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TORRENS SYSTEM l A BILL FOB ITS ENACTMENT BEFORE THE HOUSE. Synopsis of the Bill as Proposed by 1 Representative J. Archie Willis of , liAurrns. 1 A bill providing for the adoption i of the Torrens system of land regis- i ' tration was introduced into the house I Friday morning by J. Archie Wil- i lis, member from Laurens county, i and the following is a synopsis of ( the bill: i A referee, who shall be appointed t in each county, 6hall constitute 1 "courts of land registration, for the purpose of the settlement, registra- 1 tion, transfer, and assurances of ti- ] ties to lands within their respective < jurisdiction ' The jurisdiction of s the registration courts shall he the I same as that over which the regis- i trar of said county shall have juris- 1 diction as clerk of court. i After the petition has been made < to the court for a registered title, | and the decree has been granted, a i petition for a rehearing may be filed I within one hundred and twenty days 1 after the granting of said degree. 1 It is provided in the bill to be 1 Introduced that the clerk of the 1 court of each county shall be the < registrar of the land registration t court. The "said registrars and their deputies shall be authorized and re- ? quired, under the direction of their < respective courts, to issue process I and to enter the decree of the court < touching lands in their respective 1 counties or corporations, and to en- I tor and issue certificates of title, as f provided herein, whereby the seal t of the court to such certificates and t their duplicates . . . and generally 1 to perform such other acts and du- < ties as the court may prescribe." f The clerks of the court wnen an- l pointed registrars of the land courts t shall qualify and give bond for the J faithful performance of their duties. > Two or more lawyers of the coun- I ty in which the court has jurisdic- ( tlon shall be appointed as examiners i of titles, and these may also he appointed referees In the cases filed. It shall be their duty to search the records and to investigate all g iiicis stated In petitions for regis- 4 tered titles. t Petitions for registration of any 1 land or lands may be made by the i "person or persons claiming, singly I or collectively, to own or to have i the power of appointing or disposing t of an c-state in fee simple in any 1 land, whether subject to liens or 1 not." < The petition is filed under the i provision of the bid in the regis- 1 trar's ofllce, after which the court ( shall cause notice of same to be sent ' to "all whom it may concern," same i being sent by registered mail, and certificates of these notices shall be 1 filed with the petition, and shall he 1 conclusive proof of service. Any i persons having an Interest in or I claim against the land for which the i petition has been filed, may answer 1 th? petition before the final decree ' has been given. The court may have the land In q iestion surveyel, if it l thinks it necessary. With the exception of executors < and administrators who aro winding up estates, if is left purely ontlonal with all landowners as to whether they shall have their land recistered but it is believed by many that should the bill pa?s and become a law, the majority of land owners will want their titles registered as soon as they can have them registered. The decrc of registration is final, it quiets the title, and binds against all the world, subject to appeal, as provided by the hill. When a tract of land has been registered an original certificate is kept in the office of the registrar, and a duplicate certificate Is glve.i the holder of the land registered. The original and duplicate each show all the incumbrances, if there are any, against the land registered, and any one may tell at any time the exact condition of the title. All incumbrances placed on the land after , registration must be recorded on both the original and duplicate certificates of title. Under the provisions of the bill, the land when once examined by the examining attorneys and registered in the court of land registra- 1 tlon shall be guaranteed to the holder Of the title tlir? Stotn mo''1"" ..it.nui fs me guarantee. An assurance fund of one-tenth of one per cent of the assessed vahn of the land is paid in to the registrar when the land is registered. This amount is kept by the registrar until turned over to the State treasurer. It is held by the State treasurer to pay off any loss that may come to the State 6-om guaranteeing the titles that are registered in the courts provided for that purpose. If at any time the assurance fund is insufficient to satlsfy any judgment certified against it as aforesaid, the unpaid account shall bear interest at the legal rate and be paid in its order out of the moneys coming into said fund. Knts Poison Pills. TMscoerlng hglf a dozen strychnine pills that nad been left for a feer patient, Pauline, the