178 



THK IRRIGATION AGE. 



tive dealing in real estate during those 

 years, and some property changed hands 

 many times. There is no reason to find 

 fault with the volume of business for 1895. 

 In 1860 the assessed valuation of Wash- 

 ington was $4,394,735, with a population 

 of 11,694; in 1870 the valuation had in- 

 creased to $10,642,863, with 23,955 popu- 

 lation; in 1880 the valuation was $23. 810,- 

 693, with 75, 116 population; in 1892 the 

 valuation was estimated at $400,000,000, 

 with 375,000 population. To-day it is 

 estimated at $450,000,000, with the popu- 

 lation estimated by Governor McGraw at 

 415,000 January 1, 1896. The state is in 

 good financial condition, with a low rate 

 of taxation. 



The population of Nebraska is 1.058,- 

 910. Value of improved farms in 1890, 

 $402,358,913. Value of property per 

 capita. $1,205. Total valuation of real 

 and personal property, $1,275.685,514. 

 Value of manufactures at the last census, 

 $93,037,794. 



Kansas has a native population of 

 1,206,332; foreign, 128,402, making a 

 total of 1,334,734. The percentage of 

 foreigners is very small. Over 30,000 peo- 

 ple have moved to Kansas from each of the 

 States of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, 

 Ohio, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, Illi- 

 nois leading with 145,449 and the others 

 following in the order named. 



The total assessment last year on rail- 

 road property of the Santa Fe alone was 

 $68,309, 321 ; the tax paid on that, $ 1, 744, - 

 761, which, with the addition of the tax 

 on town lots, lands and auxiliary com- 

 panies, made the total amount about 

 $2,000,000. The highest rate last year 

 was 3.67 per cent in Oklahoma; the lowest 

 rate, .97 per cent in Texas. The highest 

 rate of taxes per mile, $504, paid in Iowa; 

 the lowest rate per mile, $96, paid in 

 Texas. The Company pays more taxes in 

 Kansas than in any other State; the total 

 sum this year will be about $800,000, a 

 rate of 3. 5 per cent, or nearly $300 per 

 mile. 



The assessed valuation of property in 

 Utah in 1895 was $97, 983, 525. The total 

 export value of the mineral product in 

 1895 was $8,312,352. Computing the 

 gold and silver at their mint valuation, 

 and other metals at their value at the sea- 

 board, would increase the value of the 

 mineral product to $14,519,959. There 



are 19.816 farms in Utah, and 17,684 of 

 them are absolutely free of incumbrance. 

 Total acreage irrigated, 417,455. The 

 amount of ranch and range was $1,259- 

 566 in 1894. The number of industrial 

 concerns was 880 in 1894, employing 

 5,054 laborers, paying in wages $2,275,118, 

 representing a total capital invested of 

 $46,417,246, and turning out a product of 

 $6,678,118 annually. The population of 

 the State is 247,326. 



WHAT THE TORRENS LAND TITLE SYSTEM IS. 



Chicago, in the recent election, adopted 

 the Torrens land title system, and there is 

 general interest throughout the West to 

 know what that system is. It has been in 

 successful operation for years in England, 

 Prussia, Australia and in different parts 

 of Canada, and it has proved wherever 

 tried to be in the interest of the whole 

 people. Sir Robert Torrens, from whom 

 the system was named, once spoke of the 

 benefits of it in this manner: "It has 

 substituted security for insecurity; it has 

 reduced the cost of conveyances from 

 pounds to shillings, and the time occupied 

 from mouths to days; it has exchanged 

 brevity and clearness for obscurity and 

 verbiage; it affords protection against 

 fraud ; it has largely reduced the number 

 of chancery suits by removing those con- 

 ditions that afford ground for them." By 

 act of the legislature last June, the Tor- 

 rens system became a law of the State of 

 Illinois "in such counties of the first class 

 as shall approve of said act by a popular 

 vote." Cook county (Chicago) so ap- 

 proved. The evidence of a title regis- 

 tered under the Torrens system is a single 

 paper a certificate of title. Abstracts are, 

 under this system, done away with. Titles 

 will be registered upon the public records 

 upon the judgment of the registrar and 

 two expert examiners that there is a good 

 title. There is a tive years' limit for the 

 contesting of the titles registered, and af- 

 ter the expiration of this period this cer- 

 tificate is a first evidence of ownership, and 

 is incontestable. No one can deny your 

 title. When a transfer is to be made, the 

 owner presents the deed, together with the 

 certificate of title, to the registrar, the 

 deed merely authorizing him to transfer 

 the property on the public records to the 

 purchaser. All questions concerning the 

 validity of that transfer are settled at that 

 time and forever. The saving in expense 

 and delay are great items. 



