SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual shall be permitted to acquire title to more than one quarter section under the provisions of this act; and that the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect, and that the registers and receivers of the several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that they are now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money, onehalf to be paid by the person making the application at the time of so doing, and the other half on the issue of the certificate by the person to whom it may be issued; but this shall not be construed to enlarge the maximum of compensation now prescribed by law for any register or receiver: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in any manner whatever with existing preemption rights: And provided further, That all persons who may have filed their applications for a pre-emption right prior to the passage of this act shall be entitled to all privileges of this act: Provided further, That no person who has served, or may hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen days in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years: SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of the act entitled "An act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," approved the third of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this act.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or herself of the benefits of the first section of this act from paying the minimum price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the quantity of land so entered at any time before the expiration of the five years, and obtaining a patent therefor from the government, as in other cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as provided by existing laws granting pre-emption right. Approved May 20th, 1862.

AN ACT amendatory of the Homestead Law, 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 case of any person desirous of availing himself of the benefits of the Homestead Act of twentieth May, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, but who, by reason of actual service in the military or naval service of the United States, is unable to do the personal preliminary acts at the district land office which the said act of twentieth May, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, requires, and whose family, or some member thereof, is residing on the land which he desires to enter, and upon which a bona fide improvement and settlement have been made, it shall and may be lawful for such person to make the affidavit required by said act before the officer commanding in the branch of the service in which the party may be engaged,

which affidavit shall be as binding in law, and with like penalties, as if taken before the Register or Receiver; and upon such affidavit being filed with the Register by the wife or other representative of the party, the same shall become effective from the date of such filing, provided the said application and affidavit are accompanied by the fee and commissions as required by law.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, besides the ten-dollar fee exacted by the said act, the homestead applicant shall hereafter pay to the Register and Receiver each, as commissions, at the time of entry, one per centum upon the cash price as fixed by law of the land applied for, and like commissions when the claim is finally established and the certificate therefor issued as the basis of a patent.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That in any case hereafter in which the applicant for the benefit of the homestead, and whose family, or some member thereof, is residing on the land which he desires to enter, and upon which a bona fide improvement and settlement have been made, is prevented, by reason of distance, bodily infirmity, or other good cause, from personal attendance at the district land office, it shall and may be lawful for him to make the affidavit required by the original statute before the clerk of the court for the county in which the applicant is an actual resident, and to transmit the same, with the fee and commissions, to the Register and Receiver.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That in lieu of the fee allowed by the twelfth section of the pre-emption act of fourth September, eighteen hundred and forty-one, the Register and Receiver shall each be entitled to one dollar for their services in acting upon pre-emption claims, and shall be allowed, jointly, at the rate of fifteen cents per hundred words, for the testimony which may be reduced by them to writing for claimants, in establishing pre-emption or homestead rights; the regulations for giving proper effect to the provisions of this act to be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That where a pre-emptor has taken the initiatory steps required by existing laws in regard to actual settlement, and is called away from such settlement by being actually engaged in the military or naval service of the United States, and by reason of such absence is unable to appear at the district land office to make, before the Register or Receiver, the affidavits required by the thirteenth section of the pre-emption act of fourth September, eighteen hundred and forty-one, the time for filing such affidavit and making final proof and entry of location shall be extended six months after the expiration of his term of service, upon satisfactory proof, by affidavit or the testimony of witnesses, that the said pre-emptor is so in the service, being filed with the Register of the Land Office for the district in which his settlement is made.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the Registers and Receivers in the State of California, in the State of Oregon, andain the Territories of Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, and Arizona, shall be entitled to collect and receive, in addition to the fees and allowances provided by this act, fifty per centum of said fees and allowances as compensation for their services: Provided, That the salary and fees allowed any Register and Receiver shall not exceed in the aggregate the sum of three thousand dollars per annum.

Approved March 21st, 1864.

MILITARY BOUNTY LAND WARRANTS.

This class of land warrants has been issued under various acts of Congress; but most of the warrants in circulation are authorized by the acts 1847, 1850, 1852, or 1855, all of which by subsequent legislation have been made to assimilate in character, and are now locatable under the same general rules and regulations of the department, which are as follows:

1st. These warrants are now assignable, and properly transferred, carry all the rights of the original warrantee. To make the transfer valid the assignee must be named, as the department will not recognize assignments in blank. The assignment must in all cases be verified by two witnesses. Assignments by Indians must be executed before the United States Indian Agent for the tribe of which the assignee is a member. If not a member of any tribe, the Indian may assign as other parties.

Warrants cannot be located upon occupied land, except it be subject to any legal right to which such occupant may prove to be entitled.

ASSIGNMENT OF LAND WARRANTS AND LOCATIONS.

