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Show f.w r l.-. J j .p!'C- fir K. mrtfad Entries j C.'.ouid Fi.-st fci.'.fce Fersct.a; In- j cpc't.on oi' Cr.tr i-t. Tn rc-.'po'. to mary inoi:i:'s from px-scrvirc iiht) in tlic Middle West regarding re-garding vveriMiii tit '-'' d grants, lrvin 1. Fcinriro. ..!..: :;ry of Argoime K'si nf the American I.con in 1 's Moines, la., has made on inves.igation of the situation. "Persons desiring to make homestead entries," said Mr. l-'enirite, "shouid first fully inform t heniselvt -s as to the character and quality of lands they desire to enter and should in no case apply to enter until they have examined ex-amined each legal subdivision foi which they make application. Satisfactory Satis-factory information concerning the lands may be obtained from a personal risit to the district in which one wishes to take out land. "Each applicant is required to swear that he is well acquainted with the character of the land described Id his application and the only way that he can assure himself that prior settlers have no claim is to make a personal inspection of same. "An ex-service man is required to stablish residence on the land Involved In-volved after his entry Is allowed, un-ess un-ess an extension of time is granted on account of sickness, climatic reasons or similar excuses. Credit is given for service in the Army, Navy or Marines, providing the applicant has had eighteen months of service. If such is the case, the applicant is required re-quired to live on the land only seven months. If he obtains so much credit for military service that there is required re-quired only one year's residence, he must prove only such amount ot cultivation as will prove his good faith as 8 homestead claimant. If his credit for service requires more than one year's residence, he must show cultivation to the extent of one-sixteenth of the area of the land beginning be-ginning with the second year. Regardless Regard-less of credit for service, all applicants appli-cants must prove that there is a habitable house on the land. "There is only one portion of the country where land may be obtained without the requirement of a homestead. home-stead. At Sentinel. Ariz., there are 10,000 acres open, for which no homestead home-stead is required, but which necessitates necessi-tates the payment of seventy-fi fe dollars for three hundred and twenty acres and an expenditure of one dollar per acre for improvement. This Is arid iand which may be used for cotton raising if Irrigated. When Irrigated, it sells for from two to three hundred dollars an acre. It. is estimated that The cost of irrigation irriga-tion on three hundred and twenty acres is about $10;000. "Approximately 132.000,000 acres of land arc open, including every state west of the Mississippi river except Iowa and Texas. The first thing to do is to decide on the state. Then, get the location 'Of the land offices in that state. All blan.k forms of affidavits affida-vits and other papers may be obtained for th-e district office in which the Jand lies. "laking out a homestead is not a speculative proposition. If the applicant appli-cant can afford to establish himself for the period required under the homestead laws, taking advantage of the credit allowed him for service In the World war, he will be well repaid rfter a few years." |