ACCOUNTS-UNEARNED FEES AND UNOFFICIAL MONEYS. CIRCULAR.* DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., May 14, 1895. TO REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS. GENTLEMEN: From and after June 30, 1895, a uniform detailed record must be kept by the receiver and monthly report made to the Commis sioner of the General Land Office of unearned fees and unofficial moneys received, returned, and on hand at each local land office, consisting of moneys received as fees or commissions or in payment for land in cases where the applications to file or enter are incomplete or can not be allowed for any reason and of amounts deposited under the act of May 14, 1880, for giving notice of cancellation of entry in contest cases, and of all moneys deposited as security for the cost of transcribing testimony in contest cases, together with a statement of the amount refunded or reported in quarterly contest account in each case. To this end I have caused to be sent you a special register, form No. 4-986, in which will be entered all such moneys received by you, the disposition made of the same and the amount on hand at the end of the month, and special form of statement thereof, form No. 4-541, for monthly report to this office, which report shall be a complete abstract of the record herein required. All such unearned fees and unofficial moneys must be promptly returned to the parties from whom received or their legal representatives. The practice of holding the moneys paid in such cases, subject to the order of the applicant until the papers in the application are perfected or completed, is contrary to existing regulations and must be discontinued. The record herein required to be kept must show the receipt and return of all such moneys. All moneys deposited for register's fee of notice of cancellation in contest cases, and all deposits for reducing testimony to writing in contest cases must be reported and all amounts returned to the depositor or paid for clerical services under act of August 4, 1886, or earned and carried into the register of cash receipts and balances must be entered in the proper column and under proper dates. In connection with the receipt of moneys at the district land offices, you are advised that registers of the land offices have no right officially to receive any moneys whatever except such as are paid to them by receivers as salaries, fees, and commissions. Should any money be forwarded to the register or paid to him, he will at once pay over the same to the receiver, as the latter is the proper officer to receive all moneys sent to the local land offices. Very respectfully, Approved: WM. H. SIMS, S. W. LAMOREUX, Acting Secretary. *Not heretofore reported. ACCOUNTS-UNEARNED FEES AND UNOFFICIAL MONEYS. CIRCULAR. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., December 26, 1896. REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS, UNITED STATES LAND OFFICES. GENTLEMEN: Referring to circular (M) of instructions dated May 14, 1895, relating to the required record (Form 4-986) and monthly report (Form 4-541) of moneys received, designated therein as unearned fees. and unofficial moneys, you are advised that in addition to said monthly report, receivers will be hereafter required to render a regular quarterly disbursing account (Form 4-103) under their bond as special disbursing agent, for all such moneys received. Beginning with the quarter ending March 31, 1897, receivers will credit the United States in such quarterly account with the balance of such funds in their hands December 31, 1896, as shown by their monthly statement (Form 4-541) for said month. They will also credit the United States with all such moneys received by them during said quarter, showing separately in each case the amount of fees and commissions, the amount of purchase money, the amount deposited for notice of cancellation, the amount deposited for reducing testimony to writing in contest cases and the amount deposited as fees for publication of notices, etc., and debit the United States separately in each case with all moneys earned and carried into their receiver's account, all moneys returned to the parties from whom received, and all amounts paid to publishers. For amounts earned it will be sufficient to refer in the quarterly account to the particular item in the receiver's account to which the amount is carried; for all amounts returned or paid to publishers they will be required to furnish a receipt from the person to whom such payment is made. These moneys will be held by receivers as other disbursing funds and will be so deposited. In case of rejected applications the moneys will be held by receivers. until proper voucher for its return can be obtained, and no longer. Very respectfully, Approved: DAVID R. FRANCIS, S. W. LAMOREUX, Secretary. DESERT LAND-PRICE OF LAND-ACT OF MARCH 3, 1891. JAMES BOOMER. By the provisions of sections 6, and 7, added to the act of March 3, 1877, by the amendatory act of March 3, 1891, the proviso to section 2357, R. S., so far as it governs the price of desert land within the granted limits of railroads, is repealed, and the price of desert lands entered under the act of 1891, fixed at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, irrespective of their situation with relation to the limits of railroad grants. Secretary Francis to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, Decem(I. H. L.) ber 26, 1896. (W. M. W.) desert land entry for the On March 23, 1892, James Boomer made of Sec. 8, T. 2 S., R. 5 E., On February 27, 1896, he made final proof, and final certificate was issued for said land upon the payment of $80, which would be full pay. ment if the land were subject to disposition at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The records of your office showed that this land is situated within the granted limits of the Northern Pacific Railroad; thereupon, on June 16, 1896, your office held that Boomer should have paid the double minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre for said land, and suspended the entry for the supplemental payment of $100. Boomer appealed. On November 25, 1896, your office transmitted to the Department the papers in the case, and with them a copy of your office decision of June 6, 1896, in the case of Elizabeth B. Wheelock, which was referred to in your office decision of June 16, 1896, in this case. There is no dispute as to the facts in the case. The land involved is within the limits of the grant made to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. Boomer's entry was made March 23, 1892, under the act of March 3, 1891. He paid one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for the land. Your office held that he should have paid two dollars and fifty cents per acre for the tract, suspended and held his entry for cancellation for his failure to pay said amount. The first specification of error in his appeal is as follows: 1. The declaration was made under the act of March 3, 1891, which distinctly specifies $1.25 per acre-thus error to demand a higher rate. The sole question presented for determination is, whether under the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095), the price to be charged for desert lands, within the granted limits of a railroad, is to be