It is wonderful the amount of title business done in the United States, and the few mistakes made on the part of abstracters, and comparatively few losses sustained.

A few years ago a banker came to this office saying, "You have done thousands of dollars worth of abstracting for us and we have never found a mistake till now I have a very serious one, you have left a $500 mortgage off this abstract." My reply was give me that abstract and we will look it up, he said "there is nothing to look up, I have the mortgage here which I have had to pay."

I asked the typist who had copied the job to tell me why she had left a mortgage off; after looking up the job ticket she said "I have left nothing off that came to my desk" I then handed the job ticket to the man who had done the chain work on the abstract and asked him why he had left off a mortgage, and after three minutes checking up he replied "there is no mortgage of record on that land." About this time the customer began to warm up and talk about the money he had put into paying off the mortgage, when I said to him not to get fussed about the matter; that if we had occasioned any loss we would give him a check for it, but that I had eliminated the only possibly source of loss; that was human frailty a thing no one had any insurance against, and that neither of the persons who had compiled this abstract had made a mistake, therefore there was some mistake elsewhere as the mortgage was not against the land described.

Investigation showed that the land owner had two 80 acre tracts, that they were described exactly the same, except they were in different ranges; that the abstract was on one eighty acre tract, and the mortgage was on the other tract, six miles away. I recite this simply to show the thoroughness of the abstract business. I told this client that we had a system of abstracting, upon which our plant was built; that if this system failed, then I would go out of the business, as I could not afford to sign a certificate against an unreliable system; that the only weak point possible was human frailty, and that could not be wholly eliminated, therefore we took chances only against that point.

Indiana had a Torrens bill in the legislature this winter, but up to to-day it has not gone through; this is the last day of the session, and I believe that I am safe when I say that it will not go through. I do not know who was behind the bill, but I do know who was against it. Possibly some disgruntled real estate man started it to get even with some abstracter with whom he may have had some misunderstanding, but the real estate man is the last man to want the Torrens system of titles. To-day he gets a trade tied up, then rushes the title man to get the matter through for him, and the abstracter does the work in a rush to accommodate him. The past week there were a hundred transfers aggregating $500,000 in this county.

Suppose the Real Estate men interested in these details had been compelled under a Torrens system to wait on the Registrar's office to get these all registered would they have gotten through? I think not, but with the three abstract offices working over time they were all accommodated, and I will venture a good sized wager, that the expenses to the property owner were not a third that they would have been under the Torrens system; Why, the Recorder's office is four weeks behind in the recording of these deeds, where would he have been if he had been registering all these titles under such a system?

I do not take kindly to your suggestion to the Texas abstracters to amend the Torrens Act to require an abstract in every case by a competent abstracter and let it go through. It would still be a great detriment to the people to have this system forced upon them, and the abstracter should

have the interest of the people at heart sufficiently to fight this system to a finish for the benefit of the people, who do not realize the cost and detriment it will be to them.

All Torrens laws are enforced at a loss to the community in costs to support the same. Why should all the people be taxed to support a law for the benefit of the land owner only, even if the law had merit? There is not a single argument in favor of the Torrens law in this country worth consideration. As to the abstracter, I do not believe it will be of any detriment to his business.

THE POLITICAL ISSUE IN 1920.

A subscriber writes from California that we are paying too much attention to the issue of "Socialism vs. Americanism." We are further informed that the real issues of 1920 will be Prohibition and Protection. Our California friend evidently does not realize that the very question of "Socialism or Americanism" is simply another phase of "Free Trade or Protection," and that the real backbone of Mr. Wilson's "League of Nations" program is Internationalism or Free Trade. If the "League of Nations," with its Socialistic and International features, is an issue, it is simply because it is only another way of expressing "Free Trade or Socialism."

Socialism or Internationalism means Free Trade; Americanism and Nationalism means Protection.

Important Title Decisions.

ADVERSE POSSESSION-(Iowa) Adverse possession cannot be invoked against a municipality. Herrick v. Moore 169 N. W. 741.

