The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1907-03-29
THE ABSTRACT QUESTION UP.
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in the execution of deeds or mortgages
what assurance have we that at some
future time, st. Lucie county may not
elect man for clerk wholly incompetent
to do any part of the work, land such a
thing is not at all impossible nor i'm.
probable), then what good would the
abstract business be to any one?
In making an abstract that is of any
value, the party making it, must be
thoroughly competent to detect any and
all irregularities in any and all instru-
ments recorded and distracted, and all
such defects must be noted in the alb
stract, or it is worthless. If a clerk
cannot do this, and if he does not give
a good and sufficient bond to protect
those getting abstracts through him,
of what value is the abstract it is
simply not worth the paper it is written
on and the party getting it, is then
forced to hire lawyer to go back over
the original recording to find out the
shape the property is in!
1t all sounds very fine to talk about
saving the peoples money by furnishing
them with cheap abstracts, but some
times things are so cheap as to be
worthless, and abstracts furnished as
proposed are too worthless to be con-
sidered by those who fully understand
the procedure by which they are in
tended to be secured.
The abstracting if absolutely correct,
would benefit but few people, for the
great majority would have to secure
a nt nI IN, %
legal phases of the law to pass on the
abstract. Lawyers and real estate men
would be benefited by the plan, but as
they ale but a small minority, the
great mass of people should not be
called upon to pay for their accommoda-
ton.
Laying all of these objections aside,
it would be absolutely illegal for the
present board to enter into this work
upon the petition they have before
them, for while it was legal petition
at the time it was presented, over a
year ago, it is not now, for unless ! am
very much mistak Ken, it does not con-
tain a majority of the names OF the
registered voters OF st. Luele county at
the present time.
A petition does not hold good forever
even if conditions are unchanged, but
in this instance, not only have conditions
changed in regard to there not being
the required majority of registered
voters before the commissioners, but 1t
is an undisputed fact that a great many
whose names are on the petition, are
now strongly opposed to it. Before the
commissioners 90 too far with the pro-
position, they had best consider the
legal status of the petition they are
about to act upon, in fact, they should
have consid cred this matter before they
went to the expense OF sending the
clerk off to investigate, for ! hold that
il is not legal, it, as | believe, it contains
less than majority of the present
registered voters of st. Lucie county,
and further, | am firmly of the opinion,
based upon the best legal authority,
that an entirely new petition will have
to be circulated and a majority OF the
present registered voters secured be-
fore they can proceed, for an illegal act
ON their part at this time would invai-
date the whole transaction and every
thing done would be lost, for an alb
Stract ISSUED WlluOul all cllliIe'y HSN
petition would be void. -.
This letter is not written in spirit
of criticism, but because ! have given
the matter great deal of thought; and
while do not pose as Zone OF st.
Lucie county's brainest men, OF whom
the News editor says has reported
"fayorably" of the scheme, | claim
to have a fairly clear insight into the
workings of the proposition and my un
qualified verdict is, that it is absolutely
without merit and that if the present
board of commissioners proceed to have
the work done they will see the error
of their way before many years will
have passed. :.
Personally, l have not the slightest
interest in the matter, but as citizen
of st. Lucie county, do not feel that
| would have done my full duty If
were to allow this matter to proceed
without entering my protest, for every
citizen has voice in the public affairs
and while my voice is only that of 9
private citizen, shall always use il
when think l can by advice or protest
serve the best interests of my county.
" c.,ll