Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-10-20
To Ton. Sir.


 copied, the archives of that office will be trans l ferred to the State This would have been done ere now, had it not been for the time taken up in the adjustment of the swamp land grant. If proper use is made of these plats and records, they will be invaluable; if not, | they might as well be burned. The State will then have in her possession a plat of every township and fractional township within her section, with all things pertaining to the ascer- | tainment of the boundaries of lands.
 The first feature in the plan 1 venture to propose is, to copy the plats for each county. particular tract of land belongs. County lines | are often indefinite For instance. in many cases stream that is not Teandered, is the line; sometimes it runs on a dividing ridge be- tween certain waters; in one case, line runs so as to include the lowest settler in a certain county! Diagonal lines often divide forty acre tracts of lands so as to throw a part in one county and part in another. This difficulty | head of the land department of the State, to follow on the map of the county, the line as fixed by the act establishing the county and run, as nearly parallel with it as possible, line that will agree with legal subdivisions of land, for the convenience of assessors. As to field notes, they can be procured at the expense of the several counties.
 The second feature in the plan proposed, is to procure, from the general land office, at Washington City, full and complete list of all the lands in this State disposed of by the general government. Such list had better be I procured from the fountain sou-ce It would cost less and be more accurate than to endeavor to get it from the federal land-offices in the | State. The different registers have not always been competent and errors exist. Thousands of entries and locations that were set aside or cancelled have not been erased from the books or plats. Entries that were aoated exchanged, or substituted, have not been noted on their books. By going at once to head quarters. it can be correctly obtained and correctness is l sary to send competent person to Washing ton.
 When such list is obtained and as fast as it is obtained, 1t should be recorded in books in tract-book style, leaving sufficient space, or lines, to enter any tracts hereafter sold The entry should give the date name of purchaser and contents of each tract. This done, each county should be furnished with tract book large enough to hold description of every tract of land in the county. By beginning at the lowest township and range and proceeding to the highest, as matter of reference it would be self-indexing Vacant spaces being left, as other tracts were entered. they could, from time to time, be placed on the appropriate lines.-- This book would require a column to describe the character of the entry, whether made at a U. $. land-office, or bought of the State as swamp or other class lands. This record should be carefully watched Steps should be taken to procure from Washington, note of every entry cancelled, changed, or in any manner al- tered. Upon the reception of this information let the auditor correct the books in his office and notify the clerk of the proper county, at the same time directing him how to amend his record. Suppose this was done, and then esti- mate, if.you can, the value of such records to all persons in Arkansas, for all time The foundation of all titles to land would be at hand and ln tracing up the proprietorship of a tract of land, the starting point would be clear. The common fraud of selling land the title to which is still in the United States would be prevented. The county courts could always know the number of acres of land in their counties and could act advsedly in regard to its taxation.
 Each clerk should be required to furnish the auditor with list of all town or city lots in the county. This should begin with lot l in block l and also describe the quarter section in which the town is situate
 We now have the groundwork laid for complete assessment of all lands.
 In former article, 1 stated the existing n equalltes in assessing lands under the present system of valuation by the owner or his agent. Lands should be assessed by disinterested persons. To this end, at every general elec- ton, or every four years, one or two assessors should be elected, who with the county sur veyor shond form an assessment board. The clerk should furnish the assessor or assessors with list of Every tract of land and town lot in the county, carefully taken from the record It should be arranged in township and range order, columned off to describe the tract. sec. ton, range number of acres and blank col umn left for the valuation. The assessors should be sworn and required to give bond Taking the list, they should proceed to visit every tract of land described therein and every town-lot, examine and value them without re- gard to ownership. Where. tract of land has | been divided so as to have two or three owners and this fact comes to the knowledge of the assessors, let them value each subdivision sepa. rately. When a building or improvement covers more than one town lot, the two or more can be embraced in one valuation This labor can be done in few weeks and would be cheaper than the present mode. It would have the advantages of being thorough, uniform and equitable.
 The assessment thus made might continue for two or four years, and if other lands were entered before the next assessment, they could be added at certain rate per acre. This would save great deal of labor and expense. The assessment list could be filed with the clerk subject to inspection, and interested parties given the right, at any time to appeal from the valuation of the assessors to the county court. and if changes were made to immediately in- form the auditor. The clerk should copy the list and transmit it to the auditor From this | list the sheriff would be charged. For instance, l if the whole value of the real estate in any county was one million of dollars, the auditor would calculate the State tax thereon and charge the sheriff with the whole of it. This list as well as the tax book could be made on ordina- " foolscap paper instead of the large nnwieldy hooks now used These comb all ho bo,nd