three-year-oid daughter of George W. Young, of Junlatij, Pa., ate them while ber IJL mother M^as absent and ln*half an houri^^^^dead. ADVICE TO THE GIRLS. How to Capture and Hold Men After They Are Captured. If I were a girl, says a writer In in exchange, desirous of getting married, I would not trouble about my looks further than to keep neatly ind becomingly dressed. But 1 should ?et resolutely to work to take an Interest in men generally; study them is one studies geology, botany, entomology, or any other ology that appeals to the taste, and I should seek to become forgetful of self. So many ?irl8 spoil their chances by behaving is If It were a man's duty to study ihem. Of course, they may be the interesting creatures they think themselves to be, but their attitude repels Investigation of their merits. A girl Is never so charming as when she has forgotten self and an pears sincerely Interested In some me else: sympathy is a valuable as?et. and men like to be thought interesting. Their lives and Individual natures, not their hearts, should Pe the direct objects of interest, and nothing ought to be easier than to iheck any signs of giddiness on the part of the young man. at the outjet; one should simply lessen the force of her sympathetic Interest in tilm. While studying the specimen, he girl should expect nothing from he man?not even candy. We know that men have a hard time, these lays; but women do not find the batle of life a play-ground. Instead, however, of mentioning me's own struggles, the girl should mcourage the specimens to show heir ability to fight It out against all >dds. If a girl wants to especially ileaso her specimen, she should ask 'or his advice. Men have advice to rive away, and they are always more han willing to bestow it liberally on heir wom?n friends. It pleases them or a woman to depend on them, >ven to show them her new gowns ind hats and ask if they like them. \ man likes his sweetheart to recoglize the correctness of his taste and udgment. So, if you wish to put rour specimen in a good humor, ask lis advice. It remains with you to 1 lo as you please with It, after it is riven, Bryan to Hoys. In answer to a recent inquiry ibout advising boys Mr. Hryan said 'there is no new advice to give boys, ind there are no new boys to advise. The boy is the same that he has been ind he is not likely to change much n the years to come. His impulses ire the same that they were cenuries ago; the dangers that con'ront him confronted his father and lis grandfather In their boyhood lays. If * were suggesting a warnng to boys I would not suggest a setter one than that embodied in the ext, "ine wages of sin Is death.' rhat is the law, and It cannot be repealed. "The honest, truthful. Industrious joy will succeed In proportion to his ntelligence, but no intelligence can make up for lack of honesty, truthfulness or Industry?especially Is it Impossible to substitute anything for honesty and truthfulness. Laziness will limit one's accomplishments whatever his other good qualities may be, but he can outgrow laziness just as he can outgrow lack of education or intelligence, but It Is much more difficult to outgrow a lack of honesty or a lack of truthfulness. "Possibly I ought to suggest that patience is a virtue which should be added to the ones already mentioned. Impatience has led many young men lo ruin; they have not been willing to wait for a fortune to come through legitimate accumulation, and through their hasto to get rich they have fallen. The hoy shouldd "learn to labor and to wait." Character is built slowly; but it can be lost In a day. The farmer must wait from seed time until the harvest, however long it may seem, before he gathers h!s crop, and so the boy must be willing to plant in the springtime of life for the harvest that he will gather when he is grown." NO TANKS OX MAW u iux The Legislature I'rged to Take Action in the flatter. "Over a million acres of land In this State escape taxation because they are not shown on the tax duplicates and can not be put there until definitely located in some particular tax district." Comptroller General Jones will say in a vigorous report to the General Assembly. He will complain that persona owning property in adjacent school districts often return it all in that district, having the lowest tax or none and they in laying off schoo' districts in some counties have been ' so gerrymandered as to create districts of most absurd and inconvenient shapes.' Mr. Jones urges that "an accurate survey of district line, road and water would more than pay for Itself" in l " - - ... t..?. iocmm iiitreabe tnai would follow. No such survey has been made since that of Mills, In 1 825. I.ost in HoukIi Sen. News has been received of the drowning January .2 of James Kenneth Haxley who was washed from the deck of the battleship Virginia in a rough sea. Haxley was a coxswain aboard the Rhlp, was 21 yearn old; and was a native of Heph2ihah, Ga^ Hin body w*? not recovered. Most Toe the Mark. The result of the late election was a commission to the Democratic party from the people to give them relief from the burdens of the tariff bill recently enacted by the Republican party. The Democratic party must measure up to its opportunity and give the people the relief demanded or it will be relecated to the rear permanently ae a minority n-xr-tx' nxxA I V. ~ 1 - -.111 uiiu me |n;ui;io will UU III III lb~ sion Borne other party to carry out their demands. Relief they are going to have, and if the Democratic party fails to carry out the great commission entrusted to It by the people It will be disastrously defeated In the next election. The people cannot be fooled any longer. The Washington Star savs "there Is a good deal of undisguised protection sentiment among Southern Democrats They talk it at home, and openly vote it in Congress. The debate on the Payne bill while on its passage was very illuminating on that point. Does The State recall it? If not, it should turn to its file of The Congressional Record for that period. It nffords what Mr. Greeley characterized as 'mighty interesting reading.' Have the Southern men changed their minds? There is no authentic report that the leopards have changed their spots." In reply to the Star The State says it "recallR vividly the attitude of certain Democrats during the debate on the Payne-Aldrlch bill, and remembers the votes cast by about forty of the unfaithful. Some of them sold the main girder under their party for a mess of "greens," without even getting bacon with it. Rut we recall, too, that several of those who bowed obsequiously and expectantly before Joe Cannon's throne have since suffered chastisement. We believe the signs of popular indignation at the Republican failure to reform the tariff will not be lost upon Democrats coming into power. "The States does not imagine the politicians in Congress calling themselves Democrats and hungering for special privileges under the tariff for their constituents are straightway going to become real Democrats and honestly work for the benefit of the consumers instead of the few producers, but it does believe the catastrophy of party suicide will appear so certain and imminent to the party leaders if the party is unfaithful to pledges and unworthy the faith of them who have given it power, that those in their ranks with the sutler spirit will be forced to act as Democrats or else branded before the country as disloyal. "In the days following the overwhelming defeat of the Democratic party in November, 1908. when many Southern Democrats predicted the death of th? party and were discussing new allignments. The Times and Democrat, along with The State and other real Democratic newspapers had and expressed absolute faith In the recuperation and victory of Democracy. The party had made a good fight, it was right and deserved success. It had a right to "come back." And as The State says, when the other party failed Democracy was given victory by votes of Republican tariffreformers. If it now fails to meet its responsibilities on the tariff it will be blasted. Nothing could restore it to confidence. Wo share in The State's belief "that all the leaders understand that this next test is a crisis, and that aurh nnrtorttnnfUnor will .? wvMiiuiug n in ail lit* II lUU elastic backbones and force an alinrmcnt on pnrty principles, gives us faith that Democratic legislation on the tariff will be Democratic. We believe the necessity of exercising party discipline to the extent of authoritatively declaring there is no such thing as a 'protection* Democrat, will be recognized." Those socalled Democrats whose interests make them favor protection, should go where they belong, in the Republican party. The time has come when there should be no more mixing of the goats with the sheep. There has been too much of that in the past for the party's good. Rruve Firemen. Heroism is usually associated in the public mind with battle fields, and many inspiring are the records of deeds of valor and of strusgle. Rut in these days of peace we are continually being reminded that there are battles other than those in which men are pitted against each other In deadly combat. Probably among the uiosi spectacular arc tnose In which hardy, fearless and trained men wrestle with the great fires which threaten property and lives. Intent upon their duty and with no selfish thought of themselves these firemen stand face to face with danger In such batMe, and oftlmes us in the every recent catastrophies In Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities prove, they f?o unfalteringly to their death. Such heroism is an inspiration to the performance of duty under all circumstances and strengthens faith In human nature. Hold Posse at Hay. Armed with revolvers and firing scores of shots, two hoys, Charles and Henry Roberts, 18 years old, who escaped from the Tennessee