ADVERSE POSSESSION-(Iowa) Claim of right cannot rest on mere possession, but must be evidenced by some declaration or act of hostility to the true owner.-Evert v. Turner, 169 N. W. 625.

ADVERSE POSSESSION- (Ind. App.) A person cannot acquire any right to land as against the true owner by a mere permissive use thereof. Gray v. Blankenbaker, 121 N. E. 84.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT (Mo. App.)

Acknowledgment of mortgage signed by individual by his trade-name, stating that he is president of the company and that he acknowledges it as his act, is a good acknowledgment.-Palmer v. Leivy, 205 S. W. 244.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT—(Pa.) A certificate of acknowledgment of a deed is prima facie evidence of its due execution, including knowledge of its contents.-Pusic v. Salak, 104 A. 751.

ALTERATION OF INSTRUMENTS—(Or.) An alteration which does not change the legal effect of an instrument is not a material alteration and does not invalidate the same.-Temple v. Harrington, 176 P. 430.

ALTERATION OF INSTRUMENTS—(Iowa) If there was a material alteration of a note, there should have been no judgment against the maker in action thereon.-Sherman v. Smith, 169 N. W. 216.

ALTERATION OF INSTRUMENTS (Cal. App.) Where owner of land standing in name of another had him make deed to owner's wife, and, on arranging trade with another person, deed to wife never having been delivered, the owner, with consent of title holder, erased her name and inserted that of the purchaser, the deed was valid, since such acts were equivalent to filling in a blank form; not title having been actually conveyed to the wife because of nondelivery of the deed. Dutton v. Lovke-Paddon, 174 P. 674.,

ADVERSE POSSESSION-(Okl.)'. What constitutes possession of land is a mixed question of law and fact; actual possession consisting of the exercise of acts of dominion over it, in making the ordinary use of it and taking the ordinary profits.-Collier v. Bartlett, 175 P. 247.

BOUNDARIES (Ala.) Term "squares" is generally used synonymously with "blocks" in describing urban premises, a square or block meaning a sub-division of a city or town inclosed by streets, whether cccupied by building of inclosures or merely comprising vacant lots.City of Mobile v. Chapman, 79 So. 566.

DEEDS (Colo.) Where the wife, a few days before her death, made a deed to her husband, placed it in an envelope, and secreted it, and then told her husband to get the envelope and put it with his belongings, and he did so, there was a valid delivery and effectual conveyance, although she did not tell her husband that the envelope contained the deed.-McGowan v. Lockwood, 176 P. 298.

DEEDS (Ind. App.) A delivery of a deed may be made effective by words without actions, and likewise by actions without words, or by a combination of both words and conduct.-Petre v. Petre, 121 N. E. 285.

DEEDS (IN.) The test on the question of delivery of a deed is the intention of the grantor, to be gathered from the surrounding circumstances; each case being decided by its special facts. O'Brien v. O'Brien, 121 N. E. 243.

ESTATES AND INTEREST (U. S. Sup.) The grantor, if wishing to limit the effect of words sufficient on their face to convey a fee, should express the limitation in the instrument.-State of Georgia v. Trustees of Cincinnati Southern Ry., 39 S. Ct. 14.

ESTATES AND INTEREST—(Ky.) At common law "bodily heirs" or "heirs of the body" meant practically the same thing, were considered as synonymous with the words "heirs," and so were construed as words of limitation and not of purchase.-Ratliffe v. Ratliffe, 206 S. W. 478.

ESTATE AND INTEREST―(III.) Conveyance Act, § 13, providing that estates granted shall be deemed fee simple unless otherwise expressly limited applies where the granting clause words "the heirs of his body" are regarded as descriptive of grantee, and not of estate granted, but in such a case a life estate limitation in the habendum clause becomes controlling.Doney v. Clipson, 120 N. E. 571.

