The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-04-15

my friend has put it into a book, and
the hook is being sent north east,
south and west. 1t is called The
Case OF the South against the North"
In that book it is seriously stated that
tat proviso which was enacted in
tie homestead law in 1862. when the
var was going ON, is still in exist
e.cc.
Mr.. Neville. | should like to ask
ire gentleman if it is not true that
thar Populist was from the South,
whore they have Republican sympa-
tn es?
"Mr. Lacey. Why, they do not have
any great Republican sympathies in
the South.
''Ir. Neville mean that the Popu-
lists there have.
''Mr. Lacey. This proviso which
prevented Confederate soldiers from
taking homesteads under the act of
M s. 1862. he says, has never been
stricken from the law. ] want simp-
~ to put into the Record the fact,
thai it may show officially, that that
law was repealed less than eight
months after the war closed. | vii,
print in connection with my remarks
section = of the act of June u, 1856
~ which the exception preventing
CofcGcrates from taking hJr@steads
vas repealed.
S'nce that time many good old Con-
fed rates then, who are good Union
men today, have taken their homes in
:he " est and in the South. and many
Of our best and most loyal citizen to-
day are men who Wore the gray, but
who are living upon homes that they
obtained under the homestead law of
1SG@, modified as it was by the act
of SOC. When | find that the estim-
ale author of that book has publish
Cd t broadcast over the South. | think
it proper to print in the Record the
modification of the law, to show that
this act does justice to the Confed-
GIa.es, and it was done but a very
FEW 1nonths after the surrender Of
Lee. On the 22nd of June. 1866, the
Prohibition against the taking of
honesteads by the Confederates was
entirely eliminated from the record
Ny friend from North Carolina, a
genial and pleasant gentleman, with
whom l have served in this Congress
an1 the past, has made this mistake.
no doubt inadvertently. misled as he
wa, Ivy erroneous information. and it
rs jus. to him, as we'll as TO Congress,
that it should be corrected.
Il give now the following extract
{; IN The South against the North, by
Gl; dy:
But even all these grants, togeth-
az with others equally violatiye Of tie
Constitution and the pledge made to
the States and to the original gram
tO.s or purchasers, We're pardonable
II comparison with those provided for
III nc act Of May 60 1862. That do
mated Il homestead free of cost, eX-
cept fee amounting 70 about II cents
per acre, TO any citizen who is the
i'"ad of a family Or who has arrived
ut the age of II years, and to any
foreigner who has filed a declaration
t. become citizen. provided that
he proves his loyalty That is 10
say. the people of the Southern States
WHO. or whose ancestors, coded or
partly paid for these lands, were eX-
ciided from this bounty of tie ma
tiO",' even the dregs of foreign coun-
tres being preferred to them.
""Ihe total number of homestead
ers up to June 80, 1896 according to
the General Land Office Report for
that year, page 81, was sos, 1896, and
4 e total number of acres patented to
them was 67,61S.451. the figures fo1
that year being SO, 54S original entries
and 4,S30.915 acres. This was an av-
"rage annual gratuity of nearly l.
100000 acres for the whole period AZ
ter the passage of the act and of near