The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-05-31
The "Free Homes" Bill.

Copies of the "free homes BILL" re.
Gently passed by congress, have been re-
ceived IN Helena. They show that the
law is an important one to hundreds of
Montana settlers. The bill makes diff
ference Of S1.50 an acre to every settler
upon lands ceded by the Crow Indians,
and it makes difference to the settlers
in the northern part of the state upon
all the lands that were anciently the
Blackfeet reserve, which once embraced
nearly all the land north of the Missouri
and east of the Marias, of the permiss-
ion they will henceforth have to COM
mute their ent les if they see fit. Here
tofore they have had only the privilege
of living out the full period to perfect
title, and the alternative of committing
at the end of IA months was not allowed
them.
The ceded portion of the Grow reser-
walton, to which the benefit of none
tary consideration extends, lies largely
in Carbon and Sweet Grass counties. It
is among the best land in the state, and
it has upon it many, hundreds of hardy
settlers who have seCtled there with the
expectation that they would at the ex-
piration Of their term of settlement be
required to pay $1.50 an acre for hold
ings. The ceded portion of the Grow
reservation embraces, according to the
report of the committee on public lands
OF the lower house of congress, no less
than 100000 acres, which was acquired
from the Crows at an expense to the
government of S946,900. The committee
report has this to say of the difference
made by the government between the
public lands of the original class and
those acquired by treaty with the Indi-
ans and afterward thrown open to set
tlement:
"For the cession of these reservations
the government paid, or agreed to pay,
stipulated sums. They were all thrown
open to settlement under the homestead
law only; but contrary to all previous
practice Of the government, in addition
to the wise conditions of the settlement,
occupancy and cultivation, the govern
ment imposed upon these settlers in ad-
dition to the regular land Office fees,
amounting to about SIT per entry, the
price the government had paid the In
dians fo" the lands, ranging from S1.23
per acre for the Sac and Fox reserva-
tions to 1915 for the Yankton reserva-
tion, regardless OF the fact whether the
lands were good, bad or Indifferent "
rha oOO1 ttaa a5f f3o tba 4
was contrary to the spirit and intent of
the homestead law, the whole theory
upon which it was based being that the |
settler paid for his lands by settlement
and cultivation, and that the govern
ment was reimbursed by having it's va
cant and unprOductive territory filed |
with Wealth-creating, revenue produ~ |!
cling population. The prime merit of |
the homestead law. the committee said, |
was that-lt gave the poor man an op-
pOrtunity to obtain home without !
money and without price. Robbed of |
that merit the law became burden in
stead of a boon. The committee then
went on to show how the United States
had prior to the opening OF the reserva-
tions donated to states and railroad cor
porations, principally the latter, 4O,191,-
0S2 acres of land. ''Forty millions OF
acres of railroad lands!" said the com
mittee, land yet the homesteader must
pay for his paltry quarter section, beside
living on and cultivating it,
The report also discussed the merits
of the contention that was made by the
opponents of the bill that it meant a loss
to the government of the money it had
paid the Indians. 1t pointed out that
it is the whites in the first place who
pay the expenses OF caring for the Indi-
ans and who pay the expenses of the
local government when the country is
settled,-Independent. l.