, 1872-11-26
THE lAND-TlTLE QUESTION.

| 10 ths Editor Of The Chicago TRIBUNE:
s1R: Not having had the fortune, OF misfor-
tune, Of reading al that has been published
with reference to the pending abstracts-pur-
chase by the county, I don't know but that my
| thoughts on the subject may have been already
before the public; and, in the light Of this my
! darkness, you Will kindly excuse if hare am
| taking position on ground already occupied OF
gone over by others.
To be brief, then: What would the county
| have done il no abstract-oHce had ever been in
| existence, or if those existing had been COZ
su1ned By the flames that devoured the records
themselves2 It certainly, in the abserca OF any
alternative, would have been obliged to adopt, as
basis for it's operations, the stdtun quo OF things
And, not limiting itself to the unnecessary for
mality OF advising property y-owners and others
to carefully preserve al their evidences Of title
and claims, it would, 1 think, in bureau eatab-
iished for that purpose, have opened books for
each ward and township with ample room for
The, entry OF each lot and fractions thereof, and
for the names Of each owner and adverse claim
snts, etc.
And would not the county have caused, also,
established, to adjudicate on the comparatively
few adverse claims that would be entered and
prosecuted, and give notice thereof to all the.
country, making it incumbent on claimantz to
prove before that Court, within the limits OF =
certain period, the validity Of their claims and,
finally, had the General Assembly Of the State
put its seal to the result thus obtained?
Il, as We are assured, We are getting along
well without our customary resort to the ab-
stract- Offices wonla not an arrangement like the
one presented be still more satisfactory, and
make entirely unnecessary also the "opinion"
Of the. abstract-oWners, presently now and then
resorted to-?
The costs Of reconstruction on such basis Of
status qou Qeaying the abstract-ofhces entirely
ont Of sight) might not amount to but q tri1e
OF, for instance, the twenty years interest to be
paid on the 9750, 900 purchase money for those
abstracts; and that mode OF reconstruction
would thus save to the Taxpayers the balance OF
such interest and the whole Of the principal
Besides, the abstracts in question, being. but
private compilations, are really void OF the legal
authority or character go naturally vested N the
records themselves and, aside from the fact OF
their eventual purchase creating an ove1burden-
ing tax for many years, they would entail upon
us, and the property owners Of al coming gen, \,
erations in this county, the tale Of long Ian Of
transactions, real or fictitious, almost an OF
which are, already now, not much more useful
than Ornamental, but. capable, in many inatances'
to absorb from the owner Of sihB1e 1ot an
amount Of cash equal to small fortune.
Why not, then, take such radical advantage OF
our misfortune, and, instead Of clinging to thoEe
abstract books, rid ourselves and poBterity OF
that long and costly appendix to the glory and
fortune Of being owners Of real and other estate
in the City Of Chicago, and County Of Cook?
CHICAGO, Nov. Is, 1879. N. H. J.