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Show MILITARY BOUNTY LAND POLICIES 283 soldiers' additional homestead rights thus attained a value well in excess of the minimum price for land. In 1876 they were quoted as high as $10 an acre.94 Inasmuch as the rights, when entered, seem to have been listed along with homesteads, it is impossible to segregate them statistically, but we do know that one smart landlooker in Wisconsin acquired well over a hundred rights which he used to enter pinelands. We also know that fraud in the use of these rights caused the Commissioner of the General Land Office to set up elaborate provisions to separate the honest grants from those obviously fraudulent. In June 1878, he reported that of 2,744 rights submitted for examination, 2,131 were approved, 451 were rejected, and 159 were suspended for further examination.95 In 1879 the number of soldiers' additional homestead applications filed was 1,868, of which 1,042 were approved and certified, 270 were suspended, and 556 were rejected. The General Land Office tried to maintain that the rights under the act were not assignable but lawyers seemed to find a way 94 In 1873-75 Henry C. Putnam paid $65 for 40-acre additional homestead rights, $135 for 80 acres, and $175 for 120 acres. He tried to pay less and sometimes did. One may judge from the anxiety he showed in rounding up the rights that he valued the land much higher than these prices suggest. He also used dummy entrymen to secure for him choice tracts of pine in Wisconsin which he could not buy. Putnam Letter Books, 1873-1875. Also Lawrence B. Lee, "Kansas and the Homestead Act, 1862-1905" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1959), pp. 163-66. Lee found 363 soldiers' additional homestead entries in 27 Kansas townships between the 97th and the 99th meridians and estimated that this represented one-fourth of the acreage acquired through homestead in those townships. 96 H. Ex. Doc, 44th Cong., 2d sess., 1876-77, Vol. IV, No. 1, Part 5 (Serial No. 1749), 119-27; GLO Annual Report, 1878, p. 44. My chief source of information concerning the use of soldiers' additional homestead rights was the letter books of Henry C. Putnam of Eau Claire for the 1870's and 1880's, owned by his daughter. around every additional tightening of restrictions. With the Spanish-American War and the War for Philippine Independence Congress provided that persons serving in the Army or Navy for 90 days should have the same rights earlier given to the veterans of the Civil War. A decision of the Supreme Court in 1895 made the rights assignable. Fraudulent rights continued to badger the Land Office. In 1902 and 1903 the Commissioner reported that a systematic conspiracy for the purpose of defrauding the government through the use of these rights was discovered in Arkansas and 24 convictions were obtained. Penalties as high as 7 years at Fort Leavenworth and fines as high as $1,400 were levied. Only by eternal vigilance could the Land Office catch up with, but never anticipate, the misuse of the land laws.96 The End of Warrants and Scrip A century after most of the military land warrants and various forms of scrip had been authorized they were still dribbling into the land offices where individuals were trying to enter land with them. As with so many other land laws there seemed to be no end of the trouble they could cause. To meet this situation Congress ordered on August 5, 1955, that scrip of all descriptions-Valentine, Sioux Half-breed, Supreme Court, Surveyors General, Soldiers' Additional Homestead, Forest Lieu, and Bounty Land-be presented for recording within 2 years. Claims not presented were not to be accepted thereafter. On July 27,1962, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to offer by mail to purchase all nGLO Annual Report, 1903, p. 12 and GLO Annual Report, 1905, p. 322. By 1905 a total of 20,378 soldiers' additional homestead entries had been made for 1,630,040 acres. At this late time the Commissioner said, "the real beneficiaries at this time seem to be speculators and dealers in land claims." |