| 619 the county seat of Decatur County, the land agents through whom the most of the land has been purchased, and the only agents the company has there.
"The brethren are advised to look well to the title of lands they propose to purchase, as some confusion in titles, both those held by residents and non-residents, has been created by carelessness in stamping and recording deeds, with other omissions. To be careful is to be safe; to be careless is to purchase care and anxiety with unsafety. By obtaining an abstract of title, it can be easily tested whether good or faulty. Application to proper agents and county officers will secure those who purchase. Bro. E. Banta will also be in the county a part of the time, and when there, will do all in his power to aid those making inquiries or purchases.
"The company does not begin the active business of settlement this spring for the following reasons: They have not yet filed their articles of incorporation in the offices of the secretary of state, and the county recorder; nor have they published their intentions in the newspapers of the county where they expect to do business, as the statutes require. (See Iowa Code, page 197, sections 1154, 1155, 1156.) Without doing this the company could not become a legally organized body.
"The board of directors, when assembled upon the ground, in their meeting of the 18th and 19th of May, last, were of the opinion that it would not be wisdom to so publish their intentions, for the following considerations: Firstly.-the subscriptions to the capital stock have only reached the sum of forty-four thousand dollars; whereas the constitution of the order says it shall be fifty thousand. Secondly.-There is being surveyed through the township of Fayette a line of railway, which it is thought wisdom to wait a few months for the permanent location of, before the actual labor of settlement is entered upon. Thirdly.-It is thought that much land can be bought this summer, by individuals desiring to make homes, without creating so much excitement as the publication of our intentions is sure to do. As the matter now stands, persons desiring to buy can go in
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