Claimant must have complied with the law up to the time of becoming insane; and proof of compliance will be required to cover only the period prior to such insanity; but the act will not be construed to cure a failure to comply with the law when the failure occurred prior to such insanity.

The final proof must be made by a party whose authority to act for the insane person during his disability shall be duly certified under seal of the proper probate court.

CONVERSION OF PREEMPTION INTO HOMESTEAD CLAIMS.

A person who has made settlement on a tract and filed his preemption declaration therefor, may change his filing into a homestead if he continues in good faith to comply with the preemption laws until the change is effected; and the time during which he has resided upon and claimed the land as a preemptor will be credited upon the period of residence and cultivation required under the homestead laws. (Acts of March 3, 1877, 19 Stat. L., 404, May 27 and June 14, 1878, 20 Stat. L., 63 and 113; Appendix No. 7, p. 167.) In his first homestead affidavit he must set forth the fact of a previous preemption filing, the time of actual residence thereunder, and the intention to claim the benefit of such time, as provided for in the act. In making final proof on his homestead entry he is required, in addition to the usual affidavit and proof, to make the prescribed "preemption homestead affidavit." (Form 4-071, p. 281.)

LEAVES OF ABSENCE.

There are three laws providing for leaves of absence in certain cases, that of March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 854; Appendix No. 32, p. 187), which provides generally for cases of destruction or failure of crops, sickness, or other unavoidable casualty rendering the settler unable to support himself or persons dependent on him upon the land; that of July 1, 1879 (21 Stat. L., 48; Appendix No. 14, p. 173), providing for the special case of the devastation of grasshoppers; and that of January 19, 1895 (28 Stat. L., 634; Appendix No. 60, p. 236), providing for the relief of homestead settlers who suffered from the forest fires which prevailed in northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan during the summer and autumn of 1894.

The third section of the first act provides for permission to be granted in certain cases by the register and receiver of the proper district land office for parties claiming public land as settlers under existing laws to leave and be absent from the land settled upon for a specified period, not to exceed one year at any one time. The applicant for such permission will be required to submit testimony to consist of his own affidavit, corroborated by the affidavits of disinterested witnesses, executed before the register or receiver or some officer in the land district using a seal and authorized to administer oaths, setting forth in detail the facts on which he relies to support his application, and which must be sufficient to satisfy the register and receiver, who are enjoined to exercise their best and most careful judgment in the matter, that he is unable by reason of a total or partial destruction or failure of crops, sickness, or other unavoidable casualty to secure a support for himself or those dependent upon him upon the land settled upon. In case a leave of absence is granted the register and receiver will enter such action on their records, indicating the period for which granted, and promptly report the fact to this office, transmitting the testimony on which their

action is based. In case of refusal the applicant will be allowed the right of appeal on the usual conditions.

The facts to be shown embrace the following, viz:

1. The character and date of the entry, date of establishing residence upon the land, and what improvements have been made thereon by the applicant.

2. How much of the land has been cultivated by the applicant, and for what period of time.

3. In case of failure or injury to crop, what crops have failed or been injured or destroyed, to what extent, and the cause thereof.

4. In case of sickness, what disease or injury, and to what extent claimant is prevented thereby from continuing upon the land; and, if practicable, a certificate from a reliable physician should be furnished.

5. In case of "other unavoidable casualty," the character, cause, and extent of such casualty, and its effect upon the land or the claimant. 6. In each case full particulars upon which intelligent action may be based by the register and receiver.

7. The dates from which and to which leave of absence is asked. The foregoing is not to be understood as imposing restrictions upon settlers over and above what the statute contains, or to modify the conditions therein prescribed for the enjoyment of the right, but merely to indicate what facts should be set forth in the required affidavits, leaving with the registers and receivers of the several district offices the duty of making application of the law to the particular cases presented, subject, of course, to the supervisory authority of the Department.

The act of 1879, with reference to devastations of grasshoppers, has ceased to bear the importance it originally possessed, no serious grasshopper incursions having occurred of late. The following are the official instructions thereunder:

The first section of said act provides that homestead and preemption settlers on public lands where crops have been destroyed or seriously injured by grasshoppers may leave and be absent from said lands for a period not to exceed one year continuously, under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner of the General Laud Office shall prescribe, being allowed afterwards to resume and perfect their settlement as though no such absence had occurred. The second section provides that the time for making final proof and payment by preemptors whose crops had been destroyed or injured as aforesaid may, at the discretion of the Commissioner, be extended for one year. (21 Stat. L., 48; Appendix No. 14, p. 173.)

