dollars for an 80-acre homestead. Any one who chooses to complete his title before the expiration of the five years, with a view to sell or remove, can do so only by payment to the United States of the valuation price of the land, at $1.25 or $2.50 per acre, as the case may be. But he has at all times the prior right to do this, and so become full owner of the land he has settled, as against any other person. There is a proviso in the law, that no lands acquired under the provisions of the Homestead Act shall be liable for any debts of the settler, contracted prior to the issuing of the patent for his homestead. There is another proviso, intended to guard the interests of the Government, and compel all pre-emptors of public lands to act in good faith, which declares that if, at any time after the filing of the required affidavit, and before the expiration of the five years' probationary residence, the pre-emptor shall change his residence, or abandon the land for more than six months at any time, then the land shall revert to the United States Government. No individual is permitted to acquire more than 160 acres under the provisions of the Homestead Act; but there is no limit to the quantity of land which may be purchased by individuals. All existing pre-emption rights are maintained unimpaired by the provisions of the act. The five years' residence required of all other settlers under the Homestead Law, is waived in favor of all soldiers or sailors who served ninety days or longer in the United States army or navy during the war of 1861-65, and were honorably discharged. Every such soldier (or his widow, or children, in case of his decease) is entitled to free entry of 160 acres of the public lands on condition of actual residence and cultivation of the same for one year only. Any settler on the public lands who has set out and cultivated for two years as much as 5 acres of trees on an 80-acre homestead, or 10 acres on a homestead of 160 acres, is entitled to receive a free patent for his land at the end of three years, instead of five. And any person who has planted and cultivated for ten years 40 acres of timber on any quarter section of the public lands is entitled to a patent for each 160 acres so improved, on payment of $10, provided that only one quarter in any section shall be thus granted. This is the only exception to the limitation of free homesteads to 160 acres to any one person, unless in the case of a settler under the army provision, who is not debarred, through having occupied a homestead under the law previously, from acquiring a second 160 acres through his service in the army. Such is a succinct outline of the terms under which the unoccupied public lands of the United States are open to settlement. For information as to what portions of the public domain yet remain unappropriated, direct application should be made by letter to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, Washington. [Condensed from the Revised Statutes of the U.S., pp. 422-426, 451.] CENTENNIAL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1876. [Compiled, with additions, from the Philadelphia Ledger Almanac and Johnson's New Universal Cyclopædia.] THE International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine, provided for in Acts of Congress approved March 3, 1871, and June 1, 1872, providing for the appointment of the Centennial Commission and the Centennial Board of Finance, was officially opened in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, by the President of the United States, May 10, and officially closed by him, November 10, 1876. It was open for pay admissions one hundred and fifty-nine days, the pay gates being closed on Sundays. In the following tables and text we present information showing the number of nations represented at the Exhibition, the amount of space occupied by the exhibitors of each nation, the number and character of the buildings erected within the enclosure, and a table of the number of admissions to the Exhibition for the whole season. Nations Represented at the Exhibition, and the Space Occupied by them in the Principal Buildings. 3 Other principal exhibition buildings not heretofore mentioned were the following: WOMEN'S PAVILION.-This building was 208 by 208 feet. The following nations occupied in the aggregate one fourth the floor space : Great Britain and Ireland, Canada and colonies, Brazil, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Germany, Spain and colonies, Tunis, Japan, Egypt, and Mexico. There was a separate Art Gallery in the Women's Pavilion, the wall space of which was also largely occupied by exhibits from the women of the above nations. SHOE AND LEATHER BUILDING.-This was 314 by 160 feet. Great Britain occupied 615 square feet, Germany 580 square feet, and Russia 850 square feet. POMOLOGICAL BUILDING, 182 by 192 feet, used for successive exhibitions of fruits and vegetables according to season, and finally of poultry. BREWERS' HALL, for the exhibition of brewing apparatus and materials, 272 by 96 feet. This was constructed wholly at the expense of American brewers. FARM WAGON ANNEX to Agricultural Hall, 144 by 196 feet. SAW MILL ANNEX to Machinery Hall, 276 by 80 feet. MACHINE SHOPS AND BOILER HOUSES, annexes to Machinery Hall. BUTTER AND CHEESE FACTORY, annex to Agricultural Hall, 100 by 116 feet. Occupied jointly by exhibitors of dairy products from the United States and Canada. THE STOCK YARDS.—As an auxiliary to the agricultural exhibits, an area of 20 acres at Belmont and Girard avenues was enclosed, in which successive exhibits were made of horses and dogs, sheep, goats and swine, and horned cattle. The exhibits were almost wholly from the United States and Canada. PRIVATE EXHIBITION BUILDINGS.