“ Even if under a right construction of the homestead law Rule was not entitled to the patent-which we do not at all intimate-Fisher is not in a position to take advantage of the error. He cannot be heard to complain on behalf of the United States; and he has no such personal interest in the land as entitles him to complain on his own account. He acquired no right by his homestead application. ”

“ It was under that decision that the patent was issued.
On receiving the usual notice of the Secretary's first decision the local officers complied therewith by cancelling the entry on their records. Fisher, who knew of the entry and the contest, then presented an application to enter the land as a homestead. The application, while disclosing that he was a minor and unmarried, asserted in a general way that he was the head of a family, and therefore a qualified applicant, by reason of having adopted a minor child. ”

“ Rep. 685; and the statute apparently provides that only adults may adopt. Rev. Stat. 1913, § 1615.↑ A second suspending order was made by the Secretary at a time when Rule was resorting to judicial proceedings in the District of Columbia. ”