The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1912-04-12

Il
They have not yet reached an agree
ment. Will keep you posted.
+: (Signed) JOSEPH NJ. DIXON
The foregoing telegram to the editor of
The Review tells very briefly but fully. the
present status of the three year homestead
bill.
Though it passed both houses. yet recent
dispatches indicate that il is not yet out of
danger. due to the fact that the House
amended it. requiring subsequent concur
renee of the Senate; and also because
friends of the bill are anxious to get addi.
tional amendments into the conference
committees report According to Senator
Dixons telegram. that committee is now in
session.
Bone of Contention
The principal bone of contention now is
whether the three-year act will be made
applicable to existing entries. Secretary
Fisher has vigorously opposed that provi-
sion, and it has also encountered other op-
position.
Another mooted point was whether the
act should apply to 3zo-acre claims. The
Senate specifically excepted the larger
homestead from operation of the law. but
the House amended il so as to include all
homesteads requiring residence on the
land
Wording of the Bill.
As it passed the House and went to con.
ference. the bill was worded as follows
AN ACT-To amend section twenty-five
hundred and ninety.one and section
twenty-five hundred and ninety. seven of
the Revised Statutes of the United States
relating to homesteads Be il enacted
by the Senate and House Of Representa-.
tives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled that section 22oI and
Sec. 22o7 Of the Revised Statutes Of the
United States be amended to read as
follows:
Section 22oI. No certificate, however,
shall be given or patent issued therefore
until the expiration of three years from the
date of such entry; and if at the expiration
OF such time, or at any time within two
years thereafter, the person making such
entry, or If he be dead his widow, or in
case Of her death his heirs or devisee. or in
case Of a widow making such entry her
heirs or devisee, in case of her death, proves
by himself and by two creditable witnesses
that he, she, or they. have a habitable
house upon the land and have actually re-
sided upon and cultivated the same for the
term OF three years succeeding the time of
filing the affidavit. and makes affidavit that
no part of such land has been alienated.
except as provided in section 228S. and
that he. she. or they will bear true allegi-
ance to the Government of the United
States. then in such case he, she, or they,
il at any time citizens of the United States,
shall be entitled to a patent. as in other
cases provided by law: Provided, That the
entrymen may be absent from the land for
not more than iive months in each period
OF one year after establishing residence.
bu, in case of commutation the IA months
actual residence as now required by law
must be shown: Provided. That when the
person making entry dies before the offer
of final proof those succeeding TO the entry
must show that the entryman had complied
with the law in all respects to the date of
his death and that they have since con-
piled with the law in all respects, as would
have been required of the en,ryman had Le
lived. excepting that they are relieved from
any requirement Of residence upon the land.
Section 22o7. II. at any time after the
the filing Of the affidavit as required in
section 2a9o and before the expiration of
the three years mentioned in section azoI.
il is proved after due notice to the settler.
to the satisfaction Of the register of the
land Office that the person having filed such
affidavit has failed to establish residence
within six months after the date of entry.
or abandoned the land for more than six
months at any time. then and in ,ha, even,
the land so entered shall revert to the Gov
ernment: Provided. That the three wears
period Of residence herein fixed shall date
from the time Of establishing actual perma- |
nent residence upon the land: And pro-
vided further. That where there NAV be
climatic reasons. sickness. or other un-
avoidable cause. the Commissiooer of the
General Land Office may. in his discretion.
allow the settler IL months from the date
OF hiing in which to commence his resi-
dence on said land under sueh ,ul.s and