industrial schools on the Murfree^ooro pike, held at bay a posse of moie than 100 men yesterday afternoon. After a miniature battle laV.lug a 1 good portion of the afternoon they made good their escape. SEVENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. . . i Profit Made by the Penitentiary the Past Year. The State penitentiary in the fiscal year turned into the State treasury $70,000 in cash, representing the profits of that year. The State penitentiary was established as a prison and for years was not even self-sustaining. Today it is a producer of revenue. Under former superintendents its scope developed gradually, and today It stands clear of debt and has $76,000 in bank with which *o start the year on a cash basis. The total income of the lnstitu tion last ye*r as shown in tho report! of the superintendent, Capt. D. J. i Griffith, was $137,2SS.16. The op-1 eratlng expenses were $75,805.07, , permanent improvements $8,447.19,1 leaving a net balance of $61,483.09, ; to which is to be added the account due for convict hire from responsible persons, $6,500. The grand total of profit for the year is therefore $67,983.09, or within a few dollars of $68,000. When he was elected superintendent 12 years ago, Capt. Griffith re ceived, as the cash assets of the institution. $83, and along with this was a floating indebtedness of several thousand dollars, money due on notes to the Carolina National bank. Since that time?in addition to many physical improvements made, in addition to paying into the State treas- j ury $160,000, in addition to paying off all floating debts?the Institution has ended the year with $7 6,000 cash on hand with which to begin the operations of ihis year on a cash basis. Despite the destruction wrought by : two freshets, each of which was al- | most without precedent, Capt. C.rif- | fith's administration has earned in 1 cash $23 6,000 and has made $125,000 in permanent improvements, approximately $360,000, or $30,000 per annum. Very Kind We Need. In a personal letter to the editor of The State Mr. Isaac Ridgeway, a New Jersey farmer, writing from Florence says: I am a New Jersey man interested in the boys' contest for growing corn. On Saturday I went down and saw the acre that produced 22 8 3-4 bushels of corn. I read about this acre of corn in the Philadelphia Record (reprinted from The State) beforo I left home. I did not believe it. I was born and have lived in New Jersey all my life and we in New Jersey feel we are n little nearer heaven than anywhere else on earth, but I carry no jealousy in my heart and am glad to have found an agricultural State whose climate and soil far surpass New Jersey. I own a fine i farm in New Jersey but have never ' been able to grow 100 bushels of ' Corn on one acre. I wan* every ! on? of our 200,000 farmers In New Jersey, and they are the most Industrious, intelligent farmers in the world, to know this 228 3-4 bushels of corn is a fact. If they ] know it is true and also that there are millions of acres of almost idle land here, the thousands tha' ' are going from our State to the j great Northwestern States every year would turn and come this 1 way. We are clad that Mr. Rldgeway came to South Carolina and saw for himself that 228 3-4 bushels of corn was made on one acre of land as had been published. We are glad that he is going to tell the two hundred thousand farmers of New Jersey that it was a fact, and not a myth, as he himself believed it was before be came and 3aw for himself. We hope he will he able to turn the thousands who go each year from his State to the great Northwestern States io this direction. They will not only find plenty of fine land, the best climate in the world, plenty of good people, and many other good things too numerous to mention, but they will find a good, hearty old Southern welcome awaiting them when they r> 1:- ? uuulll V niuilllll U?t!llS mOIIsands and thousands of those industrious, intelligent farmers of New Jersey which Mr. Ridgeway speaks of, as citizens to help develop her inexhaustible resources, and the authorities should make some effort to bring them here. Firemen Fatally Injured. One flr?man fatally injured, another seriously injured and a property loss estimated at $100,000 is the result of a fire starting on the fourth floor of the flve-stlry S. R. Hudbard H irdware Company shortly after noon Wednesday at Jacksonville, Fla. J. H. Smith, the Inpured fireman, was on top of a high ladder with a line of hose when the oil fumes rendered him unconscious. Civil Service Exams. Civil service examinations for the departmental service will be held on the following dates in South Carolina: Anderson, March 15; Charleston. April IS, January 24, March 8, April 12; Columbia, April 20, January 24, March 8, April 12; Greenville, April 25, March 8, April 12; Spartanburg, January 24; Sumter, January 24. In differing with others, even when we know we are right, courtesy and regard for their