Year: 1878

From the Pioneer-Press.


! The following article from the Du.
luth Tribune, whose editor is United
States land officer, will be of interest
to many persons in this section:


1t is of course well known to all who
have been familiar with the instructions
and rulings of the general land office, that
multitudes of persons who have ever taken
hemesteads have not strictly complied with
the law in regard to establishing "a resi-
/ dence" thereon. Heretofore, homesteaders
Lave, of course, solemnly sworn that they
have resided on their homesteads as pro-
vided by law, but, as matter of fact, such
residences have been technical, rather than
bona fide. 1t seems, however, the general
land office commissioner has decided to
| put stop to this loose way of doing bust
ness, as new blanks have been issued to
the various offices, prescribing new sort
| of emphatic and specific questions both
| for the homCsteader himself and for his
witnesses. For the information of the
public, and especially for the Information
of homesteaders who have not yet proved
up, we publish below the questions which,
under the new regulations, the homesteader
must answer, and the questions for his wit
nesses are equally searching and pointed


QUESTIONS FOR THE HoMEsTEADER.


l. What is your name? (Be careful to
give it in full, correctly spelled, in order
that it may be here written exactly
as you wish it written in the patent which
you desire to obtain.)


2. What is your age?


3. Are you the head of family, or
single person; and, if the head of fami-
ly, of whom does your family consist?


A. Are you native-born citizen of the
United States? If not, have you declared
your intention to become citizen, and
have you obtained a certificate of natural
ization?


5. Are there any indications of coal, or
minerals of any kind on the lands en-
braced in your homestead entry above de-
scribed? Qf so state what they are, and
whether the springs or mineral deposits
are valuable.)


6. Is the land more valuable for agri-
cultural than mineral purposes?


z. What is your post office address?


8. Have you ever mace homestead
entry except for this land, No.? Qf
you have, give, as nearly as you can, the
date thereof and description of the land,
and state whether the entry still subsists;





of its cancellation.)


8. Have you sold the land or conveyed
to any one your right and interest in the
same? And if so, to whom and for what
purpose?


10. Does any one except yourself claim
the land under the homestead or pre-emp-
ton laws?


II. When did you first make settlement
on the said land?


12 When did you first establish resi-
dence upon the land?


13. At the date you have given as being
the date that you first established your resi-
dence upon the land, did you move thereon
in person?


IA. Up to what time have you resided
on the land?


10. Was your residence upon the land
continuous during the period named?


16. If you had family during said pc
riod of residence on the homestead, did
your family reside thereon?


II. What hatimprovements have you made
or do you possess on the land? Describe
them)


18. When was your house butt?


10. What is the total value Of said i'm
provements?


20. For what purpose have you used
the land9


21. How much of the land have you
broken and cultivated, and what crops, if
any, have you raised?


Another affidavit which the homesteader
must take contains the following clause:


And do further swear that have not
heretofore perfected or abandoned an entry
made under the homestead laws of the
United States.


The new instructions also contain the
following note:


NoTE.-The officer before whom the tes-
timony is taken shall call the attention of
the witness to the following section of the
revised statutes, and state to him that it is
the purpose of the government, if it be as
certained that he testifies falsely, to prose-
cute him to the full extent of the law:


TITLE Lxx.-CRIMEs-CHAP 4.


Section $500. Every person who, hav-
ing taken an oath before competent tri-
bunal, officer or person, in any case in
which a law of the United States author
ICES an oath to be administered, that he
will, testify, declare, or certify truly, or
that any written testimony, declaration,
deposition, or certificate by him subscribed
is true, willfully and contrary to such oath
states or subscribes any material matter
which he does not believe to be true, is
guilty of perjury, and shall be punished by
q fine of not more than two thousand dol
lars, and by imprisonment at hard labor
not more than five years, and shall more
over, thereafter be incapable of giving tes-
timony in any court of the United States
until such time as the Judgment against
him is reversed. [See Sec. 1850


The effect of these new and more rigid
rulings will probably be to prevent some
homesteaders from securing their patents,
who could have done so under the old rul-
ings, and the government undoubtedly
means to put stop TO the loose way in
which some persons have heretofore gone
through the farce of proving up; but it
may be that the government will look with
some degree of allowance upon those
homesteaders who have lived up to the
homestead law as closely as they have sup
posed that they were required to do. Be
this as 1t may, we would recommend all
persons, who have had homesteads, for the
requisite length of time, and who intend
to prove up, to do so as soon as practicable.
Considerable inquiry is now being made
for homesteads, and several contests have
recently been instituted and parties Who
delay proving up and who perhaps have
| acted In good faith and done the very best
they could to comply with the law, but
who in some respect may have been unable
to do so strictly, will be liable to be put TO
the trouble aud expense of long contest,
should they delay the matter for any great
length of time. Especially is it to be to
the interest of all persons who, under the
new rulings, may be In doubt as 10 whether
| they can hold their homesteads or not to
be satisfied ON that point as soon as posi-,
BILE. They should as soon as practicable
come forward and make their proofs and
state the facts just as they exist and rely
,,r.rv,