ESTATES AND INTEREST-(N. C.) In view of the rule in Shelley's Case, a deed to plaintiffs and their heirs, conditioned that plaintiffs "are to have a life estate * * * and then to the bodily heirs" of the said plaintiffs, conveyed to plaintiffs an estate in fee simple.Byrd v. Byrd, 96 S. E. 729.

QUIETING TITLE—(Ill.) Equity will not take jurisdiction to remove a cloud on title under a will, where there is no defect in the title except what is apparent on the face of the will.-Greenough v. Greenough, 120 N. E. 272.

QUIETING TITLE-(Nev.) Where one comes into equity seeking equitable relief in aid of a legal title, he must first establish such legal title; and where it is doubtful the court will not grant the relief.-Moore v. Rochester Weaver Mining Co., 174 P. 1017.

QUIETING TITLE―(Ky.) Under Ky. St. § 11, plaintiff must have actual possession of land at time of commencement of action to quiet title.-Taylor v. Wilson, 206 S. W. 865.

QUIETING TITLE—(Okl.) It is not necessary that plaintiff, suing for cancellation of instruments affecting title to land, shall be in possession, as either legal or equitable title is a sufficient interest to authorize the action.Randolph v. Mullen, 175 P. 512.

VENDOR AND PURCHASER―(Me.) A contract describing the parties, tracts of land to be conveyed, terms of payment, price per acre, time of performance, and consideration to be allowed as an initial payment upon the consummation of the contract, concluding, "In the event that the party of the second part shall fail to fulfill the agreements herein entered into, then the sum of $1,000 already acknowledged as paid shall be forfeited to the party of the first part," was an "option," and not a contract of sale (citing Words and Phrases, First and Second Series, "Option").-Hanscom v. 'Blanchard, 105 A. 291.

BOOK REVIEWS

A LIBEL ON NEW ORLEANS.

"The Book on New Orleans and The Industrial South," issued, supposedly under the auspices of the Ferry-Hanley Company of Kansas City, through Mayor Behrman's efforts, intended to portray New Orleans as a City of Opportunity, is, from cover to cover, one of those incidents which keep "The City Care Forgot" in the background.

In no sense is the work one deserving of credit. The covers on the book are of anti-bellum stock, too antiquated and heavy in style for the few pages, they enfold. It represents in intensified degree an abuse of the binder's art. It would be a libel on a third-rate country printing office to say that it was a fair specimen of their work. The press work and composition of some sixty pages are fair. It reminds one of legal brief work, but is not to be commended as such. The citizens of New Orleans who donated in large or small degree to the publication of this book, if such it can be legitimately called, if they have ordinary taste, will be ashamed of the effort to thus portray New Orleans. The book is a medium which belongs to the junk heap. It is an eye sore. There may not be graft in the work of its production or the deal which made it possible, if not, considering the showing this medium makes, there should have been. This might be reasonably offered as an excuse for its appearance in this city, but nowhere else. The citizens of New Orleans who subscribed towards a fund to make this freak possible, if they have not already paid the amount for which they were obligated, should refuse to do so. An accounting should be demanded of those interested in its production, and the men responsible for this libel of New Orleans should be called to account.

or firms

In 1917 the Southern Pacific Railroad issued a booklet on New Orleans, "The Crescent City," for which the citizens were not called upon to pay. It was one of the finest specimens of the printer's art. Handy and in convenient pocket form, with engravings well suited to match, the make-up, type and press work were all excellent. Overprinted upon tinted illustrations the work, undoubtedly accomplished a great deal for the betterment of New Orleans.

This Southern Pacific booklet was in every sense a magnificent effort upon the part of the printer, who produced it, and it was just such an advertisement as was calculated to bring to New Orleans men of affairs and money, as well as tourists.

Compared with this booklet, the effort of Mayor Behrman and his associates, bears no relation, excepting as a bungling joke. The booklet by the Southern Pacific was artistic, a delight to the eye and a joy forever. The so-called book recently off the press can find no word