feelings ought always to be shown. Too often the sensibilities of others are hurt by i rudeness or violence of speech. \ 1 , LETTER TO MER If a rake-off In a liquor deal Is I grafting the State's money, what Is 1 the man doing who Is false-swearing ! about the amount of tax he Is due the State? We often become awe-stricken 1 over corporation of foreign graft, but ' have to be lambasted Into paying any attention to our big army of ' nome-made grarters?tax-dodgerB? j ' at our own door. If it is a flagrant violation of law 1 for the genial whiskey-drummer and dispensary men to fail to turn in just 1 revenue and profits to the 6tate, is it not also a crime of the same class for our genial friends in other oc- ' cupatlons to fall to turn in to the t state every dollar of taxes he Is due the State according to law? We farmers are prone to point to ! corporations and the business world 1 as the great harbingers of grafters. ! but the plain truth is no man or class of men can point the finger of scorn at any other class and say thief! .( grafter! The farmer has the same kind of 1 human nature in his make-up that J everybody else has. All the farmer has to do to rid himself of this con- 1 ceit, let him take a peep at a fewpages of his county Auditor's hook and blush with shame at the black sheep there are within his own flock. ' Why, bless you, not long since a farmer was looking over his county Auditor's hooks after another matter and uncovered the tax returns of an- 1 other farmer who is worth more than ' one hundred thousand dollars, who ' returned his property at le-s than 1 five thousand dollars! '' This well-to-do farmer pays less than one hundred dollars tax while ! another farmer near by, who does ' not own one-fourth as much proper- 1 ty. pays two hundred and twenty dollars tax. And, worse still, this well- ' to-do-tax-dodging farmer's son Is on the County Hoard of Equalization, ' while yet another son is the county clerk. Now, this may not be a con- ' splracy, to have one son holding down the County Hoard of Equalization and books that contain certain records of the securities of his father, but at the same time we are forced to say that if this upiy state of affairs is not a conspiracy, that it is at least an allfired convenient accident or coincident to protect taxdodgers.. Many of us know of cases where some unfortunate who owns nothing taxable save his head and heels fpnll and road) has heen chased for miles over the country and finally run down and In for from $8 to $12 costs and the employer is compelled to put up the cash for his unfortunate laborer or tenant or his man goes to the chaingang. while another wellto-do tax-dodger is just as lawfully due the State anywhere from $50 to $100, but is allowed to forswear and go free. Another case is the "homebuilder" (the slogan for the safety of the State and nation) who pays one-third on his purchase for a home and borrows the balance and after years of tolling, under the burden of high Interest, taxes and family expenses is closed out at last to satisfy the money-lender's claim, which is lawful, but the holder of these ironclad securities had not paid a dollar taxes on these notes and mortca?es during the whole time this "home 1 pay tax. too. while the law says hotb < terest and taxes. i Ask this money-lender why he does not pay the taxes on his securities and he will have the gall to say a 1 whole heap about double-taxing, to i compel the farmer to pay fax on borrowed money and the money-lender i pay tax..too, which the law says both shall pay tax. I am Informed by a reliable source that we have in our State a corporation that has more than one and a half millions cash in Its business that Is paying tax on only ninety-five thousand, for the reason that one of the head officials of this corporation is on the Hoard of Assessors and no doubt the State has all sizes of this kind of graft in all Its counties. Are the tax laws of the State made for the plain, honest people to go by and tho unscrupulous cunning to evade? Why is it that tho County Auditors do not go down into this I thing and place all-the property on the tax hooks, as the law requires them to do? I There are a few among them that ( have the "?and" to go Into the lair j of the lions that guard the voters, , that drive the nails down In the shin\ gins that cover their heads! Do these . floundering officers of the law think | more about their salaries than they rlo about the Rood of the people or the oath they take? Why don't the Hoards of Equalization do their duty and place all taxable property upon the books upon an equal basis? Is It a fact that many of them are tarred with the same stick along with the common tax-dodgers and Something Unusual. One of the worst of English railroad accidents happened in that country a Week or two ago resulting in the loss of about thirty lives. The singular thing about it Is the fact that the railroad company voluntarily assumed