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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1901)
fc Conservative * wvr THE TORRENS LAW. THE CONSERVATIVE has advocated for some years past the improvement in the manner of recording and transferring titles to real property , known as the Torrens system ; and is much gratified at the prospect of seeing this improve ment investigated officially by the Ne braska legislature. When the possibility of seonring a better system is once realized by the legislature , we believe that its members \vill appreciate to the full the defects of that which is at present established. We give below the text of a bill which has been introduced by Mr. H. H. Hanks , representative from Otoe county : A bill for an act authorizing the governor to appoint a commission to investigate our present system of trans ferring land titles , and other systems , including the Torrens system of trans ferring laud titles , and to draft a law to improve our present system of transfer ; and to make an appropriation for the necessary expense. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska : Section 1. That the governor is here by authorized to appoint a commission of five (5) ( ) persons , known as the Ne braska Land Transfer Commission. Section 2. It shall be the duty of this commission to investigate our present system of transferring land titles ; also to investigate systems that at present are in effect in other countries and are now being introduced in several states in our country , and especially to investi gate what is known as the Australian or Torrens system of registration of titles , and if it would be suitable to the laws and constitution of this state , and to draft a bill that is more simple , less expensive and giving a better security to titles than our present law of transfer ; this commission to report on or about January 1st , 1902 , to the governor. Section 8. Each member of the said commission shall , after the taking effect of this act , qualify by filing in the office of the secretary of state an oath to faith fully perform his duty. Section 4. Each of the said com mission shall receive from the state as full compensation for his services the sum of fifty dollars , ( $50) ) five cents ( $ 05) ) per mile for distance necessarily traveled and all actual and necessary expenses , to be audited and paid as other bills against the state , and to be paid out of the funds in the state treas ury not otherwise appropriated. Section 5. The secretary of state shall allow such commission access to all public records and documents under such reasonable regulations as may be necessary , and shall furnish them with necessary stationery and office supplies. Section 6. Whereas , an emergency exists , therefore this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its pass age and approval. THE SENATE'S TAX REDUCTION BILL. If the bill was framed on the theory that the most burdensome and oppres sive of the taxes should be the first to go , there is little in its provisions to show the fact. In some instances the question of repeal or non-repeal seems to have been settled by purely arbitrary decision. The tax upon bankers' capital , for instance , which the house proposed to retain , is greatly reduced , but the stamp tax of 2 cents on checks is re stored. At the same time the stamp taxes on mortgages , promissory notes and many other documentary taxes are removed. The chief beneficiaries of the measure apparently would be the brew ers , for whereas the house in its bill proposed to reduce the beer tax to $1.60 a barrel , the senate financiers out the rate to $1.50 , the effect of the change being that the brewers' taxation would be reduced fully $14,000,000. In other words , the stamp tax on checks and various special and docu mentary taxes , which are distinctly burdensome , are to be permitted to make up for the revenue losses involved in the reduction of the beer tax. To men tion but one other signal inconsistency in the senate bill , an unreasonable and apparently wholly arbitrary discrimina tion Is to be made in the taxation upon proprietary medicines , those compounds for which the formula is known being exempt , while those having a secret formula for some inscrutable reason are to continue to pay a tax approximating 1 per cent of the retail price. In the course of debate the senate may modify materially the provisions of the measure , but as it stands today the bill which has been patched together fails to meet the requirements of the situation. It is apparently the result of a laborious effort after compromise and conciliation with numerous contending interests , and its one salient feature is its marked deference to the wishes of the beer sellers , who are generally sup posed to be securing the fruits of ante- election bargains. Chicago Eecord. PRESIDENT SCHURMAN'S CONCLU SION. At last President Sohurman is im pressed by the accumulating evidence against his assertion , long maintained , that the only hostiles in the Philippines comprise but a fragment of one of the more than eighty tribes which together make up the Filipino people. He does not acknowledge that he must have been mistaken when he said so , and tried to make the people believe that it was this small body which held in terror from 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 of natives , and kept an army of 70,000 United States soldiers more than busy. What he now says is that the natives "seem more hostile to the white race , and more united against the United States , than they were in the beginning of 1899. " It is impossible to derive any comfort from such an acknowledgment. It means simply that all the costly effort of the last two years has accomplished nothing except to produce a worse con dition , so far as pacification is the end desired , than existed at the beginning of the term. The result of all the fighting , more than 1,000 recorded engagements , according to the war department , and of the protracted efforts of the Sohur man and Taft commissions to persuade the natives to accept our rule and insti tutions , seems to have as its consequence a more general and resolute hostility than existed two years ago. What more can we do ? Boston Herald. An orator who jumps from the stump onto the tripod and poses as an editor demonstrates the velocity of his last mount as a toboggan slide. The pre cipitate decline of the taking qualities of flapdoodleism when embalmed in cold type beats liquid air as a re frigerator. FACTS WITHOUT COMMENT. For the year 1896 the appropriation for the navy was ( in round numbers ) $27,000.000. In 1898 , the year of the Spanish war , it was $58,000,000. Lost year it was $55,000,000. This year the bill as reported to the house calls for $77,000,000 , with author ization for additional naval construction which , included in the bill , as it should be , would swell the total to nearly $100,000,000. The entire ordinary expenditures of the government twelve years ago were less than $800,000,000. New York World. ASBESTOS. The H. W. Johns Manufacturing Company of New York have issued a pamphlet containing interesting and valuable information about asbestos and the various uses to which it is adapted. Asbestos is a fibrous mineral found in various parts of the world and usually occurs in narrow veins or seams. When treated mechanically it yields soft , white , delicate and exceedingly strong fibres , which can be spun , woven and otherwise manufactured into many useful articles. In addition to its fire proof qualities , it is acid proof and is practical. It also forms a valuable insulation for electrical purposes. Asbestos in the form of paper and mill board has become indispensable as a building paper ; as a non-conductor of heat ; as a barrier against fire ; in the lining of kilns , dry rooms , air shafts and electrical switch boxes ; as a deadener of sound between floors and partitions ; and for the innumerable uses to which an inexpensive fire-proof , vermin-proof , odorless , building paper or board is adapted.