The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-06-21

two hundred and ninety-one and sec
tion twenty-two-hundred and ninety
seven of the Revised Statutes of the
United States, relating to home-
steads.
Be 1t enacted by the senate and
house Of Representatives of the Unit
ed States of America in congress as
sembled, that section twenty-five
hundred and ninety-one and section
twenty-five hundred and ninety
seven of the Revised Statutes of the
United States be amended to read
as follows:
"Sec. 2291. No certificate, howev-
er, shall be given or patent issued
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. or II he be dead, his widow,
or in case of her death his heirs or
dlyisee, or in case OF a widow max
ing such entry her heirs or devisee,
in case of her death, proves by him
self and by two credible witnesses
that he, she, or they have q habitable
house upon the land and have actual
ly resided upon and cultivated the
ssame for the term of three years
succeeding the time of filing the afIi-
davit, 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 they will bear true
allegiance to the government of the
United States, then in such case he,
she, or they. II at that time citizens
of the United States, shall be entitled
to patent, as in other cases prOvid-
ed by law: Provided, that upon fill
ing in the local land office notice OF
the beginning of such absence the en-
tryman shall be entitled to a con-
tinuous absence from the land for
period not exceeding five months
in each year after establishing resi-
dence, 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 COM
mutation the fourteen months actual
residence as now required by law
must be shown, and the person COM
muting must be at the time 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 entryman 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
entryman had he lived, excepting that
they are relieved from any require |
ment of residence upon the land: |
Provided further, that the entryman |
shall, in order to comply with the re-
quirements of cultivation herein pro-
vided for, cultivate not less than one
sixteenth of the area of his entry,
beginning 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 ex-
4 cept that in in the case Of entries un-
der section six of the enlarged home
stead law do l'Ie the area Of cuiti' a.
tion herein provided shall he re-
Quired, but the Secretary of the In
terror may, upon satisfactory show
ling, under rules and regulations pre-
scribed by him, reduce the required
area of cultivation: Provided, that
the above provision as to cultivation
shall not apply to entries under the
act of April twenty-eighth, nineteen
hundred and four, commonly known
asst he Kinkaid act, or entries under
the act of June seventeenth, nineteen
hundred and two. commonly known
/ In OF Aot i 4
provisions of this section relative to
the homestead period shall apply to
all unprotected entries as we'll as en-
tries hereafter made upon which resi-
dence Is required: Provided, that the
Secretary of the Interior, shall, with
| in sixty days after the passage OF
this act, send copy to each home
stead entryman of record who may be
affected thereby, by ordinary mail
to his last known address, and any
such entryman may, by giving notice
within one hundred and twenty days
after the passage of this act, by reg
istered letter to the register and re-
ceiver of the local land office, elect to
make proof upon his entry under the
law under which the same was made
without regard to the provisions OF
this act.
"Sec. 2297. If at any time after
the filing of the affidavit as required
in section twenty-five hundred and
ninety and before the expiration OF
the three years mentioned in section
twenty-five hundred and ninety-one,
1t Is proved, after due notice to the
settler, to the satisfaction of the reg
lister of the land office that the per-
son 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
that event, the land so entered shall
revert to the government: Provided,
that the three years period Of resi-
dence herein fixed shall date from
the time of establishing actual per-
manent residence upon the land: And
provided further, that where there
may be climatic reasons, sickness or
| other unavoidable cause, the commits
sioner of the general land Office may,
in his discretion, allow the settler
twelve months from the date of fill
ing, in which to commence his resi-
dence on said land under such rules
and regulations as he may prescribe" "