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About Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1909)
Cost Division Expense Will Run To More Than One Hundred Thousand Dollars. An Accurate and Exhaustive Report of the Records of Custer County. It Will Pay You to Read This Article. 4W * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * | The Cost of Division. | | Transcribing Register's records S 24 000 J | Transcribing Co. Clerk's record's 6 000 | I Transcribing Co. Treasurer's records 5 000 | * Transcribing Dis't Clerk's records 5 000 * J Transcribing Co Judge's records 6 000 J I Transcribing Surveyor's records 1 000 J | Transcribing Supt's , Assessor's , Attor- $ | ney's and Coroner's records 500 | t 300 Books at $20 6 000 J I Other supplies for three new counties 3 000 | | Three court houses at $25,000 75 OOP 3 | Total cost of division ' . . . $131 500 $ ! > . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > The cost of transcribing the rec ords Is always an Important feature In a county division campaign. When wo take into consideration the fact that Ouster county has been doing business for thirty years and that twenty years of this time a force of people , numbering from ten to fif teen , has been constantly at work on the records , wo can Just commence to Imagine the 'tremendous volume of work it would take to transcribe these records for three new counties. Go into the vaults at the court house and see the huge record books stack ed to the celling and yon get a little Idea of what It means. Hut If you Avant to got your eyes opened wide , just dclvo Into the books themselves and count the pages and yon will be come almost bewildered before yon arrive at an estimate of the expense of this tremendous task. In order to convoy correct Informa tion regarding the volume of records , wo have asked the officials themselves the question and have written down their answers. This wo believe is the most reliable manner - nor that the real conditions can bo arrived at. The following arc the questions nskoil the county officers of Cuslor county and their answers. Register of Deeds. Question. What Is the teal num ber of deed , mortgage , miscellaneous , mechanics Hen and patent records In your office ? Answer. 01 deed records , SI mort gage records , 9 miscellaneous records 4 , mechanics lion records and S pat ent records. Q. What is approximately the to tal amount of pages and words In ' those books ? A. These books contain CIO pages more than fiOO words to the page , making approximately 52,100,000 word In these records. Q. How many alphabetical Index es ? A. There are 12 of deed , 12 of mortgage , 3 of miscellaneous , and 1 of mechanics liens. Q. How many numerical Indexes ? A. 14 of lands and 7 of lots. Q. Will the records contained In these books have to bo transcribed In case of division. A. Yes , about throe-fourths of them. Q. What In your opplnton will U cost to transcribe these records , if the full amount allowed by law Is charged ? A. The legal rate for transcribing the record books Is 10 cents per hun dred words and at this rate It would cost $52,1(10 ( to transcribe the 1G3 record books. Q. How much would it cost for the 37 Index books ? A. The legal rate for transcribing those indexes Is 15 cents for each ox- tention. There are approximately 05- 000 land extensions and at this rate they would cost $9,750. The lot ex tensions at the same rate would cost about $2,500. Q. What hi your opinion would bo a fair living price for this work es timating competent clerical help at what the county would have to pay for the same. 1 A. I would think that half , the lo. gal rate would bo as low as it could be done. This Is what it iscosting the new county of Merrill and the party who has the contract makes n statement that he has taken it too J low. At one-half the legal rate the transcribing of the records for this office would cost $32,205 , three- fourths of this for the three now counties would bo about $21,150. Tills docs not include the cost of books. I believe the price given to bo very conservative estimate and when you take Into consideration the vast amount of proof reading in addition and the great care that has to be iiacd , I doubt whether it could bo done at the rate I have named. Q. How does the office or register tor of deeds in Custer county com pare with other counties of the state ? A' . In volume of work and in foes It Is third In Nebraska , being sur passed by Douglas and Lancaster counties. County Clerk. Question. How many books arc there in your office ? Answer. About 50. Q. How many supervisors records are there and will they have to be