The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1919-01-03
A NEW LAND LAW

No. 622 containing the latest Ian,
laws passed by congress for the bene
Ifit of those who served In the Ameri
. can army and navy during the lat
war:
Circular No. 622-Soldiers under q
J years og age-special privileges un
der public land laws-act of Angus
J 81, 1918. and resolution of September
13. l9lS-Instructions.
Department of the Interior, Genera
Land office. Washington. d. c.. Octo
ber Q, 1918.
Registers and Receivers, United
States Land offices.
Sirs: Section 8 of the act Of Con.
gress OF August 81. 1913 (Public 210)
reads as follows:
Sec. 8. That any person, under tho
lage OF twenty-one, VINO has served
or shall hereafter serve In the army
OF the United States during the pres
ent emergency, shall be entitled 70 the
same rights under the homestead and
other land and mineral entry laws
general or special. as those over twen-
ty-one years of age now possess under
said laws: Provided. That any require
ments as to establishment of residence
within limited time shall be sus-
pended as to entry BY such person
until six months after his discharge
from military service: Provided fur
Ither, That applications for entry may
be verified before any officer in the
United States, or any foreign country,
authorized to administer oaths by TIE
laws of the state or territory, on which
the land may be situated"
The Joint resolution of congress
public Az, approved September 13,
1918, and referring to the above pro-
vision, reads as follows:
THAT no relinquishmen. of any
public-land entry made under or by
authority of section eight of the act
of the Sixty-fifth Congress, second ses-
sion, entitled An act amending the
act entitled "An act to authorize the
Ipresident to increase temporarily the
military establishment of the United
States" approved May eighteenth,
nineteen hundred and seventeen shall
be valid or effective for any purpose
unless executed after the entryman
shall have actually resided upon and
cultivated the land. in the case OF a
homestead entry, for at least six
months, and in the case of an entry
made under other thar. the homestead
laws, after the entrSr&an shall have
complied With tic f.0S isioh- OF the
Applicable law for at least one year
ANY person, Arm, or corporation
! soliciting or dealing with the relin-
quishment of such claim or entry
prior to the completion of compliance
with the applicable law and with this
resolution. and who or which solicits
demands, or receives or accepts any
fee or compensation for locating,
| filing, or securing the claims or en-
tries for persons entitled to the bene-
fits or said section shall. upon conyic-
tion, be fined not to exceed $1,000 or
Imprisonment for not exceeding two
years, or both,"
| 2. Said section of the act of Au-
gust 81, 1918, confers the right of
entry under any of the agricultural
or mineral public land laws upon per-
'ons under the age Of 81 who have
served, or shall hereafter serve Ia
the army of the United States during
the present war. in the same manner
as they could have made entry il over
that age. This right is conferred only
/ vvh onf, To-
mustered into the service and who are
under 81 years of age at the time their
applications are executed.
| A drafted man Is regarded as serv-
ing in the army from the time he re-
ports for entrainment; a man in the
Officers Reserve training corps from
he time of his admission.
This department is of the opinion
that the expression "the army of the
United States" as used in section s
, of the act, includes the navy and
marine corps, and that construction
will stand unless congress shall other
wise direct
3. An application for entry by a
person coming within the meaning of
the law may be executed at any place
where he Is located, whether 1t be a
state, territory, or district of the
United States, or in foreign country.
1t may he executed before any officer
whose authority to administer oaths
is recognized by the laws of the state
or territory in which the land sought
is situated. These laws differ, and it
will not be attempted here to give a
synopsis Of all of them. An examina-
ton of the state laws leads to the con-
clusion that they all recognize affi-
davits executed in any part of the
United States before a notary public
or the clerk of court of record, and
those executed outside of this coun-
try before a noteary or before any
diplomatic or consular officer of the
United States.
4. An applicant claiming the bene-
fits of said section must execute an
duplication for entry on the ordinary
iprescribed form; but, where he has
not examined the tract sought, there
should be omitted from the form sc
much as refers to personal examiaa
ton OF, or acquaintance with, the
tract, and recites the applicants know
ledge as to it's character (nonminer
al, nonirrigable, etc.. For example
there should be stricken from an ap
plication for entry under the cnlarg
; ed homestead act all that part of tn,
form beginning with the words "tha
am we'll acquainted with the charac
ter of the land" and ending with 81
, is not susceptible of successful irri
, cation" etc.
3 In such cases there must accom-
pany the application an affidavit set
e ting forth the facts as to the charac
ter Of the land, executed by som