The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-02-12
TITLES and
LAW SUITS |. II $
Mr.. Meriweatfer Jones, Etgi-
t1eer, Says They Go Together
Now in Virginia.
HAD A VARIED .E:.l EXPERIENCE !, 4 I! ! I !;
States Mineral Wealth Locked
& Up5Because Investors Can
not Get Clear Titles.

3, IS. ,3
ii, order to ascertain tho sentiment Of
representative citizens concerning the
Torrens BILL which has been favoraby
reported by tic Committee for Courts
OF Justice In the House of Delegates. Mr..
Meriwether Jones' who has had largo,
experience III tho practical development
Of some Of the mineral resources or ING
State, was among those seem
Mr.. Jones EXPRESSED great grntlf1ca-
Il ton at the action of The committee and
related some of the troubles by which
he had been obstructed In past trans
actions:
,''Tltles to property In Virginia, sai0
e !; Mr.. jones'. 'nle in q. great mess, espc-
$cinlly in the mineral sections. After the
lands found valuable by being opened
up, all sorts Of claimants come forward
and try to set up ownership With veSa.
5tlous litigation, In many cases the State
has issued several patents to The same
land at different times to different
parties, all Of whom are paying taxes ana
think thoy own the land. ,t
ets"I have found lands to which IT was
imposslbleito get title. no il4of tho de-
ceased owner having been recorded, and
the property belonging to any numterl
Of I'm known heirs. Those heirs We're sup
posed to be somewhere in California,
Montana, Texas. Ohio. Georgia and other
States, The. same lands are frequently
recorded In several counties. due to for-3
nations OF new counties from portions OF
old counties, IN
.'I1 one section, Of the State there Is as
much iron ore In a radius OF twenty-five
miles as around Birmingham, Ala, In the
sane radius. A large syndicate Of wealthy
New Workers wa s organized to develop
these lands. They had the money and
were anxious to buy, but abandoned tho
enterprise on account Of titles ms ms
meant the loss Of an investment OF three
millions ($3,00O.O00 to that section, and
OF employment for not less than 5'Voq}
men. In one case I paid $500 for ex.
animation Of titles, and in another a
fee Of $1,000 for such work. And after
paying the last fee, a claim for 1000
arose against the property, which caused
considerable delay and much anxiety,
ind was finally only compromised by
reason of the necessities of the claimant,
who was beaten by game of bluff and
Induced to sell out for about 5000,
MADE GREAT START. 38
lal"It is the duty Of the State through
It's Legislature to fix UP these titles ana
make d fresh start. The Legislature that
Investigates this matter h and corrccts
these evils will do the whole State the
greatest service rendered In years; WI ;yl
nut it up to date III progress and nuke
it Inviting to immigra ton, Our bad titles
are having large effect ~ Keeping I'M
migration from our State and N pre-
venting new enterprises.
..The Torrens system will enable pcoplA
to handle property as corporate property
is handled. The average investor does not
care to go through all the antiqunted de-
tails Of buying property. My experience
has been that in some cases IT has taken
me three 60 years to become the owner
Of IL piece of real estate. me result OF
delays In perfecting the titles keeps IN
vcstors away from such invest ments. a
man coming here to buy a farm Will not
purchase unless he can get a good title
at once, because he wants to go to farm
Ing at once; a mining party wants to
20 to mining at once and not to wait
until title can be perfected; consequent
" such people go elsewhere. This State
contains wonderful mineral wealtil-nine-
5ty-five per cent of which is lying idle.s
A good deal of this is due to the bad
titles The State Is the sovereign and
mother of all titles and 1t Is her duty to
put her titles In business-like shape ard
not let the people of the state light II
out for their rights; these rights ought to
be established
'"rhe average citlren knows little about
law and his property rights ought to De,
fixed without his having to constantly
run to law about every question. lie
does not have to do this In other kinds
Of property. Our f0refnthers had no such
things as corporate stocks and bonds.
Real estate now has to compete with
these stocks and bonds as an Investment.
and the land laws should be corrected
so that people can know whether they
own their property or not The old laws
are now Anticipated, and a party feels he
Is in the hands Of his lawyer to know
whether he owns his land or not Con-
scquently the average investor puts his
money in stocks and bonds, because he
feels safer and knows what he owns
and that he Is not buying law suits Some
person may say. Let well enough alone
and go on as our fathers did. 1t Is not
we'll enollgh--it is as bad as 1t can bc.
Our fathers would not have gone on as
we arc dolng-thcy were an energetic lot
and made the State great and wealthy IN
their timc. They did not leave tho laws
like they found them. We arc not doing
for our day and generation as much as
they did for theirs. They were leaders.
We are not even kcel)ll6 VI WIN INV
progress OF our nelghbors. Our fathers
were husters, not old fogles to let well
enough alone which Is another definition
for lazincss. Any man or corporation
who would let his land affairs get lltp
the shape our State has let hers yet
into, would fall In business, The State
is growing up In brush In many places
due to our indifference. II these matters
| were properly understood and inVestl-
! gated, q Legislature would be elected
! II this one fails to do its duty-that
would be compelled by the public to
straghten up our titles. It is the duty
| Of the state to do 1t, and to do7tt as soon
as proper machinery can be put to work
TO accomplish 1t, This matter should not
| longer be left to individual effort. The
man WHO succeeds In reforming orr land
| laws will do the greatest work that has
beer done for Virginia In his generation.
His name will become historic. II real
service counts he ought to be elected
4 Governor by grateful people,