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alleged, distinguish this from the Nelson Case. The facts bring the present case within the ruling of that case, and we adhere to the principles there announced.

We are of opinion that as between the railroad company and the appellee the latter has the better right to the land, and that the Land Office incorrectly held that the company was entitled to a patent. That was an error of law which was properly corrected by the reversal in the Circuit Court of Appeals of the decree of the Circuit Court, with directions to render a final decree recognizing Trodick's ownership of the lands in controversy and adjudging that the title, under the patent was held in trust for him. The judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals is

Affirmed.

UNITED STATES v. HAMMERS.

ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA.

No. 314. Argued April 12, 13, 1911.-Decided May 15, 1911.

Under the Desert Land Act of March 3, 1877, c. 107, 19 Stat. 377, as added to by the act of March 3, 1891, c. 561, 26 Stat. 1096, a desert land entry is assignable.

Where a statute is so ambiguous as to render its construction doubtful the uniform practice of the officers of the Department whose duty has been to construe and administer the statute since its enactment and under whose constructions rights have been acquired is determinatively persuasive on the courts.

There is confusion between the original desert land act of 1877 and the act as amended in 1891 as to whether entries can be assigned, and the court turns for help to the practice of the Land Department in construing the act, and that has uniformly been since 1891 that entries were assignable.

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THE facts, which involve the construction of Desert Land Acts of 1877 and 1891 and the assignability thereunder of entries of desert lands, are stated in the opinion.

Mr. Ernest Knaebel, for the United States.

Mr. L. H. Valentine, with whom Mr. Nathan Newby was on the brief, for the defendant in error.

Mr. Oscar A. Trippett, Mr. J. M. Eshleman, Mr. LeCompte Davis and Mr. William C. Prentiss filed a brief, by leave of the court, as amici curia, in support of the position of the United States.

MR. JUSTICE MCKENNA delivered the opinion of the

court.

This case is here to review an order sustaining a demurrer to an indictment found against defendant in error, herein called defendant.

Omitting the repetitions and accentuations which are usually found in indictments, the following are the facts stated in the indictment in this case: On the fourteenth of August, 1907, one Granville M. Boyer made a desert land entry for certain lands under the public land laws of the United States, and particularly under and by virtue of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1877, 19 Stat. 377, c. 107, or 2 U. S. Comp. Stat. 1548, the land being then open to entry, settlement and reclamation and he having the proper qualifications under the laws. The record was number 3903. On the twenty-sixth of August he assigned, by an instrument in writing, his entry and his interest in the land which was the subject thereof to one Beulah Rose Beekler, she being a citizen of the United

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States. She filed the assignment with the Register and Receiver of the United States land office of the Los Angeles, California land district.

On the thirtieth of January, 1908, and while entry No. 3903 was pending before the Register and Receiver, Beulah Rose Beekler, "in pretended compliance" with the public land laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior relating to desert land entries, applied at the office of one Daniel Elder, clerk of the Superior Court of Imperial county, within the southern division of the southern district of California, to make her first yearly proof of improvement, irrigation, reclamation and cultivation of the land, with the intention of thereafter obtaining a patent from the United States therefor. Elder was an officer authorized to receive such proof and to administer oaths to witnesses.

Defendant appeared and gave testimony in such proceeding and subscribed the same, swearing that the statements therein were true.

The specific details of his testimony are not necessary to the points of law which are involved. It is enough to say that it is set out in the indictment with particularity and showed that the improvements required by the desert land laws were made, and it is charged, that the testimony was wilfully and corruptly given, he knowing it to be false. And it was further charged that the testimony was filed with the Register and Receiver as part of the proceedings in relation to the entry.

The indictment was demurred to on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute an offense against the United States. The demurrer was sustained.

The question of law in the case is the materiality of defendant's affidavit, and that again depends upon whether the desert land laws authorized an assignment of the entry.

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These propositions have been argued at great length. Besides oral argument a brief of 71 pages is presented by the United States, which is replied to by defendant's brief of 132 pages, and supported by a brief of amici curia of 135 pages, and there are supplemental briefs besides. In our view, however, the case does not require so much expansion, and for its general discussion we may refer to the able opinion of the court below. We disagree, it is true, with that learned court, but the grounds of our disagreement can be briefly stated.

We may assume that under the Desert Land Act of 1877, an entry was not assignable. The contention of the Government, however, is, opposing that of the defendant, that by the additions made by §§ 5 and 7 of the act of March 3, 1891, 26 Stat. 1096, c. 561, to the desert land law an entry is assignable. These sections read as follows:

"SEC. 5. That no land shall be patented to any person under this act unless he or his assignors shall have expended in the necessary irrigation, reclamation, and cultivation thereof, by means of main canals and branch ditches, and in permanent improvements upon the land, and in the purchase of water rights for the irrigation of the same, at least three dollars per acre of whole tract reclaimed and patented in the manner following: Within one year after making entry for such tract of desert land as aforesaid the party so entering shall expend not less than one dollar per acre for the purposes aforesaid; and he shall in like manner expend the sum of one dollar per acre during the second and also during the third year thereafter, until the full sum of three dollars per acre is so expended. Said party shall file during each year with the register proof, by the affidavits of two or more credible witnesses, that the full sum of one dollar per acre has been expended in such necessary improvements during such year, and the manner in which expended, and at the expiration of the third year a map or plan showing the character and

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extent of such improvements. If any party who has made such application shall fail during any year to file the testimony aforesaid the lands shall revert to the United States, and the twenty-five cents advanced payment shall be forfeited to the United States, and the entry shall be cancelled. Nothing herein contained shall prevent a claimant from making his final entry and receiving his patent at an earlier date than hereinbefore prescribed, provided that he then makes the required proof of reclamation to the aggregate extent of three dollars per acre: Provided. That proof be further required of the cultivation of one-eighth of the land.

"SEC. 7. That at any time after filing the declaration, and within the period of four years thereafter, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and receiver of the reclamation and cultivation of said land to the extent and cost and in the manner aforesaid, and substantially in accordance with the plans herein provided for, and that he or she is a citizen of the United States, and upon payment to the receiver of the additional sum of one dollar per acre for said land, a patent shall issue therefor to the applicant or his assigns; but no person or association of persons shall hold by assignment or otherwise prior to the issue of patent, more than three hundred and twenty acres of such arid or desert lands, but this section shall not apply to entries made or initiated prior to the approval of this act. Provided, however, That additional proofs may be required at any time within the period prescribed by law, and that the claims or entries made under this or any preceding act shall be subject to contest, as provided by the law, relating to homestead cases, for illegal inception, abandonment, or failure to comply with the requirements of law, and upon satisfactory proof thereof shall be cancelled, and the lands and moneys paid therefor shall be forfeited to the United States."

The learned District Court in its discussion, stated

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