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HOME RULE. 171 HOMESTEAD LAWS. it seemed as if 'Balfourian amelioration' was on the point of success, when the Boer War broke out. Under the impulse of this war, the warring Irish factions came together, accepted John E. Redmond as a common leader, revived their de- mand for an Irish Parliament, and in the election of 1900 chose 81 members to the House of Com- mons to press their cause. Believing that the Local Government Act had already proved the capacity of the Irish people for self-government, asserting that the British Parliament had too much to do to do it well, and insisting on the justness of their cause, Redmond and his 80 followers intend to block legislation whenever they can and whenever it will benefit their cause, until the British people and Parliament are forced to accede to Ireland's demand for Home Rule. The literature on Horn© Rule in Ireland is very extensive, and only a few of the best works can be mentioned: McCarthy, The Case for Home Rule (London, 1887) ; O'Brien. Irish Wrongs and English Remedies (London, 1887) ; Chamberlain, Home Rule and the Irish Question, speeches, 1881-85 (London, 1887) ; Dicey. England's Case Against Home Rule (London, 1887) ; Gladstone and others. Handbook of Home Rule, Being Articles on the Irish Question (London, 1887); Hurlburt, Ireland Under Coercion (2 vols., Bos- ton, 1888) ; the London Times, Report of the Proceedings of the Special Committee (4 vols., London. 1890) ; Gladstone, (Special Aspects of the Irish Question{Londou,lfii)2) ; lAoyd, Ireland Under the Land League (London, 189^) ; and Pollock, "Home Rule and Imperial Sovereignty," published in Oxford Lectures and Other Dis- courses (London, 1890). There is also an almost unlimited amount of magazine literature. HOMESPUN, Zekiel and Cicely. A brother and sister, in Colman the Younger's comedy The Heir at Law. They are simple country peo- ple, showing the best traits of their class. HOMESTEAD {home, AS. ham, Goth, haims, OHG. hcini, Ger. Heim ; connected with Lith. kemas, Gk. ku/ii], komc, village, Skt. ksema, abode, from ksi, to dwell + stead, AS. sfcde, Goth, stops, OHG. Stat, Ger. Statt, place; ulti- mately connected with Eng. stand). In law, an estate in land, used as a home by the tenant or owner thereof, and to a greater or less extent pro- tected by law from the claims of creditors. "This right of exemption of the "homesteader.' as he is termed, is a modern privilege created by statute and was unknown to the common law. It does not exist in England, but is peculiar to the L'nited States, where it is everywhere recognized, excepting in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania. Dela- ware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. It does not constitute a distinct form of estate in land, but belongs to the class of exemptions from the claims of creditors, which, originating in the common law, has liecn greatly extended by the human?' policy of American law. See Ex- emption. HOMESTEAD. A borough in Allegheny County, Pa., eight miles southeast of Pittsburg: on the Monongahela River, and on the Pennsyl- vania and the Pittsburg and Lake Erie rail- roads (Map: Pennsylvania, B 3). It has one of the largest steel plants in the United .States, employing about 6000 men. and producing both structural steel and nickel-steel armor plate. Vol. X.— 12. There is a Carnegie library. Settled in 1871, Homestead was incorporated in 1880, the date of the charter now in operation, which provides for a mayor, elected every three years, and a unicameral council, in whose power rests the appointment of chief of police, street commis- sioner, and water-works engineer. The water- works are owned and operated by the borough. In 1892 Homestead was the scene of a notable strike, which was attended by such rioting as necessitated the interference of State troops. Population, in 1890, 7911; in 1900, 12,554. HOMESTEAD LAWS. Homestead laws are of two clas.ses: those enacted by Congress and those enacted by State Legislatures. The primary object of the first class is to enable citizens with- out capital to acquire homes. The main object of the second class is to secure homes, once ac- quired, against the claims of creditors. Legisla- tion of the first class has done much to stimulate the settlement and improvement of wild, unoc- cupied land. Tliat of the second class has saved countless families from pauperism. The Federal homestead laws begin with the Act of 1862. now a part of the United States Revised Statutes (§§2289-2.317). Their policy is to give portions of the public lands to those who will settle, cultivate, and make permanent homes upon them. Anv person who is the head of a family, or who is twenty-one years of age and is a citizen of the I'nited States, or who has filed his declara- tion of intention to become such, may acquire a tract of unappropriated public land, not ex- ceeding one hundred and sixty acres, on condition of settlement, cultivation, and continuous occu- pancy as a home by him for the period of five years, and of the pavment of certain moderate fees. It is expressly declared that no lands ac- quired under this statute shall in any event be- come liable to the satisfaction of any debt con- tracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor by the Government to the settler. This provision was inserted for the purpose of protecting debtors and of inducing them to settle upon the public domain. Its constitutionalitv was questioned, but was sustained by the courts. It would be dif- ficult to point to any enactment of Con.2Tess more wise in conception, just in policy, and beneficial in its results than this homestead statute and its amendments. Under their provisions, more than 85,000.000 acres of unoccupied public lands have been transferred by the United States to home- stead settlers. Diiring the fiscal year ending June 30. 1901. the Commissioner of the General Land Office reports that "the original homestead entries, final homestead entries, and commuted homestead entries aggregated 111.390. and em- braced 15.455.057.46 acres for actual bona fide homes to .merican settlers." The term 'original entry' refers to the proceed- ing by which a person enters a tract of land as his homestead. Its important features are the filing of an aflidavit. prescribed by statute, with the re.aister of the land office in which he is about to make the entry, and the payment of a fee of five dollars if his entry is for not more than eighty acres, or of ten dollars if it is for more than that amount. The 'final entry' refers to the proceedings connected with the issue of a cer- tificate of title or patent by the United States to the person making the original entry, or to his widow, heirs, or devisees. Ordinaril.v the patent does not issue until the expiration of five