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 envisions for. try of lands, pro Patent lands SEC. 2370. The provisions of the preceding section Mistakes are declared to extend to all cases where patents have 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. in acts intended to penalty. 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 bargain, contract, or agree with any other person, that the fast-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. of lands from private entry. ACTS OF CONGRESS PASSED SUBSEQUENT TO An Act To withdraw certain public lands from private entry, and for Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives Withdrawal of 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. Price of forfeited railroad lands. 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. An Act To repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes. 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. Approved, March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1099). An Act To abolish the distinction between offered and unoffered lands, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in cases arising from and after the passage of this act the 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. Approved, May 18, 1898 (30 Stat., 418). Extract from the Penal Code of the United States, approved March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 1099). agree not Distinction beunoffered lands tween offered and abolished. 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." SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. Revised Statutes, section 441.-The Secretary of the Interior is charged with supervision of the public lands. UNITED STATES REVISED STATUTES. SEC. 441. The Secretary of the Interior is charged with the supervision of public business relating to the following subjects: First. The Census; when directed by law. Fourth. Pensions and bounty lands. Fifth. Patents for inventions. Sixth. The custody and distribution of publications. Eighth. Government Hospital for the Insane. Ninth. Columbia Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. 311 |