transcribed. ? A. There arc G , and they will have to be transcribed for the reason that they contain the record of the action of the board in the establishment and vacation ot roads , levies and a largo amount of other matter that will ef fect the now counties and they will have to bo constantly referred to. Q. What about the bond records. ? A. There arc 9 bond records. They will have to bo transcribed for ton years back , that Is the life of a bond. All of the justic PS and notaries bonds will have to be transcribed from the beglnlng of the. county for the reason that the county clerk Is constantly called up on to make certificates as to whether John Doe was a notary public or jus tlco of the peace on a certain date. Ho cannot do this unless he had a record of the qualifying and the bonds given by such notary or jus tice of the peace. Q. How about the road records and what about the transcribing of these ? A. There are C road records and hose are very Important books. They lontuln a history of the establishment of ouch road and are used In con junction with the surveyors records. Q. What about the notary com- ntslon records ? A. There are 2 of these books and they will have to bo transcribed for the same reason that the justices bonds and notaries bonds will bo noo't cd. cd.Q. Q. What about the school bond record ? A. There are 2 of thorn and they will have te bo transcribed. Q. How about the corporation records ? . A. There are two of these books and a part of thorn will have to bo transcribed. Q. How many chattel mortgages Indexes are there and what will have to bo done with them ? A. There are 10 big chattel mortgage - gage Indexes and there is no question whatever about the necessity of tran. scribing those books. Q. How many chattel mortgages are on file in your office ? A. There are approximately 125- 000. 000.Q Q , What will bo done with them ? A. I would think that duplicates would have to bo made of those not cancelled. I don't know how many of them there will bo. There are a very largo number. Q.What books In your office , In your opinion , would not have to bo transcribed ? A. The claim register , the ab- Htract of votes , the miscellaneous rec ord , part of the corporation records , P'irt of the bond record , dental rcglsU or and 'physicians ' register. Q.- How ninny books in your of fice will have to bo transcribed in whole or In pail. A. 27. Q. How many words do these books contain. ? A. They will average 500 pages to tin- book and 500 words to the page nuking a total of fi.7.0,000 words. Q. What per cent of these rec ords will , in your opinion , bo nccea- snry to be transcribed. A.--I would say about ! - . " ) of them. Q. What would bo your very low est estimate per hundred words , for transcribing , and what would be the approximate cost ? A. I would say that G cents per hundred words would be a very low oHtlmatc. The transcribing of these books , together with copies of chattel - tel mortages unreleased would cost approximately from five to seven thousand dollars. I doubt If this fi gure is high enough. County Treasurer. Question. How many books are there In your office ? Answer. About 120. Q. Will it bo necessary to tran scribe nil of those records in case division carries ? A. No , It will not. Q. What records will bo needed ? A. There are delinquent personal : taxes dating back many years , there are also delinquent lax on lots In' the various towns of the county. Those would have to bo sorted out and copied from about one hundred largo tax books. The farms are read ily sold for taxes , but a largo per cent of town property Is offered year after year with no takers. Q. What record do you have re garding school district moneys ? A. We keep a record of the state apportionment for 2CO districts. Q. Uo you have a record In your office of all school land leases and contracts and do you collect and re mit these collections to the state treasurer ? A. We have n large special rec 'i ord book for all school land leases and contracts. We collect and remit' to the state treasurer. Q. How many duplicate tax re ceipts have you filed away in your of fice ? A. About 175,000. Q. If a person living in one of the counties sot off lost a tax receipt and wants to got a duplicate of the same , how would ho get it ? A. He would have to send to this ' office for It. Q. Would yon charge him for making a copy of this tax receipt ? . A. At the present time we would ' not for the reason that he is a resi-j dent of this county. After division 1 carries and his land was located in another county he would have to pay for this work. Q. In your opinion what would bo the cost of transcribing such part of the