The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1908-10-03


court; IL others because the state con.
siltution but IL has been tested before
the supreme court Of Massachusetts
and has gone to the supreme court Of
the United States IN the case where
in the supreme court OF the United
States has said that Il complied with
the due process OF law OF the land
and that 1t did not violate the consti-
tuition Of The United States, II II did
not' Violate The constitution OF The
state II was declared uuconstiin-
tional in Illinois because there was ju.
dicial powers placed upon The CLERK,
although il Is In force in a defective
way IN Cook county. Illinois, and yet
] hold before me a book from a real
estate dealer Of Illinois in which there
ase the names OF some 300 business.
mon, bankers. real estate dealers,
railroad magnates, capitalists and
other citizcns Of Chicago all stating
that they Sere satisfied with the Tor
rens' land certificate under the llll-
nois plan, even in fits defective form.
Railroad presidents say in this book
let that they would accept a Torrens'
land certificate in preference TO q war
ranty deed backed up by bond 10
guarantee title because Il is safer and
as you know bonds are supposed 10
be the safest thing in the business
world.
Now a word as 10 why the constiiu.
ton OF Oklahoma should De amended
and want to say in that connection
that from the floor OF the Sequcyah
convention had this provision put in
to the Sequoyah constitution. From
the floor OF the constitutional conven.
tiOn OF Oklahoma I tried 20 have II
put into the constitution Of our state,
bur failed because ! didn't have votes
enough. TO establish the system
rightly requires tho establishment OF
court, II necessary wilh power Of
both original and supreme jurisdiction,
court for that specific work. Il re.
qures the express authority of con
fcrring certain semi.judicial functions
upon the keeper OF the titles; II re-
quircs express authority FOR the state
10 guarantee title All OF these diff
ferent requirements are at least
questionable under the Ck!ahcma con
sitution and certainly the constitu.
ton prohibits the creation Of any
court except courts infori0r to the su-
preme court.
Now a word TO the guaranty prop.
osition. one might say that il is sub
ject, and the charge has been made,
to liability OF bankruptcy itself 10
guarantee these titles. The method
OF guarantee is similar to the bank
guarantee law enacted by this legis-
lature. that is, when The suit Is filed
TO clear the title a certain very small
per cent Gin Massachusetts One-half of
one mlD Of the value of the land IS
put into a fund known as "Torrens
Guaranty Fund" ana remains there
with which 10 pay the owner should
the court make a mistake IN the land
after it is registered. The real owner
might turn up and prove that the
court erred in its decision. but he
would have to do this in the limit OF
time Qn most laws within two years.
or he IS forever barred from bringing
the suit If he should do so Nc can't
recover the land, but from this guar
anty fund he Is paid the value that
is placed upon the land at the time
the title was cleared up by the court.
If we continue the present method
and we win have do SO unless VIC
amend the state constitution, Of loan
ing the school fund on real estate we
will run into extreme danger Of los
ing a lot OF that fund unless we had a
very certain system such as the Tor
rens Land System would afford us.
We need the system in Oklahoma for
that reason moro than any other For
another reason the titles are young,
that Is, transfers have been made but
short time, we could start out issu-
ing certificates upon the three million
acres OF school LAND and by that
means start bis heavy acreage unoey
the system at practically no expense.
We could take The allotted lands and
do the same way SO there would De
absolute certainty as 10 their title and
within q generation every piece ei
land in he state would be carried
into the court aud its title cleared M
by itsclf when the school fund being
I loaned upon chat would thus be pro
tected In brief the Torrens' Land
! system is quick. Inexpensive, GER
tain method OF ascertaining titles and
quick easy method Of transfer
You viii observe that the amend.
ment proposed ia this resolution does
not compel the legislature or the peo-
pie OF the state to enact the system
IN this state merely gives the legisla-
ture power to do ~, or the people to
do Il by Initiative petition If tho lcgis-
lature refuse, and thereby render II
constitutional and give the system 10
It, not crippled as it is in Ohio, III
uois and as II Is in some OF the other
I states but in all It's force and yigoI
SO that It win in fact benefit the
state.
Now I dnslrn 10 rend The resolullon