A settler desiring to take advantage of the provisions of this act should file with the register and receiver a written notice of intended absence, bearing his own signature, and embracing a statement that he had sustained loss or failure of his crops. This should be noted on the tract books for the protection of the claimant and the information of parties who might otherwise make settlement and attempt to obtain title.

Preemption settlers desiring the extension of time provided for in the second section of the act should apply therefor through the same officers, the application to be supported by the same character of proof, which should be made before the register or receiver of the district land office, or before any officer using a seal and authorized to administer oaths.

Upon making final proof the settler having been absent under the first section should file his affidavit, with the affidavits of two or more witnesses, corroborative thereof, stating the particulars of the alleged destruction or serious injury of crops by grasshoppers.

3073- -2

The particulars given should be such as to admit of a decision whether the absence was justified by law or not, and should specifically show at what time the party left the land and when he resumed his settlement.

The affidavits required in cases arising under this section of the act must be made at the same time and place and before the same officer taking the other proofs.

The first section of the act of January 19, 1895, provides for an extension of time of two years within which to make final proof, and excuses temporary absence for any period within two years from the date of the act in all cases where any homestead settler, in the respective districts, was compelled to leave the land settled upon by him because of the prevailing forest fires of the summer and autumn of 1894, and by reason of the destruction of buildings or other property by such fires. The same relief is extended to the heirs of any settler who perished by such fires. Any settler desiring to receive the benefit of these provisions will be required to file in the district land office having jurisdiction over the land embraced in his or her claim an affidavit corroborated by two parties setting forth the number of the entry, if one has been made, and the description of the land; the date of settlement upon the land; the amount and character of the improvements placed thereon; the character and extent of the damage to the settler's property caused by the fire; the date when the same occurred; whether or not the party was thereby obliged to leave the claim, and such other facts as may be relied upon as bringing the party within the scope of the act. Where a homestead settler perished by such fires, the heirs (i. e., the successors to the right under the homestead law, if they desire to receive the benefit of the provisions of said section), or one of them, will be required to furnish evidence consisting of the affidavit of the respective claimants, or, if a minor, of his or her guardian, corrobo rated by two witnesses, setting forth the number of the entry, if one has been made, and the description of the land; the date of the settlement under which they claim; the character and value of the improvements, and the circumstances attending the death of the settler. The affidavits of the claimant and his corroborating witnesses may be made before any officer authorized to administer oaths using a seal.

Upon receipt of the required affidavits, the district land officers will forward the same to the General Land Office with their joint recommendation in regard to the case. Should the evidence be found satisfactory they will be so advised, whereupon they will make such notes upon their records for their future guidance as will indicate that the parties are entitled to the benefits of the provisions of the first section of the act, and in these cases they will not issue the usual notice of the expiration of time within which to make proof until ten years from the date of the entry, and no contest for abandonment or noncompliance with the law will be allowed against any of the entries until after the expiration of two years from the date of the act. Entrymen temporarily absent for any time within two years from the date of the act will not be required to show any additional period of residence when they make final proof, because of such absence, as the act explicitly directs that such absence shall be deemed constructive residence.

Parties coming under the act whose claims rest upon settlement alone are not relieved from the necessity of making their original homestead entries as heretofore required by the law and regulations in order to protect their settlement rights.

CLIMATIC HINDRANCES.

The proviso annexed to section 2297, Revised Statutes, by amendatory act of March 3, 1881 (21 Stat. L., 511; Appendix No. 23, p. 181, which applies only to homestead settlers, provides that in case such settler has been prevented by climatic reasons from establishing actual residence upon his homestead within six months from date of entry, the Commissioner of the General Land Office may, in his discretion, allow him twelve months from that date in which to commence his residence.

In such case the settler must, on final proof, file with the register and receiver his affidavit, duly corroborated by two credible witnesses, setting forth in detail the storms, floods, blockades by snow or ice, or other hindrances dependent upon climatic causes which rendered it impossible for him to commence residence within six months. A claimant can not be allowed twelve months from entry when it can be shown that he might have established his residence on the land at an earlier day; and a failure to exercise proper diligence in so doing as soon as possible after the climatic hindrances disappear will imperil his entry in case of a contest.

HOMESTEAD CLAIMS NOT LIABLE FOR DEBT AND NOT SALABLE.

No lands acquired under the provisions of the homestead laws are liable for the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the issue of patent. (Sec. 2296, Rev. Stat.; Appendix No. 1, p. 155.)

