, 1912-06-13
THREE YEAR HOMESTEAD BILL
Full text Of the new law which was approved nv ths p,..,a.,. =.
the 9Th day OF June. 9l2-The best, most beneficial
Measure passed during the present Confre..

Be it encted by the Senate and House of Representst;vss nj ~.
United States of America in Congress assembled, That section a2g1
and section 2297 of the Revised Statutes of the IJn;ted S..to. h.
amended to read as follows:
"Sec; 1921. No certificate, however, shall be given or patent is.
sued therefor 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, OF riff be be dead
his widow, or in case of her death his heirs or devisee, or in q Of \
widow making such entry her heirs o devisee, in case of her dealt.
proves by himself and by two credible witness that he. she. or thew
have a habitable house upon the land and have actually resided
and cultivated the same for the term of three ar succeed;n, Tho
time of filing the affidavit, and makes affidavit that no part of such
land has been alienated, except as provided in section twenty. two
hundred and eighty. eight. and that he she or than iii Io."."o
allegiance to the Government of the United States, then in such al
he, she. or they, if Fat that time citizens of the United States, shall be
entitled to a patent, as in othei cases provided by law: Prov1dec, That
upon filing IN the local land office notice of the beginning of such
absence the entryman shall be entitled to a continuous leave of ab-
sencef from the land for a period not exceeding five months in each
year after establishing residence and upon the termination of such
absence the entryman shall file a notice of such termination in the
local land office, but in case of communication the fourteen months
actual residence as now required by law must be shown, and the
person committing must be at the time a citizen of the United States:
Provided, That when the person making entry dies before the offer of
final proof those succeeding to the entry must show that the entry
man had complied with the law in all respects to the date of his death,
and that they have since complied with the law in all respects, as
would have been required of the entrymau had he lived, excepting
that they are relieved from any requirement of residence upon the
land: Provided further, That the entryman shal, in order to comply
with the requirements of cultivation herein provided for, cultivate
not less than one. sixteenth of the area of his entry bevinn;ng with
the second year of the entry, and not less than one-eighth, beginning
with the third year of the entry, and until final proof, except that in
the case of entries under section six of the enlarged homestead laws
double the area of cultivation herein provided shall be required, but
the Secretary OF the Interior nay, upon a satisfactory showing, under
rules and regulations prescribed by him, reduce the required area of
cultlvaton: Provided, That the above provision a q to cultivation shall
not apply to entries under the act of April twenty eighth. nineteen
hundred and four, commonly known as the Kinkaid Act, or entries
under the act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, com.
monty known as the reclamation act, and that the provisions of this
section relative to the homestead period shall apply to all unprotected
entries a we'll as entries hereafter made upon which residence is re-
qured: Provided, that the Secretary of the Interior SHALL within sixty
days after the passage of this act, send a copy of the same to each
homestead entryman of record who may be affected thereby. by Or
binary mail to his last known address, and any such entryman may,
by giving motto within one hundred and twenty days after the pass
age of this act, by registered letter to the register and receiver of the
local land Office, elect to make proof upon his entry under which the
same WAS made without regard to the provisions of this act"
"Sec. 1927. IT, at any time after the filing of the affidavit, as re-
qured in section twenty-five hundred and ninety. and before the ex-
piration of the three years mentioned in section twenty-five hundred
and ninety lone, it 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, o abandoned the land for more than six
months at any time, then and in that event the land 80 entered shall
revert to the Government: Provided, That the three years period of
residence herein fixed shall date from the time of establishing actual
permanent residence upon the land: And provided further, That where
there may be climatic reasons, sickness, or other unavoidable cause,
the Commissioner of the General Land Office may, in his discretion.
allow the settler twelve months from the date of filing in which to
commence his residence IN said land, under such rules and regulations
10 he may prescribe"
Approved by the President June 5, 1912.
Elect Officers A Remarkable Electric Storm