land Line for their services during the Revolution. There are on this map four thousand one hundred and sixty-five lots of fifty acres each, besides sundry tracts which had been patented, and which were laid off by Francis Deakins, appointed under a resolution passed by the General Assembly in 1787 to survey and return a general plot of the State westward of Fort Cumberland. The extreme western section of Garrett county, known as the Glade District, is composed mostly of military lots. The town of Oakland, fifty-six miles west of Cumberland, is located on a fifty-acre lot. That portion of Allegany and Garrett counties which was laid off in lots and assigned to the officers and soldiers of the Revolution has been developed by the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the West Virginia, Central and Pittsburg Railroad, and the location of the Deer Park and Oakland hotels, and the discovery and development of valuable coal mines and timber lands. As the land has increased in value the demand for it has become greater; titles are subjected to legal ordeal, and the representatives of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution are beginning to look after titles to land which they formerly thought valueless and of little importance. Escheat patents have been obtained on many of the lots which have been, and will continue to be, a fruitful source of litigation as the lots increase in value. Most of the litigation that has occurred before the Commissioner of the Land Office for many years past has been from Allegany and Garrett counties, and especially from that section in which the military lots are situated. The Land Office, important to every part of the State because it contains the patents and the original tenures by which all land is held in Maryland, becomes in Allegany and Garrett counties, where the titles to land are yet unsettled and disturbed, almost a vital necessity.

The "Military Lots to the westward of Fort Cumberland" continue to be a source of some trouble to the Land Office, as well as of litigation in the courts, and it is difficult at times to decide what course to pursue when application is made for warrants to affect them. It is probably safe to say that every

one of the 4,165 lots awarded in 1788 has since that time been granted by the State chiefly in pursuance of escheat warrants. A large number have been so granted by more than one patent, conflicting claims have been created by the State's own action, and applications are still made for escheat warrants to affect them for want of the heirs of the party-settler or soldier-to whom they were originally awarded. The practice of the Land Office has from the beginning been to issue a warrant when applied for, as a matter of course. In the case of Armstrong vs. Bittinger et al., (47 Md. Rep. 103), the Court of Appeals decided that the Commissioner of the Land Office should refuse to issue a patent when the records of the office show a prior grant of the land. Upon the strength of this case the practice in regard to the issue of warrants has been slightly modified. When application is filed an examination of the record of the Military Lots is made, and if it appears. that a patent has been issued for it the warrant is refused. It would be manifestly unjust to allow a party to incur the expense of office fees and a survey when the Commissioner knew that there was an insuperable bar to his granting a patent for the land. These lands present a problem. Large tracts of them have been abandoned for years, but the "vested rights" of the grantees of the State and their heirs remain, preventing a grant to desiring purchasers, and yet liable to be acquired by possessory title by some undeserving squatter.

By a comparison of the foregoing statistics with those reported in past years, it will be observed, that so far from decreasing with the lapse of years, as might naturally have been expected, the work of this office has been very materially increased.

The rearrangement of the certificates of survey and chan. cery papers, and the indexing thereof, begun by my predecessor, has been continued; a number of caveat cases have been heard and determined, and the various decisions have been apparently acquiesced in, as no appeals have been taken; and a voluminous amount of correspondence, which steadily increases, has very largely taxed the time and attention of the Commissioner and his assistant.

BOUNDARIES AND MUSEUM.

My predecessor, in his reports, repeatedly called the attention of the Legislature to the inadequate space of this office to accommodate the museum, and recommended its donation to the Maryland Academy of Sciences in Baltimore. Since his last report, in pursuance of this recommendation, the General Assembly has authorized said donation, and the entire collection has accordingly been transferred to the keeping of said corporation. In appendix No. 3 will be found a list of all documents, maps, etc., on file in the Land Office relating to the boundaries of the State.