The sale of a homestead claim by the settler to another party before becoming entitled to a patent vests no title or equities in the purchaser as against the United States. In making final proof, the settler is by law required to swear that no part of the land has been alienated except for church, cemetery, or school purposes, or the right of way of railroads, canals, or ditches for irrigation or drainage across it. (Sec. 2288, Rev. Stat., as amended by sec. 3 of the act of March 3, 1891, 26 Stat. L., 1095; Appendix No. 44, p. 221.)

ONLY ONE HOMESTEAD PRIVILEGE TO THE SAME PERSON PERMITTED.

As the law allows but one homestead privilege (sec. 2298, Rev. Stat.; Appendix No. 1, p. 155), a settler relinquishing or abandoning his claim can not thereafter make a second entry, although where the entry is canceled as invalid for some reason other than abandonment, and not the willful act of the party, he is not thereby debarred from entering again if in other respects entitled, and may have the fee and commissions paid on the canceled entry refunded on proper application, under the act of June 16, 1880 (21 Stat. L., 287; Appendix No. 21, p. 179; Hannah M. Brown, 4 L. D., 9; Goist v. Bottum, 5 L. D., 643; Jasper N. Shepherd, 6 L. D., 362).

Where a party makes a selection of land for a homestead he must abide by his choice. If he has neglected to examine the character of the land prior to entry, and it proves to be fertile or otherwise unsatisfactory, he must suffer the consequences of his own neglect.

In some cases, however, where obstacles which could not have been foreseen, and which render it impracticable to cultivate the land, are discovered subsequently to entry (such as the impossibility of obtaining water by digging wells or otherwise), or where, subsequently to entry, and through no fault of the homesteader, the land becomes useless for agricultural purposes (as where by the deposit of "tailings" in

the channel of a stream a dam is formed, causing the waters to overflow), the entry may, in the discretion of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, be canceled and a second entry allowed; but, in the event of a new entry, the party will be required to show the same compliance with law in connection therewith as though he had not made a previous entry, and must pay the proper fees and commissions upon the same.

Exceptions to the rule above stated have been made by two statutes of a general character, the acts of March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 854, sec. 2; Appendix No. 32, p. 187), and of December 29, 1894 (28 Stat. L., 599; Appendix No. 59, p. 236). Several statutes of a special character have been enacted having a local application, viz, statutes of March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 1004, secs. 12, 13, 14, and 15; Appendix No. 35, p. 204), February 13, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 759), and March 3, 1893 (27 Stat. L., 563; Appendix No. 46, p. 228), in reference to certain Indian lands in Oklahoma; September 29, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 496, Appendix No. 40, p. 215), in reference to certain forfeited railroad lands; and March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 1043), in reference to the Crow Indian lands in Montana. These statutes make the exception in favor of parties who had made entries prior to the respective dates of approval thereof, leaving the rule to operate unimpaired with respect to cases thereafter arising.

The general act of March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 854, sec. 2), allows in general terms any party who had theretofore made a homestead entry and who had not perfected title thereunder to make another homestead entry, while denying such right to any party who perfects title to lands under the preemption or homestead laws already initiated, and specifically provides that parties who have existing preemption rights may transmute them to homestead entries and perfect title to the lands under the homestead laws, although they may have heretofore had the benefit thereof.

Therefore registers and receivers will not hereafter reject a homestead application on the ground that the applicant can not take the prescribed oath that he has not previously made such an entry, but he will be required to show by affidavit, designating the entry formerly made by description of the land, number and date of entry, or other sufficient data, that it was made prior to the date of said act, and also that he has not since perfected a preemption or homestead title initiated prior to that date. In cases where the former entry was made subsequently to the date of the act, the rule remains unchanged, as given above.

The right to make a second entry under the act of December 29, 1894, extends to such persons as have theretofore forfeited their entries for such reasons as would have entitled them to a leave of absence under section 3, act of March 2, 1889.

The party applying to make second entry will be required to file, in the district land office having jurisdiction over the land he desires to enter, an application for a specific tract of land, and to submit testimony to consist of his own affidavit, corroborated by the affidavits of disinterested witnesses, executed before the register or receiver or some officer in the land district using a seal and authorized to administer oaths, setting forth in detail the facts on which he relies to support his application, and which must be sufficient to satisfy the register and receiver, who are enjoined to exercise their best and most careful judgment in the matter, that his former entry was in fact forfeited by reason of his inability, caused by a total or partial destruction or failure of