records of the treasurer's office as would be necessary in case of di vision ? A. The records of more than 100 big tax books would have to bo searched and portions extracted. My best judgement Is that $5,000 would bo a low estimate for this work , It might run to twice that amount. County Judge. Question. How many books are tlicro In your office ? Answer. There are about 05 , pos sibly a few more. Q. What are these books ? A. There are probate records , judgement records , marriage records - ords , trial dockets , adoption records and mlscollanous books of all kinds. Each book contains approximately C1C pages. Q. Are all these record books pro vided with indices and must every suit , whether civil , probate or other proceeding to property indexed ? A. Yes , the records of the county judges office are very particular roc. ords , and each proceeding , especially probate proceedings , must bo prop erly Indexed so that the record ol all papers can readily bo found. Q. Can an abstract of tltlo bo made ( to a town lot or tract of land owned by an estate without showing In idh tall the probate proceedings of sucli : estate ? A. No , any 'attorney hi exnmlng m abstract of tltlo to land , must have t complete report of nil probate proceedings oct ceodings , Involving the lot or trac of land. Q. In case of division will all of those records have to bo transcribed A. No , they will not. Q. What part of the records of ofW your office will bo needed , In the no\ ) counties In case of division ? A. All records , files , decrees id < court orders , pertaining to adminis tering of estates and probating of wills , wherein the deceased owned or was Interested In lands at the time of his death. Titles that have come through the estates to the heirs are the most particular , hence the need of accurate and complete records of these estates. Q. How many probate cases arc tlicro on flic and how many generate Instruments pertaining to these cases A. Probate cases are now filed nt the rate of about 100 a year and there are something over 1,200 cases filed. There are from 15 to 25 sop- orate instruments and entries .made In each case. The record of such In struments are scattered all the way fiom book one to book twelve de pending entirely upon the time the instrument was filed. Eacli probate record lias much matter that pertains to eacli part of the county and In order to got a complete record of any quarter of the county , it will be necessary to go over the entire rec ord and transcribe that part that pertains to the particular land. Q. What would bo the cost of transcribing the records necessary In case of division ? A. I do not know. There are G5 records of G10 pages each ; there are 4G lines to the page and about 12 words to the line. I estimate there would bo about 23,000,000 words. If this could be done at 5 cents per hundred words , which I believe Is a low figure It would cost somewhere n the neighborhood of $11,500. Three- fourths of this would be about $8G25. ! I suppose that each county would or- 'der the records transcribed that per tain to land In each county. ' with transcripts of that portion of 'this ' ' office affecting land titles. 1 [ can only estimate the amount of those records that would be needed. It might be one half and it might bo more. County Surveyor. Question. How many surveyors records in your office ? Answer. There are 3. Q. What is the nature of these books ? A. The surveyors record contains a map of the roads surveyed and es tablished In each township giving dis. tanccs , a record is made of each corner monument , field notes , of when the survey was made , name of applicant ' cant and a record of those who made and assisted in the survey. Q. How many maps do these books contain ? / A. There being 72 government townships in Custer county , there are 72 of these maps. Q. What other books have you ? A. A road platt book , which Is the ( largest book In Custer county , 'its 'pages are 25 by 28 inches , it also I I contains 72 maps on which are plntts the roads in each township of Cus- ' tor county and all information regard Ing the establishment of said roads. | Q. Would these records have to be transcribed ? A. They certainly would Q. What In your opinion would it cost to transcribe these books. A. They all have been transcribed within the past five years on account of the old books being in a very bad shape. The three surveyors records took one person about one year to complete. The other book Is worth about $250 to transcribe. District Clerk. Question. How many suits have been filed In your office since the or ganization of Custer county ? Answer. About C700. Q. How many papers