Evening star., 1901-06-01

L csA~
'fn the way of disappearing property
and complication of titles and ownership
th.. town Of New Madrid, Mo. l think.
holds the record explained a land office
clerk tp a Star reporter. The town rests
ON the banks of the Mississippi river and
has To follow the river shore as fast as it
encruaches on Missouri on the other side
OF the river is Kentucky, aud the river
seems - be working in the interests of
Kentucky and against Missouri. l mad oc-
cLsiou once to make some Investigations
there in connection with some titles to
land and found that where the original
town of New Madrid was located is now,
by eucroachments on the river. at least
or. and a half miles in Kentucky. : his
represents the land that the river has
gained for Kentucky in seventy-!ive years
OF course. the river remains ;he boundary
line between the states This changing
upsets titles ard gets them so :lixed up
that it is cheaper to surrender property
altogether than to follow Il up OF course,
il does not wipe out the records, but rec
urds are not of much account where there is
no land. as the people thee have aScer-
tanned to their complete satisfaction one
Of the uncertainties about it IS that the
river may turn about any flood time and
bite off property from Kentucky to make
up for what it has taken from Missouri
and it is possible that in the next seventy
five years much OF what IS now Kentucky
may b. Missouri Indeed. ,h@ conduct OF
the Mississippi in that section for the past
couple of years leads many to think that
il may take from Peter to Jay Paul back
and square up things. All II ;his. however,
only tends to further UnSa--lr titles II
persons would retain possession while the
change is going on it woy:id rot matter
much. but those who know the Mississippi
know that in time of floods lu-l high
f.s ha T,rt of ln n oct 7 n
the highlands rather than TO worry over
such It little thing as the washing away
of an entire farm, with-its land as well
as belongings"
some very unpleasant discoveries have
hern made by taxpayers during the month
of MAY observed a tax office official to a
Star reporter. though there is no doubt
that many of them will be remedied by the
Commissioners. who are fully empowered
under the law to extend assistance Dur
ing the past six months entirely new
system has been introduced IN the way of
keeping the tax accounts and. as many
taxpayers have noticed. the old-fashioned
heavy and cumbersome tax books have
baen done away with and the card system
r.ut into operation thus keeping pace with
modern methods. There are. of course, u
number Of things to be considered in con-
benefit Of all in the end that it has been
made. The unpleasant discoveries SHOW
thoroughly that the old system was not as
perfect as it should have been. A number
Of persons who had supposed that their tax
accounts Were perfectly straight were sur
prised and saddened on being informed
that there were arrears charged against
them, III some cases running for years the
Interest often being more than the original
principal All this came about in trans
vv1vr n
t. the new cards. and in the great ma
jrrity If cases as proved by the presenta-
JI"H Of pait-up tax bills. errors Were maze.
j will take some time to get the accounts
perfectly straight but once an err
r,r Is corrected the card system
Will prevent its recurrence in the
future. f'r under the card system
when "a bill is paid the record will show
that feet - ,nng as the record lasts. The
r'rrrd " u De- permanent affair and will
rut be- transferred from book to book each
Year. with the attendant risk of errors and
omissions Errors occur in the tax Office,
as they occur everywhere else. | suppose
but under the card system il will not be as
I"resSfry for persors 10 keep their paid
hills frr future reference. though as a gen
er..l Proposition it is well to keep receipts
"f al kinds.
"Iik. others Of thu older clerks of the
patent Office. / remember the very frequent
visits that the Office used TO receive about
who was pushing for recognition the pat
eitine II q cannon ball" observed a pat
eut p.is- clerk To a star reporter, and al
though We regarded his invocation as some
thing uf a Joke, it turns out by recent au-
th"ritativr experiments in Europe as we'll
as III this country that the old gentleman
was right. and that like all other pioneers
Il" suffered only because he was ahead of
hiS time. The gentleman l refer to was
-n astronomer and resided in Texas He
was over eighty years Of age when he paid
his visits 10 the patent Office and had been
Tor a long time connected with some col
I"se or educational Institution in that
state His idea In brief was that all ex-
lstlnE cannon balls were made on the
wrong principle. if absolute accuracy was
desired tie even went further than This
III claiming that all pistol and r%fe balls or
pTpJrctleS Of any sort were also wrouoiv
patterned; that a spherical bali as vas
abundantly proved years ago, whether fired
from cannon. rifle or pistol was u.,tnri-
ousiy untrue in the matter OF direction
and that the slug which is pointed on ONLY
one end did not fully remedy the deG-
cheney, though Very great Improvement
on the spherical ball. His claim was that
the only projectile that could be depended
upon I" go to the exact point to which il
was directed was a conical-shaped AFFAIR
pointed AT bo-h ends. and he spent consid-
erdbIe time in explaining the claim though
the subject was of interest to but few Der
sons The old gentleman insisted on his