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13. Proof should in every case be made at the time and place advertised, and before the officer named in the notice. On the day advertised the officer named in the notice shall call the case for hearing, and should the claimant fail to appear the officer should continue the case until the next day, and on that day or on any succeeding day, should the claimant fail to appear, proceed in like manner until the expiration of ten days from the day advertised, after which the proof, if presented, should not be received. Proper notice should be given of the continuances, made in the most effective way the circumstances admit of, to any parties interested. Parties proposing to cross-examine claimant's witnesses or submit rebutting testimony will be allowed to do so on the day advertised, in case of the appearance of the claimant and his proof being made on that day. In case of his nonappearance protests or affidavits of contest may be filed, and if a sufficient ground of objection is set forth therein the protestant, adverse claimant, or contestant may appear at any subsequent day to which the case may be adjourned, with the same rights of cross-examination and of submitting rebutting testimony as if the appearance had been made on the day advertised, should he so elect, and if he should not do so, the register and receiver of the proper district land office will take measures to secure the protestant, contestant, or adverse claimant an opportunity to be heard, on the grounds of objection presented after due notice to all parties according to rules of practice before allowing final entry to be made; and the appearance of the protestant or adverse claimant, or filing of protest or contest affidavit, on the day advertised, or on any day to which the case may be continued as above will suffice to protect their rights in the premises as fully as though both parties had appeared and the proof been taken on the day advertised. The proceedings had should be duly docketed and be made to appear by proper entries on the proof papers to which any protest or contest affidavit filed should be attached, by the officer named in the notice. The witnesses to the proofs must be two of the persons named as witnesses in the notices. Other persons can not be substituted as witnesses without readvertisement.

DUTIES OF ATTESTING OFFICERS.

14. When proof is made before the proper United States commissioner, judge, or clerk of court (as the case may be), the affidavits and testimony must be duly authenticated and transmitted to the register and receiver, together with the "fee and charges" allowed by law to them. There may be transmitted therewith the fees and commissions, if any, legally payable on the entry at the time of making final proof, and in addition thereto in homestead and timber-culture entries under acts of March 3, 1877 (19 Stat. L., 403; Appendix No. 5, p. 146), and March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 1095; Appendix No. 45, p. 203), the legal fee for "examining and approving" the testimony, which is 15 cents, or in the Pacific States and Territories, 22 cents, for each 100 written words.. Printed words are not to be counted.

15. When the land is within an unorganized county the fact that the county in which the land lies is unorganized and that the county in which the proof is made is adjacent thereto must be certified by the attesting officer.

16. Attesting officers must sign in their true official capacity. If proof is taken by a judge in his capacity as clerk of his own court he should sign as "ex officio clerk."

17. Registers and receivers, judges and clerks of courts, and other officers taking proofs are enjoined to use the utmost strictness in the

examination of parties and witnesses, and to obtain full, specific, and unevasive answers to all the questions propounded in the new forms, and all necessary oral cross-examinations will be made by attesting officers to further attest the good faith of claimants and the reliability of the testimony of claimants and witnesses. Officers will certify to their oral cross-examinations.

18. Registers and receivers will carefully examine all proofs transmitted to them by other officers, and will not issue certificates nor place entries on record, nor transmit the proofs to this office until the same have been thus examined. Defective, insufficient, or unsatisfactory proofs will be rejected and new proof required.

19. Proofs taken by other officers than registers and receivers must be immediately transmitted to the register and receiver and the money paid to the latter. When any interval of time, other than that required for immediate and expeditious transmittal, elapses between date of proof and date of its receipt, with the money, at the district land office, a new affidavit, duly corroborated, showing nonalienation and continued residence, covering date of receipt of proof and payment by the register and receiver, will be required before certificate is issued or the entry placed of record.

Proof without payment must in no case be accepted or received by registers and receivers. If, however, this should occur by inadvertence in any case, additional evidence as above should be at once required of the claimant before allowing entry.

All discrepancies betweeen date of proof and date of register's certificate and receiver's receipt must be accounted for by certificate from the register and receiver attached to each case.

20. As settlers on unsurveyed lands are allowed three months after the filing of the township plat of survey within which to put their claims on record, no final proof on homestead or preemption entries should be permitted until after the expiration of said three months.

VACANCY IN OFFICE OF REGISTER OR RECEIVER.

