3. An agreement by a coal land applicant
to pay to another, out of the proceeds of the
sale of the land after patent, the money ad-
vanced by such party to pay the purchase
price, fees, etc., in connection with the entry,
and in addition one-third of the balance re-
maining after making such repayment, being
merely a promise to pay in case for sale, not
enforceable against the land, is not in violation
of the coal land regulations requiring an appli-
cant to make oath that the entry is made in
good faith for his own benefit, and not,
directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, in
behalf of any other person or persons......
DECLARATORY STATEMENT.

4. The coal land laws authorize filings and
entries thereunder only upon surveyed
lands; and a coal declaratory statement for
a tract of unsurveyed land described by metes
and bounds must be rejected................

WITHDRAWALS; CLASSIFICATION; PRICE.

5. Where a tract of land was classified and
appraised after the opening and improving
of a mine of coal thereon, the filing of a declara-
619

420

505

Coal Lands-Continued.

WITHDRAWALS; CLASSIFICATION;

Continued.

Page.

Coal Lands-Continued.

PRICE-

6. Where a coal land applicant filed a proper
application to purchase, complied with the
regulations of the department as to publica-
tion of notice, etc., and paid the price of the
land according to conditions then existent
as to distance from a completed railroad,
he is entitled to purchase at that price not-
withstanding the subsequent completion,
prior to allowance of entry, of a railroad
within fifteen miles of the tract.... ...... 321
7. Paragraphs 3 to 5 of the circular of
September 7, 1909, defining the procedure in
case a nonmineral entryman whose land is
subsequently classified, claimed, or reported
as valuable for coal refuses to accept a re-
stricted patent under the act of March 3,
1909, contemplate that testimony as to the
character of the land shall be taken in the
regular manner, subject to cross-examination,
as in other hearings, and do not warrant the
adjudication of the land as coal upon mere
ex parte affidavits........

8. An applicant to purchase coal lands will
not be held negligent in the prosecution of
his application because of delay on the part
of the local officers for a period of two months
in designating the newspaper in which
publication of notice of the application should
be made, where he proceeds promptly with
the publication and posting of notice after
such designation, delay for that period not
being considered unreasonable; and where in
such case the land was reappraised at a higher
figure prior to the posting and publication of
notice, he will not be required to pay the
higher price, but is entitled to purchase at the
price existent at the time the application was
filed........

ACTS OF MARCH 3, 1909, AND JUNE 22, 1910.
9. A mere withdrawal of lands for coal
classification constitutes a claim or report
of coal value within the meaning of the act of
March 3, 1909.................

10. The act of June 22, 1910, applies to
timber and stone entries of lands withdrawn
or classified as coal upon which final proof
had been submitted and entry allowed prior
to the date of the act, as well as to entries of
such lands upon which proof had not at that
date been submitted...

11. In case of refusal of a State, after
notice from the Commissioner of the General
Land Office, to accept surface title under the
act of June 22, 1910, for a school indemnity
selection of withdrawn land, subsequently
classified as coal, or to relinquish the selected
land, the selection should be rejected, with
right of appeal..............

327

571

601

601

311

WITHDRAWALS; CLASSIFICATION;

Continued.

Page.

PRICE-

12. A homestead entry made subsequent
to the withdrawal or classification of the land
for coal, but based upon settlement initiated
prior to such withdrawal or classification,
is subject to the provisions of the act of June
22, 1910, and the entryman is not, by reason
of such prior settlement, entitled to an un-
restricted patent under the provisions of the
act of March 3, 1909....
Commutation.

See Homestead, 37, 48.
Confirmation.

1. The proviso to section 7 of the act of March
3,1891, operates upon entries against which
there is no contest or protest pending at the ex-
piration of two years from the date of the is
suance of the receiver's final receipt; and in the
absence of a valid contest or protest the
Secretary of the Interior on that date becomes
functus officio save for the single ministerial
act of executing and delivering patent to the
entryman or his assignee....

