The Public Domain

That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in any manner whatever with existing pre-emption rights: And provided, further, That all persons who may have filed their applications for a pre-emption right prior to the passage of this act shall be entitled to all privileges of this act: Provided further, That no person who has served, or may hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen days in the Army or Navy of the United States, either regular or volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of the act entitled "An act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," approved the third of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this act.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or herself of the benefits of the first section of this act from paying the minimum price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the quantity of land so entered at any time before the expiration of the five years, and obtaining a patent therefor from the Government, as in other cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as provided by existing laws granting pre-emption right.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S OPINION.

President Johnson, one of the original promoters of the homestead act, in his annual message for 1865, says of the act, after calling attention to its successful operation: The homestead policy was established only after long and earnest resistance. Experience proves its wisdom. The lands in the hands of industrious settlers, whose labor creates wealth and contributes to the public resources, are worth more to the United States than if they had been reserved as a solitude for future purchasers.

HOMESTEAD ACT AND AMENDMENTS.

This original homestead act has been amended several times. (See R. S., sections 2289-2317, inclusive, and session laws of Congress since 1878, for additions.)

The principal amendments were in the nature of extension of its privileges, and the limit of 80 acres of land of the double minimum class, $2.50 per acre, within certain road limits, has since been done away with by acts of March 3, 1879, July 1, 1879, and June 15, 1880; there now being but one class of agricultural lands, so far as regards the minimum quantity in homestead entries.

The act of June 8, 1872, was known as the soldiers' and sailors' homestead act. It gave honorably discharged soldiers and sailors from the Army and Navy of the United States lands under the homestead act in any locality, and deducted from the five years' residence which was required to make title their term of service in the Army and Navy during the war of the Rebellion. One year's residence and cultivation, however, were necessary, and they have six months from the filing of application to make entry and commence settlement and improvement, and actual service in the Army or Navy is an equivalent to residence under certain conditions.

The soldiers' additional homestead provision was to give those soldiers who had had the benefit of the homestead act, to the extent of a quantity under 160 acres, an additional amount, so as to make their allowance 160 acres. The act of March 3, 1875, gave homesteads and patents for the same to certain Indians. (See chapter XVI, ou "Indian Reservations," as to Indian homesteads.)

By act of March 3, 1879, additional rights were given to homestead settlers on the public lands within railroad limits, and an act of the same tenor for the States of Missouri and Arkansas was passed July 1, 1879.

Special acts have frequently been passed favoring localities where crops have been destroyed by drought or insects, and the time of settlers has been extended.

In making final proof of homestead entry, or in commuting under the eighth section of the homestead act (section 2301, R. S.), upon lands situate in recognized mineral districts, a non-mineral affidavit, showing that there is no known mineral on the tract to be entered, is required of all claimants.

THE ESSENCE OF THE HOMESTEAD LAW AND ITS BENEFITS.

The essence of the homestead law and the amendments is embodied in the conditions of actual settlement, dwelling on, and cultivation of the soil embraced in an entry. It gives for a nominal fee, equal to $34 on the Pacific coast and $26 in the other States, to a settler-a man or woman over the age of twenty-one years, head of a family, or a single person above the age of twenty-one years, a citizen of the United States or having declared an intention of becoming such-the right to locate upon 160 acres of unoccupied public land in any of the public-land States and Territories subject to entry at a United States land office, to live upon the same for a period of five years, and, upon proof of a compliance with the law, to receive a patent therefor free of cost or charge for the land. Full citizenship is requisite to obtain final title.

The present homestead law contains all of the beneficial features of the pre-emption act with the additions suggested by experience and the changed condition of national life. The eighth section of the act contains the substance of the pre-emption act in the matter of purchase. If the locator desires to buy his homestead outright at the end of six months, he can, upon due proof, pay for his land at $1.25 or $2.50 per acre, as the case may be, which is called commutation of a homestead. It contains one feature as broad in its terms and as beneficial in its principle as the domain it covers. It is as follows:

No lands acquired under the provisions of this act shall, in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor.

The homestead act is now the approved and preferred method of acquiring title to the public lands. It has stood the test of eighteen years, and was the outgrowth of a system extending through nearly eighty years, and now, within the circle of a hundred years since the United States acquired the first of her public lands, the homestead act stands as the concentrated wisdom of legislation for settlement of the public lands. It protects the Government, it fills the States with homes, it builds up communities, and lessens the chances of social and civil disorder by giving ownership of the soil, in small tracts, to the occupants thereof. It was copied from no other nation's system. It was originally and distinctively American, and remains a monument to its originators.

FINAL ENTRIES AND CASH COMMUTATIONS.

The total number of entries under this act from May, 1862, to June 30, 1880, was 469,782; the area embraced therein was 55,667,044.95 acres. The final entries during the same period, for which patents have been issued, were 162,237; the area embraced therein being 19,265,337.06 acres.

Under the eighth section of the cash or commutation clause, a homestead settler can at the end of six months, upon proof of settlement and improvements, make cash payments, at the legal rate, but not more than four per cent. of the homestead settlers have made use of this privilege. They prefer to live upon their land the prescribed five years.

Commutations of homesteads are reported as part of the "cash" sales of each year's business, and therefore cannot be stated.

Number and area of entries under the homestead act, by States and Territories, from May 20, 1862, to June 30, 1880.