21. By the act of Congress approved October 1, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 657), it is provided that in cases before any of the land offices of the United States in which a vacancy exists in either the office of register or receiver, "where the day set for hearing final proofs came during the vacancy in said office, and there is no contest or protest against said claim, and where the remaining officer has taken said proofs and reduced the same to writing, the same may be passed upon by the register and receiver as if the same had been taken when there was no vacancy;" also that "when a vacancy shall occur in any of the land offices of the United States by reason of the death, resignation, or removal of either the register or receiver, and the time set for taking final proofs falls within the vacancy thus caused, the remaining officer may proceed to take said final proofs, in the absence of any contest or protest, reduce the same to writing, and place it on file in the office, to be considered and passed upon when the vacancy is filled."

NOTICE OF FILING PLATS.

22. Hereafter when an approved plat of the survey of any township is transmitted to the register and receiver by the surveyor-general they will not regard such plat as officially received and filed in their office until the following regulations have been complied with:

1. They will forthwith post a notice in a conspicuous place in their office, specifying the township that has been surveyed and stating that

the plat of survey will be filed in their office on a day to be fixed by them and named in the notice, which shall not be less than thirty days from the date of such notice, and that on and after such day they will be prepared to receive applications for the entry of lands in such township.

2. They will also send a copy of such notice to the postmasters of the post-offices nearest the land and a copy to each clerk of a court of record in their district, with request that the same be conspicuously posted in their respective offices.

3. They will furnish the public press in their district with copies of such notice as a matter of news.

4. They will give such further publicity of the matter in answer to inquiries (for which they will charge no fee) and otherwise as they may be able to do without incurring advertising expenses. (Circular of October 21, 1885, 4 L. D., 202.)

CITIZENSHIP AND NATURALIZATION.

23. Parties should in all cases of application to make entry and in final proof state distinctly whether they are native-born or naturalized citizens. If naturalized, evidence of naturalization should be filed with the original entry application. If not naturalized, evidence of declaration of intention should be filed at the time the first entry or application is made.

The certification of naturalization papers or other court records should be received only when made under the hand and seal of the clerk of the court in which such papers appear of record, but where a judicial record is shown to have existed and is now lost or destroyed proof of the same may be made by secondary evidence, in acccordance with the rules of evidence governing such proof.

AFFIDAVIT AS TO NONMINERAL CHARACTER OF LAND.

24. In all entries of nonmineral lands in the States of Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming and the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah a nonmineral affidavit is required. (Form 4-062, p. 264.)

CONTIGUITY OF LANDS.

25. Entries of public lands, if surveyed, must be made by legal subdivisions according to the public surveys, and if different tracts are taken to make up the full quantity allowed or intended to be entered in preemption, homestead, timber-culture, and other classes of entries the tracts must be contiguous to each other, so as to form one body of land.

LANDS IN THE POSSESSION OF INDIAN OCCUPANTS.

26. No entries will be allowed upon lands in the possession, occupation, and use of Indian inhabitants, or covered by their homes and improvements; and registers and receivers are required to exercise every care and precaution to prevent the inadvertent allowance of any such entries. It is presumed that they know or can ascertain the localities of Indian possession and occupancy in their respective districts, and it is their duty to do so, and to avail themselves of all information furnished by officers of the Indian service. (Circular of October 26, 1887, 6 L. D., 341.)

RESTRICTION ON THE ACQUISITION OF TITLE TO AGRICULTURAL PUBLIC LAND.

Attention is called to the following portion of an act of Congress of August 30, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 391), making appropriations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1891, viz:

For topographic surveys in various portions of the United States, three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, one-half of which sum shall be expended west of the one hundredth meridian; and so much of the act of October second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and for other purposes," as provides for the withdrawal of the public lands from entry, occupation, and settlement, is hereby repealed, and all entries made or claims initiated in good faith and valid but for said act, shall be recognized and may be perfected in the same manner as if said law had not been enacted, except that reservoir sites heretofore located or selected shall remain segregated and reserved from entry or settlement as provided by said act, until otherwise provided by law, and reservoir sites hereafter located or selected on public lands shall in like manner be reserved from the date of the location or selection thereof. No person who shall, after the passage of this act, enter upon any of the public lands with a view to occupation, entry, or settlement under any of the land laws shall be permitted to acquire title to more than three hundred and twenty acres in the aggregate, under all of said laws, but this limitation shall not operate to curtail the right of any person who has heretofore made entry or settlement on the public lands, or whose occupation, entry, or settlement is validated by this act: Provided, That in all patents for lands hereafter taken up under any of the land laws of the United States or on entries or claims validated by this act, west of the one hundredth meridian, it shall be expressed that there is reserved from the lands in said patent described a right of way thereon for ditches or canals constructed by the authority of the United States.