By the first section of the act of Congress entitled "An act making land warrants assignable, and for other purposes," approved March 22d, 1852, it is provided: "That all warrants for military bounty land which have been, or may hereafter be issued, under any law of the United States, and all valid locations of the same, which have been, or may hereafter be made, are hereby declared to be assignable, by deed or instrument of writing, made and executed after the taking effect of this act, according to such form and pursuant to such regulations as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, so as to vest the assignee with all the rights of the original owners of the warrant or location."

In accordance with the provisions of this section, the following forms are prescribed by said commissioner for the assignment of the warrants and locations referred to, to wit:

FORM FOR THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE WARRANT-NO. 1. For value received, I, A. B., to whom the within warrant, No. was issued, do hereby sell and assign unto C. D., of

and to his

heirs and assigns forever, the said warrant, and authorize him to locate the same, and receive a patent therefor. Witness hand and seal this

my

Attest-(Two witnesses.)

day of

18.

A. B. [SEAL.]

FORM OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT WHERE THE VENDOR IS KNOWN TO THE OFFICER TAKING THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

County of

in the year

State of On this day of before me, personally came (here insert the name of the warrantee) to me well known, and acknowledged the foregoing assignment to be his act and deed; and I certify that the said (here insert the name of the warrantee) is the identical person, to whom the within warrant issued, and who executed the foregoing assignment thereof.

(Officer's signature.)

FORM OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT WHERE THE VENDOR IS NOT KNOWN TO THE OFFICER, AND HIS IDENTITY HAS TO BE PROVED.

County of

day of

in the year

State of On this before me, personally came (here insert the name of the warrantee) and (here insert the name and residence of a witness) being well known to me as a credible and disinterested person, was duly sworn by me, and on his oath declared and said, that he well knows the said (here insert the name of the warrantee) and that he is the same person to whom the within warrant issued, and who executed the foregoing assignment, and his testimony being satisfactory evidence to me of that fact, the said (here insert the name of the warrantee) thereupon acknowledged the said assignment to be his act and deed.

(Officer's signature.)

FORM FOR THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LOCATION-NO. 2. For value received, I, A. B., to whom the within certificate of location was issued, do hereby sell and assign unto C. D., and to his heirs and assigns forever, the said certificate of location, and the warrant and land therein described, and authorize him to receive his patent therefor. Witness my hand and seal this Attest (Two witnesses.) A. B. [SEAL.]

day of

18.

FORM OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT WHERE THE VENDOR IS PERSONALLY KNOWN TO THE OFFICER TAKING THE SAME.

State of

County of

in the year

On this day of before me, personally came (here insert the name of the person to whom the certificate of location issued) to me well known, and acknowledged the foregoing assignment to be his act and deed; and I certify that the said (here insert the name of the person to whom the certificate of location issued) is the identical person to whom the within certificate of location issued, and who executed the foregoing assignment thereof. (Officer's signature.)

FORM OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT WHERE THE VENDOR IS NOT PERSONALLY KNOWN TO THE OFFICER, AND WHERE HIS IDENTITY HAS TO BE PROVED.

County of day of

in the year

State of On this before me, personally came (here insert the name of the person to whom the certificate of location issued) and (here insert the name and residence of a witness) being well known to me as a credible and disinterested person, was duly sworn by me, and on his oath declared and said, that he well knows the said (here insert the name of the person to whom the certificate of location issued) and that he is the same person to whom the within certificate of location issued, and who executed the foregoing assignment; and his testimony being satisfactory evidence to me of that fact, the said (here insert the name of the person to whom the certificate of location issued) thereupon acknowledged the said assignment to be his act and deed.

(Officer's signature.)

Assignment No. 1 and acknowledgment must be indorsed upon the warrant, and No. 2 and acknowledgment upon the certificate of location; and must be attested by two witnesses acknowledged before a Register or Receiver of a Land Office, a Judge of a Court of Record, a Justice of the Peace, or a Commissioner of Deeds, resident in the State from which he derives his appointment; and in every instance where the acknowledgment is made before either of the officers above specified, except the Register or Receiver of a Land Office, it must be accompanied by a certificate, under seal of the proper authority, of the official character of the person before whom the acknowledgment was made, and also of the genuineness of his signature.

All assignments of bounty land warrants issued under the act of September 28th, 1850, made before the date of this act, are invalid and void.

By these provisions, where the lands are subject to private entry at $1.25 per acre, the holder of an eighty-acre warrant can take any two forty-acre lots, forming a compact body of eighty acres; and the holder of a warrant for one hundred and sixty acres can take two eighty-acre or four forty-acre tracts, forming a compact body of one hundred and sixty acres.

This act does not authorize the holder of an eighty-acre warrant to locate therewith a forty-acre tract of land at $2.50 per acre in full satisfaction thereof, but he must locate, by legal subdivisions, the compact body of eighty acres as near as may be,