82

566

2. The letter of Special Agent Hobbs,
dated November 11, 1903, challenging the
validity of certain homestead entries in the
former Siletz Indian Reservation, does not
constitute a "protest" within the meaning
of the proviso to section 7 of the act of March
3, 1891, and is not sufficient to take such
entries out of the operation of said proviso.. 566
3. Under the proviso to section 7 of the act
of March 3, 1891, an entry is confirmed against
any proceeding by the Government, as well
as against private contests and protests,
unless such proceeding was pending at the
expiration of two years from the date of the
issuance of the receiver's receipt upon final
entry.....

4. A contest or protest to defeat the con-
firmatory effect of the proviso to section 7 of
the act of March 3, 1891, must be a proceeding
sufficient, in itself, to place the entryman on
his defense or to require of him a showing of
material fact, when served with notice
thereof; and such proceeding will be consid-
ered as pending from the moment the affida-
vit is filed, in the case of a private contest or
protest, or from the moment the Commis-
sioner of the General Land Office, on behalf
of the Government, requires something to be
done by the entryman or directs a hearing
upon a specific charge..
Contest.

See Practice, 1-4, 7-9.

1. A charge of abandonment against a home-
stead entry is established by proof of the sale
of a relinquishment of the entry.

611

611

250

2. Two qualified persons may initiate a con-
test against an entry by joint affidavit; but
two separate contests by different persons
against the same entry, each attacking a differ-
ent part of the entry, will not be permitted.... 399

3. There is no statutory right of contest
against a Carey Act segregation list; and the
filing of a contest against such a list will not pre-
vent the Secretary of the Interior granting the
State an extension of time, under section 3 of
the act of March 3, 1901, within which to effect
reclamation of the land involved.................

4. An affidavit of contest has no effect until
filed in the local office; and where left with the
officer before whom it was executed, to be
transmitted to the local office for filing, and
such officer files in that office simultaneously
the affidavit of contest, a relinquishment of the
contested entry, and an application to enter
the land, the relinquishment and application
take precedence, notwithstanding they were
executed subsequently to the affidavit of con-
test....

205

117

5. An affidavit of contest is not invalidated
by the mistake of the notary public before
whom it was acknowledged in giving the time
of the expiration of his commission as prior to
the date of the acknowledgment, when as a
matter of fact it would not expire until after
that date, and amendment thereof should be
allowed; and where a contest affidavit was re-
jected because of such clerical error in the ac-
knowledgment, and application for reinstate-
ment thereof, based upon correction of the
error, was filed within the time allowed for
appeal from such rejection, the contestant is
entitled to a preference right of entry upon the
subsequent relinquishment of the entry......
..... 325
Contestant.

2. The preference right of entry conferred
by the act of May 14, 1880, upon one who "has
contested, paid the land office fees, and pro-
cured the cancellation" of a homestead entry
is a statutory right which the Land Depart-
ment is without authority to deny or disre-
gard, by regulation or otherwise............ 172
3. Any question as to the preference right of
a successful contestant to make entry of the
land in controversy can only arise in connec-
tion with an application by contestant to exer-
cise such right, and can only be raised by some
one asserting a superior right to enter the land. 64
4. Where contestant at the time of filing
contest affidavit makes the showing as to qual
ifications required by Rule 2 of Practice, the
burden rests upon contestee, where he charges
contestant's disqualification to make entry, to
prove such allegation......

5. Where a showing requiring cancellation
of an entry is made in a contest proceeding,
the mere fact that contestant is disqualified to
make entry in exercise of the preference right
does not cure the existing default of the entry-
man or entitle him to have the entry remain
intact....

10

10

6. Where after the initiation of a contest
against a homestead entry the lands are in-
cluded within a first-form withdrawal under
the reclamation act, but are subsequently re-
lieved from the withdrawal and restored to
entry, the contestant, upon the successful ter-
mination of the contest subsequent to the
order of restoration, is entitled to exercise his
preference right of entry for the land......... 172
7. In event a successful contestant die after
filing application to enter in exercise of his
preference right, but before allowance of entry
thereon, his heirs, by virtue of the provisions of
the act of July 26, 1892, succeed to his rights
and may carry the application to entry; but
an heir can not while holding a homestead
entry in his own right perfect the application
of a deceased contestant..