See also seventeenth section act of March 3, 1891. (26 Stat. L., 1095; Appendix No. 45, p. 209.)

It will be seen that the acquisition of title under the agricultural land laws by any person is restricted to 320 acres in the aggregate, with a qualification protecting rights of prior inception.

In view of this legislation, all applicants to file or enter under any of the land laws of the United States will be required to make affidavit showing that since August 30, 1890, they had not filed upon or entered under said laws a quantity of land which would make, with the tracts applied for, more than 320 acres. Or, if the party should claim by virtue of the exception as to settlers prior to the act of August 30, 1890, the affidavit required should show the facts in reference to such settlement. (See Form 4-102b, p. 235; also circular of September 5, 1890, 11 L. D., p. 296.)

The maximum of 320 acres above limited is exclusive of any lands entered prior to the passage of said act of August 30, 1890, and exclusive of mineral lands entered prior or subsequent thereto (see Secretary's decision of December 29, 1890-12 L. D., 81, and seventeenth section of the act of March 3, 1891-26 Stat. L., 1095; Appendix No. 45, p. 209), and the prescribed affidavit may be modified accordingly, as it regards mineral lands.

CONFIRMATIONS BY THE SEVENTH SECTION OF THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1891.

The seventh section of the act entitled "An act to repeal timberculture laws, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 1095), reads as follows, viz:

That whenever it shall appear to the Commissioner of the General Land Office that a clerical error has been cominitted in the entry of the public lands such entry may be

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suspended upon proper notification to the claimant through the local land office until the error has been corrected; and all entries made under the pre-emption, homestead, desert-land, or timber-culture laws, in which final proof and payment may have been made and certificates issued, and to which there are no adverse claims originating prior to final entry and which have been sold or incumbered prior to the first day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, and after final entry to bona fide purchasers, or incumbrancers, for a valuable consideration, shall, unless upon an investigation by a Government agent, fraud on the part of the purchaser has been found, be confirmed and patented upon presentation of satisfactory proof to the land department of such sale or incumbrance: Provided, That after the lapse of two years from the date of the issuance of the receiver's receipt upon the final entry of any tract of land under the homestead, timber-culture, desert-land, or pre-emption laws, or under this act, and when there shall be no pending contest or protest against the validity of such entry, the entryman shall be entitled to a patent conveying the land by him entered, and the same shall be issued to him; but this proviso shall not be construed to require the delay of two years from the date of said entry before the issuing of a patent therefor.

Under this section, whenever a clerical error is discovered in any entry of the public lands, which can not be accurately corrected by ref erence to the files, plats, and records of the General Land Office, such entry will be suspended upon notice to the claimant, and so remain until such error shall have been corrected.

The first class of entries confirmed by this section are those heretofore made, and with the additional conditions that there was a sale or incumbrance of the land prior to March 1, 1888, and after the issuance of final certificate to bona fide purchasers or incumbrancers and that there is no adverse claim originating prior to final entry.

As to this class of entries it must be shown that no adverse claim exists that originated prior to final entry, and this will be usually determined by the records of the local and General Land Offices. The sale or incumbrance must be shown and all conveyances necessary to connect the present claimant of the land with the original entryman, by means of the original deeds, certified copies thereof, or a duly certified abstract of the proper records, together with satisfactory evidence that the incumbrance has not been discharged or that the land has not been reconveyed to the entryman. The bona fides of the sale or incumbrance must appear to the satisfaction of the officers of the Government.

The proviso to said section affects not only entries made prior to the passage of said act, but also those made and to be made subsequently thereto, and, as to this latter class, may be said to be a statute of limitations. All entries against which contests or protests by individuals were pending at the date of the passage of said act are held to have been excepted from the confirmatory provisions of this proviso, and such contests and protests will be considered and disposed of as if such section had not been passed. Where the period of two years from the date of the receiver's receipt expires after the passage of said act a contest or protest to be effective to prevent the confirmation of such entry must have been initiated within such period.

As to the effect of the proviso of this section upon proceedings instituted by the Government, it is sufficient for the purposes of this circular to say that such proceedings as have been or shall be begun within two years from the date of the receiver's receipt on final entry are not affected by said proviso, but will be continued to a final determination of the questions involved, and that such proceedings to be effective to take the entry attacked out of the operation of said proviso must have been begun within the said period.

It is not thought proper in this circular to enter into details or attempt to lay down rules to govern all questions that may arise in the administration of this section, and for such information reference may be had to the decisions of the Department.

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