The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1904-10-28
Our Register of Deeds.

1t is always pleasure to be one of a
company which has an appreciative
word for Jay ID. Royce. Mr.. Royce has
served Shiawassee county faithfully as
register of deeds for eight years, or
nearly eight, and every one of those
eight years has seen his circle of friends
grow larger and has seen the number
of new and appreciative acquaintance
keeping up with the growth of the list
of friends. 1t is not at all strange that
this should be true of him either.
When a man is uniformly CHEEKY and
pleasant in his greeting of friends and
acquaintance alike, and when he never
fails to take advantage of any opportu
nifty to do a favor for either friend or
stranger he runs an awfully big risk in
this strangely constituted world of get
ting himself pretty well liked almost be-
fore he knows it. Such a man is our
register Of deeds, Jay d. Royce. The
man who deliberately goes after pop
ularity can get it in this same 'way-if
he is smart enough. But it must be a
trying experience to continually go
around keyed up to an assumed friend
ly feeling and there are not many men
who are equal to the task. Perhaps in
some way this is all the better for them
selves, at any rate it is much better for
the rest of the world. 1t makes the
detection of such wolves in sleeps
| clothing so much the easier. 1t also
makes the world like the genuinely
friendly man like Mr.. Royce and his
counterparts.
1t Is whole lot pleasanter ID
say one appreciative word about live
good man than to print columns about
any number of men who were good
while they were here but who are now
where we are not at all certain that
such words are appreciated by them
and at least where we can feel certain
that our words can no longer be of any
encouragement to them. The result is
that in this campaign it has been a
great pleasure to The TIMES to say
some very truthful and yet sometimes
complimentary things about several of
the republican candidates for office. 1t
seems to THE. TIMES good time to
say what it thinks about them, and it
has not been through the entire list yet
either.
AS has been pointed out many times
Shiawassee county has for many years
been remarkably fortunate in her choice
of register of deeds. Particularly must
this be apparent when it is considered
that in this county the office is much
more important than in some, owing to
| the fact that the abstracts to all titles OF
Shiawassee county property are the
property of the county and are part
of the records of the Office of register OF
| deeds. In many counties these alb
stracts are the property of private per.
sons who have spent years and been tC
much expense to obtain them and then
take their big fees out of the property
fore he can sell his property to another
Shiawassee county has great advan-
tage over many counties in this respect.
At the same time it must be evident to
all that the Office in this county demands
much more work and greater care than
it does in other counties where this is
not part of the work.
But the names of the past registers
are enough to show that the work has
been kept up to high standard. There
were, Charles Holman, then Nathaniel
A. Finch, then w. H. Bigelow, all OF
them most careful, paintaking, and