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Show 484 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT General Revision Act of 1891 Sentiment for land reform being strong in the House of Representatives in 1886, Holman and Payson found little difficulty in persuading that body to vote for repeal of the Timber Culture and Preemption Acts, but the Senate saw things differently. It favored repeal of these laws but linked repeal with saving clauses that would have confirmed all entries suspended by Sparks that did not have on their face clear evidence of fraud, thereby undoing much of the work of the Commissioner in trying to separate fraudulent from legitimate entries. The two Houses could not agree on a compromise. Subsequent efforts likewise failed. In 1890 both Houses again passed bills to repeal the Timber Culture and Preemption Acts and again agreement between the two versions seemed impossible until after the election of 1890 when there was a big turnover of seats with many opponents of repeal defeated. In the following lame duck session Samuel R. Peters, of Kansas, who had been defeated, declared that he had been unalterably opposed to repeal but now he thought it necessary. Agreement was reached and the General Revision Act of March 3, 1891, became law.62 Saving all rights to land under the Preemption or Timber Culture Acts existing before the enactment of new measure, the Act of 1891 provided for the repeal of the Timber Culture and Preemption Acts, extension of the period after original homestead entry from 6 to 14 months before it could be commuted to a cash entry; it allowed persons who had met requirements of the Timber Culture Act for 4 years to commute their entry to a cash entry, modified the requirements ton Julian, Radical Republican (Indianapolis, 1966), pp. 302-310; Charles A. Barker, Henry George (New York, 1955) , passim. 92 Cong. Record, 51st Cong., 2d sess., Feb. 28, 1891, p. 3615. for the completion of desert land entries, halted all public offering of land except for abandoned military reservations and isolated fractional tracts, and denied owners of more than 160 acres the right to make a homestead entry. The measure also modified an Act of August 30, 1890, limiting to 320 acres the amount of land individuals could acquire in the aggregate under all Federal laws by excluding mineral lands from the limitation. A final section authorized the President to create forest preserves "wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not. . . ." For the first time Congress had given the public land laws a long and careful study, had tried to eliminate legislation it regarded as outdated or subject to abuse, had tightened conditions for desert land entries and commutation of homestead entries and, perhaps most important, had authorized a fundamental change in policy whereby forest lands could be placed in reserve status and not open to acquisition with any of the public land laws. By extending the period from 6 to 14 months before homesteaders could commute their entries Congress hoped to curtail the misuse of the law but, as later events were to show, its hope did not materialize. Instead of trying the more courageous but politically dangerous way of reforming the land system through administrative action, as Sparks had attempted to do, and giving the right to administrative officers to subpoena witnesses in cases where the investigating agents had sufficient evidence to secure indictments, as had been recommended by the Commissioners for years, Congress chose to remove the most criticized legislation. In so doing it eliminated much of the flexibility that had enabled persons in the High Plains to acquire control over if not ownership of 320 or |