Edward Douglass White

“ The fact that the plaintiff had entered the territory prior to the time fixed by the statute and the proclamation of the president having been conclusively determined, it follows inevitably, as a legal result, that an entry of land made under such circumstances was void, and that the ruling by the land department so holding was correct. This leaves only open for our consideration the legal question whether Calhoun, because he was an honorably discharged soldier, was entitled to go into the territory before the designated time and make a valid entry of a homestead therein. ”

“ It is manifest, from the context of the act, that the proviso relied upon was intended only to give to honorably discharged soldiers and sailors an equal right with others to acquire a homestead within the territory described by the act, and the proviso was thus intended simply to exclude any implication that they were, in consequence of the prior provisions of the act, not entitled to avail themselves of its benefits. ”

“ The purpose of congress in allowing those named in the proviso to reap the benefits of the law was not to confer the power to do the very thing which the act in the most express terms sedulously sought to prevent. ”