700 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



of his ownership, and the one folium of the register shows the same 

 facts, and always this is worth repeating his title is absolutely 

 indefeasible, as shown by the record. 



A mortgage or lease or other encumbrance is managed in an equally 

 simple way. The mortgage or lease is executed in duplicate one is 

 given to the mortgagee or lessee, the other remains in the office. A 

 memorandum of the encumbrance is then made upon the certificate, 

 and upon the Registrar's book, and the work is complete. When the 

 mortgage is paid or other encumbrance removed, a receipt is indorsed 

 on the duplicate held by the mortgagee, and a minute of it made on 

 the Registrar's book and on the certificate of title. Thus, in any 

 case, the folium of the register shows the exact condition of the title. 

 A purchaser, too, may rely upon the record, for the government guar- 

 antees the title to be as shown on the register. 



In all transactions, present conditions, rights, and claims are 

 shown on the one folium, and no one has any interest in going beyond 

 that. The title, as shown, is indefeasible; the history of the title 

 all-important under our system is of no consequence whatever under 

 the Torrens system. The total expense under this system is, as will 

 have been thought from the simplicity of the plan, much less than the 

 sums paid under the old system for abstracts and examination of 

 title in old states not one-tenth as much to say nothing of the cer- 

 tainty of the title and the saving of trouble. After the first entry, the 

 cost of which would depend upon the old system, from $5 to $10 

 would suffice for the average transfer. 



NOTE. Many of the states have taken up this question of the 

 registration of land titles within the last few years and ten states now 

 have laws providing for such registration. Much of the legislation 

 has been defective or inadequate, however. EDITOR. 



C. Some Causes of Variation in Interest Rates 



226. INTEREST RATES PAID BY AMERICAN FARMERS 1 

 BY C. W. THOMPSON 



I shall first present the average short-time interest rates, 

 and the average total annual charge on short-time loans, by 

 states. 



'Adapted from Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Joint Committee on 

 Rural Credits, 64th Cong., ist sess., Part 3, pp. 86-108. 



