Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1902-01-29
FRAMING NEW LAW
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE AT WORK
ON LAND TITLE MEASURE.
Representative Hawk Proposes Tor
rens System of Land Registration
for Decentralization of Liberal
Arts Building at State University

for characterization of Liberal
Arts Building at State University
Des MONIES, Jan. Pit is not gen,
orally known, although the leading
lawyers of the state are, of course,
familiar with the facts that decision
by the Iowa supreme court at its Octo
Der session invalidated land titles in
Iowa involving property valued at mil
lions of dollars. There is no way of
getting at the number of invalid titles
created by the decision, but lawyers
agree they are numberless and the
problem how best to remedy the stu
alton was one of the first taken up by
the judiciary committee of the senate
BY the time this letter is in print the
members of the house committee will
be giving careful thought to the same
subject.
The courts decision in brief was
that a wife cannot give power of at
torney to her husband, authorizing him
to sign away her dover rights. 1t has
been the custom to give such powers
y
BILE cases husbands, acting under such
powers, have signed their wives names
to conveyances. The judiciary COM
mittees of the two houses would like
TO correct the trouble by securing the
passage of a law legalizing such con-
veyances if such law can be passed
in form to make it valid. Some of
hn or hn fxun icia NV
committees are skeptical and are earn
estly engaged in a study of legalizing
acts of the past and the precedents
established by the courts concerning
them.
Proposes Torrens System for Iowa.
Representative Hawk introduced
what is known as the Torrens land
title bill, which is regarded as among
the important legislation to be con-
sidered at this session. BY the pro-
visions of this bill title to land is
made indisputable after limited time
and purchaser need not inquire as to
mortgages or other claims prior to
the date of the certificate in the reg
lister kept by the county recorder. The
adoption of the system is optional
with counties, and no owner of real
estate is compelled to register his
title, but any who so desire may
do so. The bill creates no salaried
Offices but an indemnifying fund is
created by the payment of one-tenth
registered by the owners thereof
Nebraska-lowa Boundary.
= Constitutional problems before the
assembly are plentiful. Senator Ha-
zleton of Pottawattamie county has
introduced bill providing for COM
mission to meet with like commits
sion from Nebraska and determine
the boundary between the states. But
1t is a question in some minds whether
an agreement between the states on
the subject, even could one be reached,
would be of any weight. The erratic
course of the Missouri river makes
the problem one of importance to peo-
pie living on it's borders. The consti-
tuition under which Iowa was admitted
TO the Union provided that the middle
of the Missouri's channel should be
the western boundary of the state.
The enabling act passed by congress
contained a similar provision, but the
middle of the channel in 1916 and the
middle of the channel now are far from
identical lines. Did the boundary move
when the river channel moved? There
are many who maintain that it did not
and that Iowa's western boundary
should now be identical with it's loca-
ton in 1876. Even those who hold to
this view agree, however that to find
the location of the earlier boundary
would be impossible.
DolIiver Sees Defects in Tariff Law.
Senator Dolliver has returned to
Washington after prolonged visit
with the members of the general as
sembly and other prominent Iowans,
which was replete with significant in
cidents. The pressure of Senator ALI
sons duties called him to Washington
after his nomination by the Repub-
lican caucus, but Senator Dolliver re-
manned until after his election and
after the dedication of the Hall OF
Liberal Arts at the State university
last Thursday. He addressed the gen.
eral assembly after his election and
spoke in favor of modification of the
tariff, keeping. however, within the
lines of the Republican policy of pro-
lection. He said, in part
without any such special or direct
interest as many communities had in
the schedules of the protective tariff
the state of Iowa has always been
able to find in the general prosperity
of the American marketplace an ade-
quate reason for it's faith in the prin-
ciples represented in that system.
Nobody is any longer blind to the
fact that in many lines of industry
in the United States the rates of duty
which, in 1897, were regarded as rea-
sonable and were, in fact, reasonable
have since that time, owing to the
curious development of our industrial
and commercial life. become unneces-
sary, and, in many cases, even absurd.
They stand on our statute books to-
day no longer a shield for American
labor, but have become weapon of
.4apca AGAINST tho American markat.