responsibility for the accident. It seems almost like a miracle \T~ ' 1 t ?ARUNIONISTS the rest keep mum for fear of being called a "common knocker"? So far us placing all property on the tax zA books upon equal basis at its market V value is concerned, the County Audi- ^ tor's ollice is a farce and the Board of Equalization is a huge joke. It is a stupendous fact that every one who places his property on the tax books at current or customary rates helps to pay the graft or rakeoff held back by tax-dodgers, which fact should enlist the active co-operation of all law-abiding citizens, with Comptroller General Jones in his commendable crusade for tax equalization. Publishing all tax returns In county papers every four years at re-assessment of renl estate is the one fell sweep that would attract the interest and aid of the nonnlo Ir. ? i |..v Ml oawa unviiship of the State. This publicity Is the gatllng pun or homb-shell that would drive every hider out in tho open where the populace can inspect the returns and see to it that no one shall pass muster without a clean record. For the same reason that we require publishing of expenditures of the people's money, that we may ree just where it goes, we should also know who is not turning in all the just tax money due the county and Estate. The drag-net that would catch all the sharks that jump over and dive under the first of January as the late for property on hand. Instead if naming one day, the law should take an average of several months for a basis of money on deposit or in iny business. A tax inquisitor for each Congressional district having the right to examine all public and corporation records and the power to summon witnesses to testify us to taxable property as well as the right to convene County Hoards of Equalization to suit the itinerary of his rounds, would also he the one limb of the law that might be made to bring in [i revenue of ten or more dollars for every dollar snont on his work an either of the plans of a salary or percentage pay. Some think that these tax Inquisitors should be reliiired to change districts in their rounds after the plan of the circuit judges. Our law makers should keep the Tact In mind that these tax-dodgers, ire cunning masters in this art and unless a master in the art of tax finder is sent after them, the efTort will- . je futile. -4 These tax inquisitors should not he floundering politlelans or weaklings if the thirty cent calibre, but should tie a selection from among the ablest lien We hfivo nnH nnld ?? I ? ** ? " IISIJ' l"lheir work?mon of spine, discretion ind diplomacy, that know the law more than kith or kin. or friend or roe. We have been moralizing over this:t\ dodging graft about long enough, t is time onr representatives go for hose "parasites upon the body pol- ?jl:; tir" with gloves off, and provide a. mire plan to tighten the screws down ~ upon all tax-dodgers alike. We have sent a Lyon out after the liquorgrafters that fetched in the gamem l we now want a gang of Bengal tigers, that can see to go after th& wily tax-dodgers. Something must be done to relieve the strain upon tho consciences of our good people who are in the habit of sitting in the"amen corners" of churches singing J psalms on Sunday and going before- " the County Auditor on Monday ano swearing 'hat the value of their cow is $S when they know they could get $40 or $a0 for her. or their land is worth $6 per acre when they know that other lands by them are selling from $40 to $100 per acre; or they h^ve no other property, stocks, notes, mortgages, cash or any other property to their credit not listed in their returns and spend six months afterwards trvlng to r??ll<>vn tlir? olral* upon their conscience by saying "they all do it" or trying to make themselves believe that false swearing is diplomacy nr some other left-handed thing with no harm In it. Most any man who has the pluck to say that plain people do the double tax paying while the cunning rich do the stunts in tax-dodging Is sure to l>e style 1 as a demagogue and now is the tine for each and every representative to be called upon to stand up and be counted as to whether a dollar be a dollar whether it be In the hands of the rich or poor man or In Iron clad securities, or In the active producing world, Olve all a chance to say whether or not they go to Columbia to eet something for the "interest they represent" that other people don t pet. Is there an honest man In all South Carolina who thinks or believes that other people should pay taxes on his dollars? J. C. Strlblinp, , { Pendleton. S. C. J Farmers' Union Bureau. that any larpe corporation or trust should take the blame to itself, lit) ually, it is the other way and tty j best legal talent is employed an every subterfuge resorted to In t ' effort to show that an accident is t fan 11 of others, an act of divine pr< Idence, or something else, and tj the corporation is as innocent as Infant child. i /