Ox Conservative
VOL. i. NEBRASKA CITY , NEB. , THURSDAY , FEBRUARY 16 , 1899. NO. 32.
PUHMSIIEU AVEEKI/V.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
J. STERLING MORTON , EDITOU.
A JOUUNAIj DEVOTED TO THE IHPCU88ION
OF POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK 5,506 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
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postpaid , to any part of the United States or
Canada. Remittances made payable to The
Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONSEHVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Neb.
Advertising Rates made known upon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City ,
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29th , 1898.
GOVERNMENT CORN PROPAGANDA.
The Fremont Tribune says : "Mr.
Morton cannot well deny that money
expended by the government for this
good work may not be profitably in
vested. "When he was secretary of ag
riculture he sent John Mattes , jr. abroad
for that purpose. "
It is true that John Mattes , jr.a regu
larly educated and certificated brewer ,
who speaks good German and writes ex
cellent English , was sent to Germany in
accordance with a law and an appropria
tion made to provide for such a commer
cial agent.
It is also true that Mr. Mattes was in
structed that it mattered but little who
furnished the bread for Germany if we
could furnish the beer. Bread is eaten
cold by the Teutons and not hot as by
many Americans. And cold combread
is eaten by nobody who can get cold rye
or wheat bread. The Germans there
fore did not accept corn bread and its
promoters with any degree of favor
whatever. But Mr. John Mattes , jr.
was instructed to cause to be made some
good lager beer from corn grits and to
submit it to German chemists for analy
sis and report. Mr. Mattes did therefore
brew in Germany some beer from Indian
maize. It was drunk and approved.
And as Germany makes forty millions
of barrels of beer every year and it could
use one bushel of corn to each barrel and
as the chemists reported the beer whole
some , nutritious and not at all detri
mental , it seemed as though we were
about to achieve a new market for In
dian corn in beer-making rather than
bread-making. But a law was soon
passed and came immediately into vigor
declaring it a penal offence to make beer
in the German empire out of anything
else than hops and barley.
After that Mr. Mattes reported against
the propriety and efficiency of govern
mental expenditures for obtaining a
corn-market or a market for corn pro
ducts either solid or liquid in Germany ,
sent in his resignation , which was ac
cepted , and came home.
The reports of Mr. Mattes were terse ,
truthful , businesslike and patriotic.
They should bo published. Meantime
when we make IQWB shutting out , by pro
tective duties , foreign products , are we
not at the same time shutting in Ameri
can products which might go out in ex
change for them ? Is not the trade of
the world goods for goods and products
for products ?
"What propriety is there in putting Tip
a high wall of protection and then pay
ing agents to scale the wall and climb
down on the other side to peddle corn or
any other product ?
TRANSFERS UNDER THE TORRENS
LAW.
If you happen to be the owner of one
small lot in Chicago you know something
of the bother and expense of securing a
transfer of title under a cumbrous sys
tem which has been a dead weight upon
the community for years. This system
depends for its justification upon custom
and precedent and has for its advocates
several classes of people who are its
immediate beneficiaries. It must be be
cause it has been and because these same
people want it to be. That is a fair sum
mary of the arguments by which it may
be sustained. They are the old argu
ments which are always brought for
ward when any attempt is made to re
form legal abuses that are fortified by
age and eminent respectability.
Opposed to them are reason , common
sense and justice , and for the bad system
which they are defending a most de
sirable substitute has been found which
puts it within the power of every land
owner in the city to become a practical
reformer in his own interest and in the
interest of the community at large. This
is due to the beginning of operations
under the Torrens law.
It is calculated that thirty days will
suffice for bringing property within the
Torreus land system , and the ordinary
fees amount to $24. This is less than the
cost of bringing down titles in many
cases , and there is very little red tape
about the business. The method of pro
cedure is to procure a blank form of ap
plication at the office of the registrar of
titles at the courthouse , to fill it out prop
erly and to present it signed and sworn
to in any court of competent jurisdic
tion. The court will refer it to an ex
aminer of titles , and if the examination
proves satisfactory a decree will be en
tered ordering a certificate of title , which
will bo issxied by the registrar. In all
simple cases where there are no contests
it will not be necessary to employ a law
yer at any stage in the proceedings.
Abstracts must be furnished up to the
time of the great fire of 1871 , but the
continuation will bo made by the regis
trar without extra cost and all abstracts
will be returned immediately after the
title is registered.
The fees are distributed as follows :
Clerk of court on filing application , $5 ;
registrar for examination of title , $15 ;
publication notice , $2 ; registrar on issue
of certificate of title , $2. Each appli
cant for first registration is also required
to contribute to the indemnity fund one-
tenth of 1 per cent of the value of his
property , or $1 on each $1,000 , and if
there be parties defendant upon whom
summons is to be served there will be a
sheriff's fee of $1 for each person so
served.
. Once property is placed under the sys
tem future transfers may be made with
a minimum of time , trouble and expense.
A circular from the registrar's office
says : "Upon an ordinary sale or mort
gage of registered lands , the entire
transaction can be closed in an hour or
two without the need of any abstract of
title or the aid of a lawyer , and the cost
will be but $8 , thereby saving attorney's
fees for examination [ of $15 to $50 and
cost of continuing abstract of $5 to $25. "
This indicates the tremendous gain that
would be made for the public if the sys
tem were in general operation. Chicago
Times-Herald.
This is what comes of letting women
into politics. The female members of
the Colorado legislature do not smoke ,
and they have secured the adoption of a
rule requiring the other members to do
their smoking somewhere else.
The Churchman tells of a manufac
turer of cocoa who opens each day's oper
ation of his works with a brief service
of prayer.