are filed In each of these cases ? A. One to twenty. Q. Are all ot these papers record ed In special books called complete record books ? ! ' A. Yes , except coses not tried by court. Q. What Is the average cost of complete record per case ? A. About $8. Q. How many of the G700 cases were foreclosure cases , or other cas es affecting titles to land , Including tax foreclosures. A. About half. Q. How many books of complete record and pages ? - A. 72 books , 4oo pages In each book , and 500 words to the page. Q. How many books of other kinds hi your office ? A. 24 appearance dockets , 17 court journals , 42 trial dockets , G execution dockets , 4 Judgement rec ords , 3 naturalization records and 1 Insanity record , also * 4 general Index es In which the names of the plain - tiff and defendants In each suit are indexed both direct and reverse. Q. Would an abstractor In making an abstract of tltlo to land In any ? of the proposed new counties have to have access to practically all of these records ? W A. Yes , ho would. Q.Would It require a complete copj of the four Judgement records , foi each of the new counties , thus mak ing throe sets. A. Yes , of the live judgements. Q.Thou each suit would have to bo examined by an expert abstractor or attorney who would check off those suits affecting land in each of the counties , that copies of the record of that suit might bo made ? A.Yes. . Q. As a matter of fact the rec ords of your office are just as im portant as the records of the Record er's office for each of the new conn- ties are they not ? A. Yes. Q. If you were asked to make a transcript of the records of your of- flee for each of the new counties what would be a fair price per hun dred words. A. About 5 cents. County Superintendent. Question. How many school dis tricts are there In active operation in Ouster county ? Answer. 2GO. QDo you keep a seperate rec ord of each of these districts ? A. Yes , I do. Q. Are there any school districts that would be loft In two or more counties should the county be divid ed ? A. Yes. The new county lines run through and divide 2S school dis tricts. 27 of these would be located in two counties and one district would bo In three counties. , Q. What effect , If any , would di vision have on the teachers certifi cates now In force. A. Each teacher must have a county certificateunless , they hold a state certificate and they would have to pay a registration fee. A county certificate costs $1.50 and I suppose that the teachers In the new coun ties would bo put to this expense. Q. What is the present salary of the superintendent. A. His salary Is $1200 and he Is allowed $400 for clerk hire. Q. What in your opinion would be the salary of the superintendent in tlie new counties ? A. As near as I can figure it in Alfalfa Co. It would be not less than 51000 in Custer county not loss than $1000 , in Sheldon county tho.estimat ed population Is so close that I am ,01 sure wntauer u woum oe $ suu or 1000 , and in Illggins county the su- icrlntondent would bo paid per diem , nd in that case , could not be more han $800. Instead of $1000 as It ow Is. It would no doubt amount to : nore than $3500 , and that would not iclude a clerk in any of the co m- les after division carried. Q. Is the superintendent and clerk aid by fees of the office ? A No , they are paid out of the ener.il fund of the county. Necessity of Complete Records in Each of the New Counties. The following questions were asked Ive reliable abstractors , who signed heir names below. Mr. Abstractor : Question. What is an abstract of title ? Answer. An abstract of title is a cillfled memoranda and transcript ol ill transfers , whether , deeds , mort gages , mechanics loins , powers of at- orney , release , leases , contracts for sale and purchase of land , decrees of ourt either probate or district court a detailed transcript of all pro- Ijate prooecuings in county court or actions to quiet title or other suits iffcctjug title to land and all judge- inncts as shown by the records in ; he District Clerk's office. The ab- strncter also certifies as to any for eign judgements in the hands of the sheriff that in any way affect the title tlo to the land of which the abstract is being made. Q. Do you mean that you must havi access to the probate records In the county judges office ? A. Yes sir. Q. And that you must examine the general Indexes , the judgement rec ords , and every suit In the district Clerk's office that any of the parties who may have held tltlo to the land you are abstracting were intreesled li either plaintiff or defendant ? . A. Yes sir. Q. And do you examine the tax books In the treasurer's