OCR Text |
Show uo CHANGES RUDE H HURTR!) Hi1 BflU I0ILU I LnJfi Lttn An act to amend section 2291 and 2297 of the United States statutes relating re-lating to homesteads, and known as the three-year homestead law, has just been passed by congress. Tho exact wording Is as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of tho United Unit-ed States of America In congress as-sambled, as-sambled, That section twenty-two hundred and ninety-one and section twenty-two hundred and ninety-soven of the Revised Statutes of the United StateB be amended to read as follows: fol-lows: "Section 2291. No certificate, however, how-ever, 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 yoarB thereafter, there-after, the person making such entry, or If he bo dead his widow or devisee, de-visee, or in case of a widow making such entry her heirs or devisee, in case of her death, proves by himself and by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have a habitable house upon the land and have actually resided resid-ed upon and cultivated the same for the term of throe years succeeding tho time of filing the affidavits, and makes affidavit that no part of such land has been alienated, except as provided In section twenty-two hundred hun-dred and eighty-eight, and that ho, she, or thoy will bar'truo alleglanco to the government of tho United States, then In such case ho. she, or thoy, if at that time citizens of tho United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided by law, Provided, that upon filing In the local land office notice of the beginning begin-ning of Buch absence, the ontrymen shall be entitled to a continuous leave of absence from a period not exceeding exceed-ing fivo months In each year aftor establishing rosldence, and upon the termination of such absence the ontrymen ontry-men shall file a notice of such termination term-ination In the local land office, but In case of communication tho fourteen four-teen months' actual residence as now required by law must bo shown, and tho person commuting must be at the time a citizen of the United States; Provided, that when tho person making mak-ing entry dies bofore the offer of final proof those succeeding to tho entry must show that the entrymen had complied with the law In all re-speot3 re-speot3 to the date of his death and that they have since compiled com-piled with the law In all respecta, 'as would havo been required of the entrymen had ho lived, excepting that they are relieved from any re- h quireraent of resldenco upon the land;, Provided further, that the entryman shall, in order to comply with the requirements re-quirements of cultivation herein provided pro-vided for, cultivate not less than one-sixteonth one-sixteonth of the area of his entry, beginning with the second year of his entry, and not loss than one-eighth, beginning with the third year of his entry, and until final proof, oxcept that in the case of entries under section sec-tion six of the enlarged homestead law double tho area of cultivation herein provided shall be required, but the secretary of the interior may, upon a satisfactory showing, under rules aid regulations prescribed by him, reduce re-duce the required area of cultivation, Provided, that the above provisions as to cultivation shall not apply to entries en-tries under the act of April twenty-eighth, twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and four, commonly known as the Klnkald act, or entries under the act of June seventeenth, sev-enteenth, nlnoteen hundred and two, commonly known as the reclamation act, and that the provisions of this section relative to tho homestead period pe-riod shall apply to all unperfected en-trios en-trios as well as entries hereafter mado upon which residence Is required; Provided, that the secretary of the Interior In-terior shall, within sixty days aftor the passage of this act, aend a copy of the same to each homestead entry-man entry-man of record who may be affected thereby, by ordinary mall to his last known address, and any such entry-man entry-man may, by giving notice within one hundred and twenty days after thepas-sago thepas-sago of this act, by registered letter to the register and rocelver of the lo- "' i"u uuice, eiect to make proof upon his entry under the law under which tho same was made without regard re-gard to the Drovlslons of this act" "Section 2297. If, at any time after the filing of tho affidavit as required re-quired In section twenty-two hundred and ninety and before the expiration of the three years mentioned in section sec-tion twenty-two hundred and ninety-one, ninety-one, it is proved, after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the land office that the person having filed such nffidavit has failed to establish residence within six months after tho date of entry, or abandoned the land for more than'slx months at any time, then and In that ovent tho land so entered shall revert to the government; Provided, that the three years period of residence herein here-in fixed shall date from the time of establishing actual permanent residence resi-dence upon the land; And provided further, that where there bo climatic reasons, sickness or other unavoidable unavoid-able cause, the commissioner of the general land office may, In his discretion, discre-tion, allow the sottler twelve months from the date of filing In which to commence his rosldence on said land under such rulos and regulations as he may perscrlbe." Approved, June 6, 1912. |