Year: 1873




mereus letters requesting modi6ca.
,ion of the instructions issued by this
Office April FL, 1873, under the act Of
Congress approved March, l, 1873,
entitled "An act to encourage the
growth of timber on western prairies." )"


1t is claimed that parties making
entries under the Let section of the act
are entitled, by its terms, to three
years to complete the planting of the
prescribed area with trees, and that
they should not be limited to one year
in the regulations. While it is true
that the act does not specifically men.
,ion any particular time within which
the planting shall be done by parties
making entries under the first section,
the 4th section clearly limits the time
for planting, by homestead claimant,
to one year from the date Of entry, as
it requires him to show at the end Of
the third year that he has had the trees
which he is required to plant under
cultivation for two years. This he
cannot do, unless the tress are planted
within one year from date of entry.
Congress thus fixed time for home.
stead claimants under ,he 4th section,
an / as no time was fixed, in the case
of parties making entries nnder the 1st
section, I adopted, in entries of that
class, the time which Congress consid-
cred reasonable and proper to allow
homestead claimants, apd limited them
to one year. A different construction
might have been reached by seperat-
ing the 1st and 2ud sections Of the act
from the other portions thereof, but
considering the whole act, did not
feel authorized to give to parties en-
tries under the 1st section more time
than Congress granted to homestead
settlers by the 4th section. Admit.
ting that the act is ambiguous, and
that there is room for difference of
opinion On the point under considera
ton, | cannot conclude that Congress
intended to make a discrimination
against settlers under the homestead
law. who, through poverty, privation,
and toll are rendering an essential and
valuable service to the commonwealth
by making their homes upon wi d
lands, and reducing them to cultivation
and thereby adding to tie productive
area aul resources Of the Country, and
in favor Of men who have the means
to appropriate lands for speculative
purposes, and who, when they take
them under the lst section Of the act
are not required to reside upon or i'm
prove them further than may be nec-
essary to the planting and cultivation
of the requisite quantity of timber.


If any Discrimination is to be made
I think it should be in favor Of the
Door man, who seeks home for him.
self aud family upon the public do
main, and who is, by the homestead
law, required to build his house and
make his actual residence upon his
land within six months from the date
of his entry, and who has, therefore,
about all he can do during the first
year of his settlement to provide for
the comfort of his family, and comply
with the provisions of the homestead
law without being required to plat
trees.


The law will have to be much plain
er in its requirements than it is now
before I can consent to establish rule
which would be so obviously unjust to
the homestead settler, and go clearly
in the interest of speculation.


It is also claimed that parties are
not limited to one entry, but may make
as many as they please. Here again
the act is somewhat obscure, but it
would be so mauifestly contrary to the
principles embodied in the general
legislation in relation to the public do.
main, as we'll as sound public policy
to allow an individual to appropriate
indefinite and unlimited quantities of
the public land, that I cannot conclude
that it was the intention of Congress
to allow any person to take more than
one qusrter-section under the provis-
ions Of the act, and have therefore
decided that an individual cannot be
allowed to make more than one entry,
and that such individual cannot take
more than one technical quarter-sect-
ion.


In arriving at these conclusions 1
am, I confess, not absolutely certain
that the language of the act will not
authorize, or At least admit, . different
construction, but to allow three years
for planting trees, and then permit
an indefinite and unlimited number of
entries by the same person, would be
to aid 10 . speculative monopoly Of
the public domain by parties with no in.
tention of complying With the require.
ments of the law Is to the tree culture.


I cannot think that Congress in.
tended any such results to aow from
the act referred to, and, therefore, l
shall adhere to the regulations which l
have issued, and limit parties to one
year in which to complete their plant
ing, and to one entry under the act,
until Congress BY further Legislation
authorizes or requires modi6catson
Of the rule.


WILLIS DRUMMOND,


Commissioner.