office to sec that not a single tax for any yeai Is unpaid ? . A. Yes sir. Q. Of course you make a thorongl aenrch In the recorder's office foi every instrument , deed mortgage 01 other instruments that may affec the land you are abstracting ? A. Yes sir. Q. You cannot make an abstrac tiion of the smallest piece of groniu In Custer county or in any of th < proposed new counties without malt Ing a thorough search In each of tin offices of the Recorder , Treasurer Probate Court and Clerk of dlstrlc court can you ? A. No. Sir. jtfl Q. You can't leave out' the' trea * ; urcr's office ? A. No. sir. Q.You can't leave out the office ot tlio clerk of the district court ? " A. No sir. Q. Nor you can't leave out th'o office of the Probate Court ? A. No sir. Q. Then what do you say woulcl be the condition of the now coun ties that transcribed only the records - ' ords of the recorder's office as far- as titles of land are concerned ? * A. They would bo like an autonao.-1 * - bile without gasoline or oil. Q. And what do you say would b * ' the condition of a now comity aa re-- sards general county business , that did not get the necessary transcripts of records from the county clerk , su perintendent , treasurer , county or probate court , district court and ev en the surveyor's office , In fact all of the county offices as well as th recorder's office ? A. It would be like an automobile . even m without gasoline , oil chouffeur or * - even an engine , In fact It would be a mere part of a machine. The above answers are subscribed to by the undersigned abstractors. Ross G. Moore. Willis Cadwell. J. G. Leonard. 1. A. Reneau. J. C. Moore , j Record Books and Supplies. v _ 4 There are more than 5PA big rec ord books In the court house at the present time. A conservative esti mate of the new books that would be necessary to start the now coun ties could not safely be placed at less than 300. The loose-leaf record would In most cases be used and that could not cost less than $20 per book. In Merrill county these books cost , $23 per book accordingto the state ment of Mr. Trlnnler , who Is trans- crlblng the records for that county. In Ouster county they are now being nrnlshed for $21 per book. Placing he cost of these books In quanltles at $20 per book , It would cost $0000 or new books. $1000 per new coun- y would be a low estimate for the endless number of other supplies needed. Grand Summary. It Is a hard matter to arrive at he exact figures to transcribe the acords for three new counties. Cus- er county probably stands about hird or fourth among the counties of the state In volume of records. \Vc believe wo are more liable to jlace the cost of transcribing at a ewer than at a higher figure for he reason that It is very hard to akc into consideration all of the various kinds and classes of record books. From the investigation we ia\o made we believe that the fol lowing is a fair and conservative es timate of the cost of starting the io\v counties in business. Register . . $21,000 County Clerk . . G.OOO ounty Treasurer . 5,000 District Clerk . 5,000 County Judge . 0,000 Surveyor . 1,000 Supt. , Assessor , Ally. , and Coroner . 500 300 Books at $20 . 6,000 Other Supplies for Three New Counties . 3,00 0 Three Court Houses at $23,000 . 75,000 Total . $131,500 The old county of Cnster will nec essarily be put to quite an expense and a great inconvenence in trans cribing these books. It must be re membered that while this work Is going on they will have to be re : fored to constantly and the work lu- teirupted a great deal. The estl- mate of $25,000 for each or the new t'ourt houses is a matter t tut , of will be left to the new coun ties , but It is none too small an amount to put up a substantial build ing. Many of the school houses in. the small towns cost fully as much as this. If you will stop to consid er the tremendous expense you will readily see that it can not be done without voting bonds. It must be re membered that the new counties one- fourth the size of Ouster cannot main tain a full sot of county officers and pay for a full county government on one-fourth the amount of taxes that Ouster county now raises and In all probability the full limit of the law will have to be levied In each of the now counties for actual running ex. pe-isos say nothing of the tremendous cost of transcribing the records and \ building new court houses. A 15 mill levy next year would cost the four proposed count ics $55,000 more thane \\o are now pajlng and every cent of llils would be needed for running expenses and the transcribing of rec ords and building of court houses would have lo be provided for lu some other way.