Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/287

 enter and perfect his title. The Secretary in reviewing the law in this case refers to the Walcott decision in the following language:

Mr. Browning was not only the highest official of a Government Department having control of the public lands, but he was one of the most eminent lawyers of the United States. His decision in this case was in strict accord with the various acts of Congress and of the State of Iowa and with the intention of the individual members of these legislative bodies who framed the acts, all of which were designed to fully protect the rights and homes of the actual settlers from all classes of adverse claimants.

The ruling of the Secretary of the Interior was followed in numerous similar cases. On the 10th of June, 1868, the Commissioner of the General Land Office directed the Register of the Land Office at Des Moines to allow Jeremiah Elliott to prove up and pay for a tract