-There were thirty or more exhibition buildings erected on the grounds by individual exhibitors from the United States, some of them scarcely inferior in interest to the principal buildings mentioned above. THE AUXILIARY Buildings.—At the time of the opening of the Exhibition there were 190 buildings within the inclosure, and before the close there were upward of 200. Of these, 101 were buildings used for exhibition purposes or for State or national headquarters. The remainder were ornamental structures and pavilions, restaurants, bazaars, boiler-houses, guard and fire-engine houses, offices, etc., used solely for the transaction of business, official or private. The dimensions of the five principal exhibition buildings are given in the preceding table. The following nations had buildings on the grounds: Austro-Hungary, Hungarian pavilion; Brazil, Commissioners' pavilion; Canada, log and timber house for exhibition of woods and lumber; Chili, frame structure for exhibition of models of amalgamating machinery; France, government pavilion for exhibition of illustrations and models of public works, charts, etc., 100 by 50 feet, also three individual exhibition buildings; Germany, Commissioners' pavilion; Great Britain and Ireland, three government buildings for use of Commissioners from the United Kingdom, and a boiler-house; Japan, Japanese dwelling for workmen, 102 by 48 feet, and Japanese bazaar; Morocco, Moorish villa, 17 by 23 feet, for display and sale of national products; Portugal, Commissioners' pavilion; Spain and colonies, Government exhibition building, 80 by 100 feet, and building for Spanish soldiers, also Cuban acclimation garden; Sweden, Swedish school-house, 40 by 50 feet, and meteorograph; Tunis, café and bazaar; Turkey, Turkish café, 51 by 65 feet, sponge-fishers' building, and numerous small bazaars under various designations; United States of America, Government building, 504 by 306 feet, area 102,840 square feet; ordnance laboratory, 53 by 23 feet; U. S. Army post hospital, 40 by 14 feet; transit of Venus buildings, including transit house, photographic house and equatorial house; also lighthouse and steam syren for fog signal and fog bell, and U. S. signal stations. Twenty-six States were represented by 26 buildings erected either for exhibition of State pro ducts or for State headquarters, Kansas and Colorado uniting in one large building, and Pennsylvania having two buildings. Philadelphia also erected a pavilion for the accommodation of city officials. The States having separate buildings were as follows: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The money for constructing the buildings and getting the grand Exhibition into working order was derived mainly from the following sources: Besides the advance of $1,500,000, the United States Congress appropriated $505,000 for the erection of the U. S. Government Building, and for organizing and defraying the expenses of the highly creditable display by the various departments and bureaus of the Government and by the Smithsonian Institution. The amounts invested by Pennsylvania and Philadelphia were permanent. That invested by the United States was a loan, to be repaid out of the profits of the Exhibition, if any. At the winding up of the entire business of the Exhibition, there was found to be a surplus on hand, after paying all expenses of administration. The Centennial Board of Finance took the ground that this belonged to the stockholders, who were entitled to share it pro rata. As no actual profits had been derived from the Exhibition, they viewed the subscriptions of the stockholders as a lien upon the surplus funds. The United States authorities, on the other hand, maintained that it was the clear intent of Congress in the act of February 16, 1876, advancing the $1,500,000, that the United States should be fully repaid before any dividends were made. To decide the question, an amicable suit was brought in the United States Court, and decided in the spring of 1877 in favor of the Government. The $1,500,000 was accordingly returned to the United States, the stockholders receiving about 25 per cent on their investments. The financial result of the Exhibition was more favorable than that of any other International Exhibition, except one. The awards of the Exhibition for meritorious products were decided by a board of 225 judges, chosen from the most distinguished specialists in the several branches of art and science in this country and abroad. The results of the Exhibition, by the almost unanimous judgment of the public, at home and abroad, were in the highest degree successful. It brought together a far wider concourse of American people than was ever gathered on any other occasion. The great resources of the country were exhibited in a manner approximating, though not reaching, completeness. The administrative functions and the military and naval constructions of the Government were shown in a connected manner. The vast mechanical industries of the continent, assembled and illustrated in Machinery Hall, were in the highest degree impressive and instructive. The superiority of some of the foreign exhibits in decorative art and the finer class of manufactures, especially in ornamental articles, did much to stimulate emulation among our own artists and artisans. The educational effects of the Exhibition are beyond computation. Hardly one of the ten millions of visitors but must have learned something of real importance from this inexhaustible mine, to be stored up in memory. The whole Exhibition period, in short, was an epoch of national and international education. The good-will and friendly relations established between so many worthy representatives of most of the countries on the globe and our own people cannot fail to have permanent results in fostering the arts of peace and national brotherhood. |