STATE RECORDS IN POSSESSION OF THE MARYLAN

HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

11

cords

In appendix No. 2 will be found a list of all the belonging to the Land Office now in the possession of the Maryland Historical Society, under the provisions of the Act of 1882, chapter 138.

ANCIENT SEALS.

All of the ancient seals of the Province and State, with one exception, are preserved intact. Many years ago the seal used by the Register of the Eastern Shore Land Office, when there existed a division between the Eastern and Western Shores, was, in some manner unknown, abstracted. The present Commissioner has set on foot in Talbot county and elsewhere numerous inquiries looking to the recovery of this missing seal, but so far without result. This unpleasant incident has suggested to the Commissioner the propriety of the adoption of a more secure method of preserving these seals, and he respectfully asks for authority to purchase, or have constructed, an appropriate cabinet in which all the seals can be securely preserved together, so that they cannot be stolen, or if so, they must all go together, thus largely increasing the chances of detection and the ultimate recovery of this peculiarly interesting property of the State.

THE CHANCERY RECORDS.

An index of the Chancery Records is much needed. It is easy to find a case if the name of the complainant is known, but this is not always within the inquirer's knowledge, and in several instances it has been impossible to furnish the desired information. The Court of Chancery was abolished more than forty years ago, and there is no one now living who, in cases of uncertainty, can give a clue to the records. There are many calls for information contained in these records, and an index of the names of decedents, mortgagors, tenants in common and others, whose lands were affected by the proceedings of the Court of Chancery, would be of very at value. It would not be a very voluminous work, but it 'd take time and care to prepare it.

painstaking study of the condition of the office, so far as it a ects the daily work and the convenience of those who have business with it and careful consideration of the subject, have convinced the Commissioner of the necessity of the improved office fixtures and of the several indexes mentioned.. If objection be made to the cost, the answer is that a public office, if necessary at all, should be conducted for the substantial benefit of the people, and that is not possible in these modern days with antiquated appliances and slipshod methods. And in the long run it will be found to be wise economy to supply the best facilities for the conduct of the public business. It is, furthermore, absolutely necessary for the preservation of these important public records. Less hesitancy is felt in suggesting these expenditures, because for more than twenty years not a dollar has been appropriated to improve the condition of the Land Office, and the contemplated improvements would make the Land Office, in every respects, a useful and efficient department of the State gov

ernment.

CERTIFICATES UPON WHICH COMPOSITION IS DUE.

There is another class of cases in which great injustice is done to the State. Parties obtain warrants and have certifi

cates of Survey returned to the Land Office under which they enter into possession of the land but make no further effort to perfect their titles by obtaining patents. This holding ripens into a possessory title, the State is defrauded of the purchase money, and, as the lands do not get upon the assessment books, the parties enjoy them without the payment of taxes.

Since my last report I have been fortunate in collecting for the State more than $900 due for composition and fees on old certificates; and other bills are now in the hands of competent attorneys for collection.

SUGGESTIONS.

The Legislature having in view the best interests of all the people of the State, is urgently requested to notice and heed the aforegoing remarks on the necessity of passing such bills as will conduce to the efficient working of the Land Office, and the preservation of, the papers valuable to every citizen of the State.

The Chancery records should be indexed as proposed by my predecessor; in fact, I know of no change recommended by him which does not meet my approval. An assistant to the Chief Clerk is of vital importance, and if the office-now a necessity is to be kept in existence the State must aid it by liberal appropriations, and make it the equal of any in the country. The fees for search and copy should be as large as other States, while at present they are not one-half. During the session of the last Legislature I drafted four bills all of which were considered necessary, not only by me, but by those preceding me, and yet no action was taken upon any of them.

The Commissioners, having called the Legislature to the requirements needed for the Land Office, and receiving no aid whatever, leave the blame where it rightfully belongs, to the representatives of the people.

CLERICAL FORCE.

The clerical force in my office consisting of Messrs. George H. Shafer, chief clerk; Arthur F. Smith and Charles M. M.