The Hope Pioneer

Commissioner Sparks and Women Homesteaders.

Commissioner Sparks was shown a Woonsocket, Dak., special printed in northwestern papers a few days since, in which his policy was called severely to account. The dispatch contained the following statement:

One of the late rulings, and one in direct conflict with that of any predecessor since the enactment of the homestead law, is that married women, who after taking their claims marry, forfeit all rights, and the land reverts to the government. Within a radius of thirty miles of this place it is stated that to-day there are ninety-three claims taken by women, and that out of that number over eighty are now living on and improving their land. Many thousand acres are being thus improved, and the residents thereon do not propose to submit to Sparks' decree.

The commissioner said:

Yes, I did make such a ruling, I have no doubt, although I do not remember it now. Of course if an unmarried woman takes up a homestead and then marries and brings her husband to live with her on the claim, I have no doubt she could prove up in good faith and secure her homestead; but when a woman takes up a homestead and then marries, and her husband's home is somewhere else, she cannot in good faith or under the law, complete her holding. God Almighty and the law say her home is where her husband is, and it is not logical to say she has a home or residence on her entry as contemplated by law. The Woonsocket man who wrote that article lied when he wrote it, and he knew he lied. Those women are probably school teachers and others who live in the towns thereabout. They are stealing the land belonging to honest settlers. I don't think they intend to be dishonest, but are led into it by sharpers and land attorneys, who tell them it is easy enough to get a claim. They take up a piece of land, put up an 8x6 shack, with a board roof and shingle at each end to carry out the law, and come back to their school