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Public lands may be offered

proportions as

chooses.

an acre; and at every public sale, the highest bidder who makes payment as provided in the preceding section shall be the purchaser; but no land shall be sold, either at public or private sale, for a less price than one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre; and all the public lands which are hereafter offered at public sale according to law, and remain unsold at the close of such public sales, shall be subject to be sold at private sale, by entry at the land office, at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, to be paid at the time of making such entry: Provided, That the price to be paid for alternate reserved lands along the line of railroads within the limits granted by any act of Congress shall be two dollars and fifty cents per acre.

[The first section of the act of March 2, 1889, enacts that from and after the passage of that act "no public lands of the United States, except those in the State of Missouri, shall be subject to private entry."]

SEC. 2358. Whenever the President is authorized to for sale in such cause the public lands in any land district to be offered the President for sale, he may offer for sale, at first, only a part of the lands contained in such district, and at any subsequent time or times he may offer for sale in the same manner any other part, or the remainder of the land contained in the same.

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/of sales.

Duration sales.

of

Several certificates issued to

section.

SEC. 2359. The public lands which are exposed to public sale by order of the President shall be advertised for a period of not less than three nor more than six months prior to the day of sale, unless otherwise specially provided.

SEC. 2360. The public sales of lands shall, respectively, be kept open for two weeks, and no longer, unless otherwise specially provided by law.

SEC. 2361. Where two or more persons have become two or more pur- purchasers of a section or fractional section, the register chasers of same of the land office of the district in which the lands lie shall, on application of the parties, and a surrender of the original certificate, issue separate certificates, of the same date with the original, to each of the purchasers, or their assignees, in conformity with the division agreed on by them; but in no case shall the fractions so purchased be divided by other than north and south, or east and west, lines; nor shall any certificate issue for less than eighty acres.

Purchase money refunded

be confirmed.

SEC. 2362. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, where sale can not upon proof being made, to his satisfaction, that any tract of land has been erroneously sold by the United States, so that from any cause the sale can not be confirmed, to repay to the purchaser, or to his legal representatives or assignees, the sum of money which was paid therefor, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. SEC. 2363. Where any tract of land has been erroneously sold, as described in the preceding section, and the money which was paid for the same has been invested in any stocks held in trust, or has been paid into

Refunding

in

certain cases; how done.

the Treasury to the credit of any trust fund, it is lawful, by the sale of such portion of the stocks as may be necessary for the purpose, or out of such trust fund, to repay the purchase money to the parties entitled thereto.

how fixed when

SEC. 2364. Whenever any reservation of public lands Minimum price, is brought into market, the Commissioner of the Gen- reservations sold. eral Land Office shall fix a minimum price, not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, below which such lands shall not be disposed of.

SEC. 2369. In every case of a purchaser of public lands, at private sale, having entered at the land office, a tract different from that he intended to purchase, and being desirous of having the error in his entry corrected, he shall make his application for that purpose to the register of the land office; and if it appears from testimony satisfactory to the register and receiver, that an error in the entry has been made, and that the same was occasioned by original incorrect marks made by the surveyor, or by the obliteration or change of the original marks and numbers at corners of the tract of land; or that it has in any otherwise arisen from mistake or error of the surveyor, or officers of the land office, the register and receiver shall report the case, with the testimony, and their opinion thereon, to the Secretary of the Interior, who is authorized to direct that the purchaser is at liberty to withdraw the entry so erroneously made, and that the moneys which have been paid shall be applied in the purchase of other lands in the same district, or credited in the payment for other lands which have been purchased at the same office.

Mistakes in en try of lands, provisions for.

SEC. 2370. The provisions of the preceding section Mistakes are declared to extend to all cases where patents have patent lands issued or may hereafter issue; upon condition, however, that the party concerned surrenders his patent to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with a relinquishment of title thereon, executed in a form to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

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in

acts intended to

SEC. 2373. Every person who, before or at the time Agreement and of the public sale of any of the lands of the United prevent bids; States, bargains, contracts, or agrees, or attempts to bar- penalty. gain, contract, or agree with any other person, that the last-named person shall not bid upon or purchase the land so offered for sale, or any parcel thereof, or who by intimidation, combination, or unfair management, hinders, or prevents, or attempts to hinder or prevent, any person from bidding upon or purchasing any tract of land so offered for sale, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

pay premiums to

public sales.