8. One who acts as agent in negotiating the
sale of the relinquishment of an entry is in
privity with the entryman and the purchaser,
within the meaning of the regulations of Sep-
tember 15, 1910, providing that at a hearing
between a contestant claiming a preference
right and an intervening applicant for the
land "it shall be competent for the contestant
to show that the former entryman, or some one
in privity with him in the sale or purchase of
the relinquishment, had knowledge of the fil-
ing of the affidavit of contest, in rebuttal of
any showing made by the applicant”.

Contiguity.

See Timber and Stone Act, 2.

Corporations.

340

........ 250

See Mining Claim, 8; Reclamation, 10, 18, 19.
Cultivation.

See Homestead, 24, 28, 29, 34, 36, 45-47; In-
dian Lands, 7; Settlement, 1.

4. A desert-land entryman is not required
to make oath as to annual expenditures upon
or for the benefit of his entry, but proof of
such expenditures may be made by "two or
more credible witnesses" resident in the
State and vicinity where the land is situated.. 165
5. The rule announced in Herren v. Hicks
(41 L. D., 601) that no expenditures can be
credited on annual proofs upon a desert-land
entry unless made on account of that partic-
ular entry, applies to second entries as well
as to original entries; and a desert-land entry-
man who relinquishes his entry and makes
second entry of the same land under the act
of February 3, 1911, can not receive credit on
annual proofs upon the second entry for ex-
penditures made on account of the original
entry.

6. The making and subsequent assignment
of a desert-land entry will not be held to dis-
qualify the entryman from taking a reassign-
ment of the same land from the assignee, such
reassignment being regarded as a mere rescis-
sion of the assignment.....

523

460

7. Where a desert entry has been divided
and half assigned to each of two qualified
assignees, it is competent for a qualified per-
son to take an assignment of both halves of
the divided entry, either by joint assignment
from the two holders or by separate assign-
ment from each of the portion held by him.. 94
8. Where a desert-land entry upon which
final certificate had not issued passed through
the hands of successive persons, some of
whom were not qualified to take a desert
entry by assignment, and finally came into
possession of one who is so qualified, he may
be recognized as entitled to hold the entry,
notwithstanding such intervening disquali-
fied assignees.......

9. The initial payment of 25 cents per acre
required of a desert-land entry man at the
time of filing his application is within the
term "filing fees," as used in the act of Feb-
ruary 3, 1911; and the fact that an entryman
received for his relinquishment the amount
of such initial payment does not disqualify
him from taking an assignment of a desert
entry as a second entry under that act.......
STATE SELECTIONS.

90

94

10. There is no statutory right of contest
against a Carey Act segregation list; and the
filing of a contest against such a list will not
prevent the Secretary of the Interior granting
the State an extension of time, under section
3 of the act of March 3, 1901, within which to
effect reclamation of the land involved....... 205
11. The land department has authority to
require a State to show that water is avail-
able and has been duly appropriated for the
reclamation of all public lands sought to be
segregated and acquired under the Carey
Act; but has no authority to require relin-
quishment of water appropriation under

Deserted Wife.

See Homestead, 11.

Entry.

See Coal Lands, 3; Desert Land, 2-9; Home-
stead; Reclamation, 8-17.

1. Applications for reinstatement of can-
celed entries should be filed in the local
land office of the district wherein the lands
involved are situate....

2. Amendment of an entry may be allowed
under paragraph 10 of the circular of April 22,
1909, if application therefor be filed within
one year from discovery of the facts justifying
such amendment...

3. Only the entry man himself, or some one
claiming under him, may complain of the
action of the land department in cancelling
an entry, and a stranger will not be heard
to question it..

Equitable Adjudication.

See Homestead, 39-41; Residence, 6; Tim-
ber and Stone Act, 2.

1. The reference of a case to the Board of
Equitable Adjudication is a matter resting
within the discretion of the land department
and can not be claimed as a matter of right
by an entryman.....
Equity.

1. Where a claimant for a tract of public
land appeals to the letter of the law as against
an adverse claimant, he must himself stand
or fall by the letter of the statute..
Evidence.

1. Instructions of May 9, 1913, governing
the taking of depositions.....

Executive Department.

505

456

55

503

438

113

160