The National tribune., 1901-04-11
The KIOWA=
COMANCHE LANDS.
Interest Growing Over the Method
of Entry-VariOus Plans.
A Variety of Questions Answered.

The interest in the Kiowa and Co
manche lands to be opened this Summer
under the act of Congress seems to in
crease as time for the date of entry ap'
proaches Many questions are asked COW
ering points upon which there has been
as yet no official decision.
For example, some have inquired
whether the S1.25 per acre, to be paid
in case of Communication at the end of ii
months, gives title to the land, or
whether this S1.25 per acre is in addition
TO the price which must be paid at the
end Of the homestead period OF hive years.
In other words, must the person COM
muting pay $1.25, or 500. for his land
While the Secretary of the Interior has
made no decision upon this point, the
opinion prevails at the General Land Of
fee that the proper construction of the
act requires the person committing TO pay
$3.50 per acre, regarding the commuta-
ton price as additional to the regular
price stated in the bill, as applicable to
the land at the end of the homestead
period.
Again. questions have been asked as to
whether settlers in Oklahoma who, un-
der the original act, paid the price per
acre for their lands equal to the price
paid by the Government to the Indians,
provided said price was not less than
S1.25 per acre, and who were left out OF
the benefits of the "Free Homes Act by
virtue of such payment before its pas
sage, are entitled to a homestead entry
in the Kiowa and Comanche reservation
under the Second Homestead Act"
The Secretary of the Interior has not
made ruling upon this subject, but such
questions are being answered in the Cen
eral Land Office in the negative.
1t is held, at the present time, that
SaftlnrG who maid for their
land either by committing. or at the end
of their homestead period, are not en-
titled to another homestead on the hlowa
aud Comanche reservation. An official
ruling by the Secretary, however, is ex-
pected upon this point at an early date,
and this view of the case may or may not
be sustained.
Questions have been asked as to wheth-
or the Free Homes Act passed last
year, having been approved some three
weeks prior TO the act opening the hlowa-
Comanche and Apache reservation, did
not make these lands actually free, ana
not subject to the payment of the Sl2o
price, although so stated in the law.
misapprehension has arisen upon this
point by the neglect to notice that the
Free Homes Act applies to all lands
TO which title had been heretofore ac.
quired," and not to such as might here
after be acquired, and, therefore, the pro-
visions in the Kiowa and COmanche land
act do not clash with the Free Homes"
law, nor make the kiowa-Comanche land
free.
The great question as TO how the Kio-
wa and Comanche reservation shall be
opened is still the subject of much dis
cussion in the Interior Department and
General Land Office.
Secretary Htchcock's absence from
Washington has prevented a consultation
ha Crthi within tha last fpw
days, but he has returned and the matter
will be speedily taken up.
At the General Land Office opinion
seems to be as much divided as ever.
Following precedents which have here
tofore governed the General Land Office,
entries have been made subsequent to ac-
tual settlement. Those persons desiring
quarter section of land went upon il,
pitched their tents. and performed other
acts signifying their desire TO settle upon
it, and then went to the local Land OF
fice and made their filing, stating that
they had made settlement and wished to
avail themselves of the opportunity to ac-
quire the land under the specified law.
In a case like the present one it would
be impossible to follow this precedent
without rush.
In order to give everyone fair chance
the lands must be opened according to
publication on n given day, and then the
Speed WlIH WHICH SETTLERS ueSlTlHR
lands should move could not be controlled.
The result was a Government horse-race,
with the most desirable quarter sections
of land as the purse.
On the other hand should the lands be
acquired by lot, there would be no need
Of anyone going to Oklahoma at all. The
drawing might just as well be made in
Washington as anywhere else, and one
need not go near the land till it had been
ascertained whether or not he had drawn
u prize. Again, no one would know what
sort of land he had drawn, whether his
fling was upon a spring, alluyial land, or
flint cliffs. 1t would be mystery till the
land had been visited.
Therefore, it has seemed TO the officials
at the General Land Office that either
there must be a practical lottery or a
race.
1t would be just as much a lottery. un-
der present conditions, if the land is TO
he opened at the local Land Office with
out being seen, as though numbers were
put in wheel in the General Land Of
flee at Washington and the drawing made
1t is matter Of chance in either case.
If the land is to be practically closed
TO settlers till after they have made their
entries the whole thing is practically a
lottery.
Another method has been suggested.
and that is that the President by procla,
90 days prior to entry, and let everyone
go upon the reservation, select his land,
decide upon what he wants, settle differ
ences as to who is in possession, and at
the end Of 60 days period return to the
local Land Office, line up, and make an
entry in regular order upon the land seen
and chosen. This method. while it wouId
possibly not make so great race into the
territory as by opening the reservation as
the Cherokee Strip" was opened, would
make another race back from lands which
had been settled upon to get into line
early at the local Land Ofice.
There will be two Land Offices con.
venient to the roads, one at Ell Reno and
another near old Fort Sill. The actual
sites have not yet been selected
In the filing of soldiers declaratories
the evidence needed is mainly an honorr.
bic discharge, or il the discharge is lost
a certificate from the War Department
that such a discharge was given TO the
soldier when he left the service.