at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents, or two dollars and fifty cents per acre. Under the desert land act of March 3, 1877 (19 Stat., 377), one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre was held to be the price of the land, irrespective of its location. This holding continued to be in force until June 27, 1887, when Secretary Lamar issued a circular, in which it was said: The price at which lands may be entered under the desert land act is the same as under the pre-emption law, viz: single minimum lands at $1.25 per acre and double minimum lands at $2.50 per acre. 5 L. D., 708. This construction was adhered to by the Department up to the passage of the act of March 3, 1891. See John Cameron, 7 L. D., 436; Daniel G. Tilton, 8 L. D., 368; Annie Knaggs, 9 L. D., 49; Hugh Reese, 10 L. D., 541. The 6th and 7th sections, amendatory of the act of March 3, 1877, as amended by the act of March 3, 1891, are as follows: SEC. 6. That this act shall not affect any valid rights heretofore accrued under said act of March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, but all bona fide claims heretofore lawfully initiated may be perfected, upon due compliance with the provisions of said act, in the same manner, upon the same terms and conditions, and subject to the same limitations, forfeitures, and contests as if this act had not been passed; or said claims, at the option of the claimant, may be perfected and patented under the provisions of said act, as amended by this act, so far as applicable; and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. SEC. 7. That at any time after filing the declaration, and within the period of four years thereafter, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and the receiver of the reclamation and cultivation of said land to the extent and cost and in the manner aforesaid, and substantially in accordance with the plans herein provided for, and that he or she is a citizen of the United States, and upon payment to the receiver of the additional sum of one dollar per acre for said laud, a patent shall issue therefor to the applicant or his assigns; but no person or association of persons shall hold, by assignment or otherwise prior to the issue of patent, more than three hundred and twenty acres of such arid or desert lands; but this section shall not apply to entries made or initiated prior to the approval of this act: Provided, however, That additional proofs may be required at any time within the period prescribed by law, and that the claims or entries made under this or any preceding act shall be subject to contest, as provided by the law relating to homestead cases, for illegal inception, abandonment, or failure to comply with the requirements of law, and upon satisfactory proof thereof shall be canceled, and the lands and moneys paid therefor shall be forfeited to the United States. On January 13, 1892, the Department issued instructions under said act, in which it was held that the price of desert land entered under the act of March 3, 1877, as amended by the act of March 3, 1891, is one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, without regard to the situation of the land with relation to the limits of railroad grants. See 14 L. D., 74. This construction has been followed by the Department in the following reported cases: George W. Crane, 16 L. D., 170; Kate G. Organ, 20 L. D., 406. In the case of the United States v. Healey, 160 U. S., 136, the ques tion as to the price of desert lands under the act of 1877, and prior to the passage of the act of March 3, 1891, was before the court and discussed by it at length. In the course of the opinion it is said that: It results that prior to the passage of the act of 1891 lands such as those here in suit, although within the general description of desert lands, could not properly be disposed of at less than $2.50 per acre. Was a different rule prescribed by that act in relation to entries made previously to its passage? If it be true, as seems to have been held by the Interior Department, that the act of 1877, as amended by that of 1891, embraces alternate reserved sections along the lines of land grant railroads that require irrigation in order to fit them for agricultural purposes-upon which question we express no opinion-it is necessary to determine whether a case begun, as this one was, prior to the passage of the act of 1891, is controlled by the law as it was when the original entry was made. This question is important in view of the fact that the appellee's entry was made under the act of 1877 before it was amended, and his final proof was made after the act of 1891 took effect. . . . The present Secretary of the Interior, as we have seen, held that entries initiated under the act of 1877 and prior to the act of 1891 could be completed upon the terms fixed by the latter act as to the price of desert lands. If that construction be correct, and if the plaintiff is not precluded from recovering the money voluntarily paid by him, with full knowledge of all the facts, then the judgment below was right. Otherwise, it must be reversed. We are of opinion that the act of 1891 did not authorize the lands in dispute to be sold at $1.25 per acre, when, as in this case, the proceedings to obtain them were begun before its passage. The court further said that the purpose of section 6, added by the act of 1891 to the desert land act of 1877, was to preserve the right to perfect all bona fide claims "lawfully initiated" under the act of 1877, "upon the same terms and conditions" as were prescribed by that act; that if any doubt could exist as to the object of said section 6, that doubt must be removed by the explicit language of section 7. The latter section fixes the price of desert lands at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and declares that "this section shall not apply to entries made or initiated prior to the approval of this act"-that is, to entries made prior to the approval of the act of 1891. The act of 1891 amended the act of 1877 by adding five new sections to it. By the terms of these new sections many things are required of entrymen thereunder which were not required under the original act of 1877. Among these new requirements, section 5 prohibits the issuance of a patent, under said act, to any person until after such person or his assigns shall have expended, in the necessary irrigation, reclamation and cultivation, by means of main canals, branch ditches, permanent improvements on the land, and purchase of water rights for irrigation of the same, at least three dollars per acre for the whole tract. An entryman is also required under said section to file proofs during each year showing the expenditure of at least one dollar per acre, and at the end of the third year a map or plan showing the character and extent of such improvements. In construing the original desert act of 1877, Secretaries Lamar and Noble held that the price of desert land under said act within the granted limits of railroads was two dollars and fifty cents per acre. Their conclusions on this point were based on the fact that the desert act of 1877 did not contain any repealing clause, and as to the price of desert lands within the limits of railroad grants, said act should not be construed as repealing by implication the proviso contained in section |