The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1908-01-10
CHARLES H. BURKE, who is a

candidate for the republican
nomination as a congressman,
was one of the most effective
men in congress in securing leg.
islation for the benefit of the
state, during his several years
in the national house of repres-
entatiyes. His successful work
upon the "free homes bill, was
something that should receive
more than passing recognition
from residents of Grant and
Roberts counties, to many Of
whom the free homes bill, was
a boon for which at the time they
we're deeply grateful. Here are
| some of the land measures which
greatly affected this state and Its
fpeople, and for which Charles
Burke was largely instrumental
in getting passed:
In the fifty. sixth congress Repre-
! sentative Burke was a member of the
committee on public lands. He was
then new to the public life of the ma
tional capital. The public land
committee reported the free homes
bill. and it was due to the prodigIous
energy and answering persistence OF
members from the west, among them
MIR. Burke, that that asu was
finally LAID On the statutes. The pas
sage of the free homes law aided
greatly in the development of South
Dakota and other states in the west.
AS far as South Dakota was con-
cerned the law provides free homes
for all that portion of the state for
merly embraced in the great Sioux
reservation lying west of the Missouri
river, covering an area OF apprOXlm-
ately eight million acres. In addition
the ''free homes" law relieved settlers
in what was formerly the Sisseton
and Wahpeton reservation from pay
ing 50. so per acre for land, and those
in Charles Mix county, in what was
the Yankton reser alton, from paying
1915 per acre.
1t is fair to say that Representative
Burke had as much to do with it
as any of the other half dozen or so
western members who led the fight for
the measure.
When Representative Burke became
a member OF the house in the fifty
sixth congress the public land laws
required settlers, in cases OF commu-
tation of homesteads west OF the
Missouri river, to pay in addition to
the Indian price of the land, 1925 per
acre. He introduced and passed a
bill so amending the law as to relieve
settlers from the payment of 81 .25 per
acre, requiring them to pay only the
Indian price, in case of communication,
which, with a few exceptions, made
the price fifty cents per acre. This,
with the ''free homes legislation.
brought about the settlement OF that
section of the state, as a result OF
which the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railroad company extended its
line from Chamberlain to Rapid City
and the Chicago & Northwestern rail-
road from Pierre to Rapid City.
PUBLIC LANDS
Another important law passed as a
result of work done IN part by Repre-
resentative Burke was that relating to
school and indemnity lands. South
Dakota was short several thousand
acres Of this class of lands. The
Burke bill empowered the state to
select such school and indemnity
lduuS WcSt Vi Tie NlSsOufl IiNcf. ne
also passed a bill giving all settlers
who had commuted upon homesteads
before the passage of the free comes
act the right to make an additional
entry. He e is a list of reservation
lands opened under the terms of
measures that were either introduced
or supported by Representative
Burke:
Rosebud Gregory county 500, 900
acres.
Rosebud "Trip county, 1000, 900
acres.
Lower Brule 120, 600 acres.
In a bill introduced by Mr.. Burke
56. 900 acres in the Lower Brule reser.
walton we're authorized to be sold, The
price to be fixed by appraisement, and
the lands disposed of under the home
stead laws.
Representative Burke always in
sisted that congress should make APP