Agreements to SEC. 2374. If any person before, or at the time of the purchasers at public sale of any of the lands of the United States, enters into any contract, bargain, agreement, or secret understanding with any other person, proposing to purchase such land, to pay or give to such purchasers for such land a sum of money or other article of property, over and above the price at which the land is bid off by such purchasers, every such contract, bargain, agreement, or secret understanding, and every bond, obligation, or writing of any kind whatsoever, founded upon or growing out of the same, shall be utterly null and void.

Recovery of SEC. 2375. Every person being a party to such conpremiums paid to purchasers at tract, bargain, agreement, or secret understanding, who public sales. pays to such purchaser any sum of money or other article of value, over and above the purchase money of such land, may sue for and recover such excess from such purchaser in any court having jurisdiction of the same.

Discovery of agreements to

SEC. 2376. If the party aggrieved have no legal evipay premium by dence of such contract, bargain, agreement, or secret bill in equity. understanding, or of the payment of the excess, he may, by bill in equity, compel such purchaser to make discovery thereof; and if in such case the complainant shall ask for relief, the court in which the bill is pending may proceed to final decree between the parties to the same; but every such suit either in law or equity shall be commenced within six years next after the sale of such land by the United States.

Withdrawal of from pri

ACTS OF CONGRESS PASSED SUBSEQUENT TO
THE REVISED

STATUTES.

An Act To withdraw certain public lands from private entry, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of lands from pr of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act no public lands of the United States, except those in the State of Missouri, shall be subject to private entry.

vate entry.

Price of forfeited railroad lands.

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SEC. 4. That the price of all sections and parts of sections of the public lands within the limits of the portions of the several grants of lands to aid in the construction of railroads which have been heretofore and which may hereafter be forfeited, which were by the act making such grants or have since been increased to the double minimum price, and also of all lands within the limits of any such railroad grant, but not embraced in such grant, lying adjacent to and coterminous with the portions of the line of any such railroad which shall not be completed at the date of this act, is hereby fixed at one dollar and twentyfive cents per acre.

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An Act To repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes.

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Public

lands

not to be sold at

SEC. 9. That hereafter no public lands of the United States, except abandoned military or other reservations, public sale. isolated and disconnected fractional tracts authorized to be sold by section twenty-four hundred and fifty-five of the Revised Statutes, and mineral and other lands the sale of which at public auction has been authorized by acts of Congress of a special nature having local application, shall be sold at public sale.

Indian ments

SEC. 10. That nothing in this act shall change, repeal, or modify any agreements or treaties made with any changed. Indian tribes for the disposal of their lands, or of land ceded to the United States to be disposed of for the benefit of such tribes, and the proceeds thereof to be placed in the Treasury of the United States; and the disposition of such lands shall continue in accordance with the provisions of such treaties or agreements, except as provided in section 5 of this act.

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Approved, March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1099).

An Act To abolish the distinction between offered and unoffered lands, and for other purposes.

agree

not

tween offered and

abolished.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Distinction bein cases arising from and after the passage of this act the unoffered lands distinction now obtaining in the statutes between offered and unoffered lands shall no longer be made in passing upon subsisting preemption claims, in disposing of the public lands under the homestead laws, and under the timber and stone law of June third, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, as extended by the act of August fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, but in all such cases hereafter arising the land in question shall be treated as unoffered, without regard to whether it may have actually been at some time offered or not.

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Approved, May 18, 1898 (30 Stat., 418).

Extract from the Penal Code of the United States, approved March 3,

1909 (35 Stat., 1099).

to

prevent bids at

SEC. 59. Whoever, before or at the time of the public Agreement sale of any of the lands of the United States, shall bar- land sales. gain, contract, or agree, or attempt to bargain, contract, or agree with any other person, that the last-named person shall not bid upon or purchase the land so offered for sale, or any parcel thereof; or whoever by intimidation, combination, or unfair management shall hinder or prevent, or attempt to hinder or prevent, any person from bidding upon or purchasing any tract of land so offered for sale, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, for. or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Punishment

310

SCRIP.

There is but very little scrip proper, such as Valentine scrip and Sioux Half Breed scrip, still outstanding. Military Bounty Land Warrants are in the nature of a scrip. There are also certain rights, frequently called scrip, for which see "Lieu Selections," Railroad Selections,' "Soldiers' Additional Homesteads" and "State Selections."

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