes that
exist in the northwest have been started
and made out Of this piae jobbery. The
only way the government can prevent i,
and protect the people il to hold the
land and timber and open it to the pub
lie for numbering on the stuu,page plan
shown bv the bill shove mentioned,
which will place the government behind
the people, smash the ring, relieve the
people completely, and be remunerative
t., the treasury. The soil has no value
except for its timber; that il immensely
valuable.
PRAiRlE sErTLERs.
In North DAkota railroad lands have
been SO cheap that there has been little
object to hire settlers to acquire title to
public lands and whers this has beer,
done to till cut tile large farms in the
Northern Pacific belt, however exacti"g
might have been the requirements Of
the department; however many detec.
tives might hase been in the field, the
espionage would have gone on all the
same, without any proof except suspi.
ci,,n to preyent, and the rules and regu.
ia'ions that went Into operation IN April
last, will he Of no avail because these
lands are beloved to have passed, large
ly il not wholly to patent, aud to be now
beyond the Jurisdiction Of the depart.
ment.
Aside from this. by making stringent
rules and regulations ~ to actual daily
residence, amount Of inlprovemen u .and
size Of houss 10 he considered habita
ble. you may cut of this avenue for
fraud, but you bar out lne poor must ef.
fectually aud practically XIII and deiea,
the intended object ot our settlement
lava.
Nov We know that neither congres.
nor the department desires this. The
man desiring to acquire 4 farm IN thi1
region by this means usually has tho re.
quisite funds 10 do Whatever the depart.
n,ent shall require. Four men can take
four adjoining claims, obtain by money
furnished by employer the teams, plows
and means u build largo III we'll as Il
small house for each claim, and for six
months occupy themselves to plough VI,
the whole quarter nectkm, backset it,and
live aud sleep on it, but 1t is entirely
otherwise with the poor who come here
from the east and from Europe to take
up land for themselves. To do this i,
would require $1,000 to begin and run
them u u crop, whereas they seldom have
|&iOO to start with. They arc very poor
1t is believed that one-haif Of the for.
eigners who come and take up land ON
the frontior have their tickets purchased
beforehand BY friends here and sent t.'
them. Men from the older states 80 To
the frontier, as Il rule, to take up lands
only because they are very poor and see
no other way to acquire Il home for
themselves and their postcrity. It is
believed that over four.tiflhs Of all who
have taken up land in the past twenty
years. whether in Iowa. Minnesota,
Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota or elsewhere,
have commenced with less than 500.
These people have picked their land,
filed on it, built small and inexpensive
shanty; put Il cheap stove in it, cheap
bed and absented themselves, going to
the nearest nelghborhood for employ
ment, and when out Of work they would
return to the claim and live on it, and
use their earnings to add to the i'm.
proven,ents on the claim, have u part Of
it ploughed, and in course Of time would
prove up. procure loan on the land,
buy team aud settle down to living
daily on the land and the department
has permitted this AZ being within the
intent aud purpose Of the law, and wif.,.
out which it could not be available to
the poor.
The rules OF the land department now
in force are being made use of to extin-
guish titles acquired in this way, where
the residence, proof and payment were
all completed before tho existence OF
these rules, and the register and receiver
had accepted proofs Of residence, where
compliance with tho law WAS complete
and perfect, and had granted their Ger.
titicate, and part Of tho land in the
meantime had been inortgaged and con.
yeyed. This is being done on very
large scale.
Such living az existed in these cases
always conferred the right Of voting and
by all the courts has beon held to con.
stitute residence; and the word "resi-
donce" in the settlement laws was in
corporated BY congress subject to its
legal definition by the courts, and the
word continuous" was not annexed to
residence in the law, bu. has been added
thereto by tie department. and by it
made to apply to proofs completed prior
to April, 1885, contrary to the inhibition
that neither &c post Jaeto laws nor laws
which impair existing obligations shall
be made, and these prohibitions as much
exclude the department from changing
its rules to afec. prior proofs as they
prohibit congress from destroying pat
ent titles by !eg;slation made after the
patent.
We can speak from personal know,.
edge on this subject, because proofs were
rnado before us in 1884 which showed
eighteen months res,dence, but during
two Of the last ak months prior to com.
pleting proofs tho claimants were alb
sent at work by the day in harvesting,
earning livelihood for about two
months, and they are now notified
By tho department that for the want OF
sufficient residence their claims were
cancelled. No charges Of fraud are
made in .heso cases and no grounds
therefor cx;st, unless it bo fraud for a
poor man to lease his claim 10 procure
the bread Of life.
In some OF these old cancellations
that are taking place owe: 80 months
have passed since pre-emp,ion filirg
were made and the time TO 60 back AMI
live ndre.p.ove up has expired. There
are people in this region, vino at come
former period Of their life have proved