Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-12-16
ALEXANDRIA:
TUESDAY, DECEMBER IL, 1917.
BANKRUPT LAW.

dictate, ana common nUneSty sauC'iou,
may we'll be regarded as matter Of as
.onishment-and this establishment must
be augmented and mingled with no small
portion Of regret, when it is considered
that every state either groans under the
weight OF unequal and mischievous laws
LAYING unfortunate debtors at the mercy
of some Of their creditors, to the possible
exclusion of others, or is disgraced BY a
code operating in the directly opposite
extreme, of deliberately, and BY sober
judicial process, robbing the fair creditor
of hi. property, ard absolving the debtor
from his just and undeniable, and unde-
MED obligations.
1t is known that this discreditable ano-
maIy in cur laws mad its origin in that
miscellaneous party spirit, under the lnhu-
ence Of which, things and persons were
swept away By whole classe, and demo-
limitations, aud when not toe beneficial
effect to be produced by given measure,
the motives, CT the nationality of the
principles on which it was grounded. but
the facility of its application to the pur-
poses OF faction, and its harmony with
the passions of party, were, by some
men, allowed any weight in the adoption
or rejection of law. In what partcu-
lar way asy Of those considerations could
have been forced into operation against
an uniform system Of bankruptcy, it
might puzzle even those who have in
practice yielded to them to tell.-But
nothing is more clear than this, that those
who oppose it do not do SO, Out Of any
particular concern for creditors, since
most of the states suffer from insOlycnt
laws which are universally condemned for
their disregard of the rights of creditors,
and others under laws which arm credi-
tors with the claws OF harpies.
We speak within bounds wien we say
tina, there are at this moment at least
seventy thousand persons in the United
States who are pinned down to penury
and suppression of eaterprize by debts,
from "hich Betasg7iSnass scnerslssapk-
rupt act can relieve them tO such an Ell
feet as wca!d restore them to the exer-
else of their honest art, and industry
Most OF those have families so that we
30 not trespass on probability when we
say that there are two hundred ard eigh-
ty thousand mouths whose food and sub
sistence will, in . great measure, depend
upon the fate Of the bankrupt law now in
troduced into Congress.
Legislatures are no less guardians OF
the morals than of the lives and property
Of society. 1t would be easy to demon
strate that the present condition OF the
insolyent laws Of our country is, in a high
degree, subversive Of the moral fabric OF
society; and, in being so, productive OF
causes for national detraction. Persons
situated as we have described may rea-
sOnabIy be supposed more than others
liable to temptation, and subject to be
BETRAYED, or rather driven, into tricks not
worthy of a strictly upright character
they are sentenced to a sad alternative
affecting is the choice that is lett them
to !oreso their purity, or consiSn their
wives and children 10 want-want, never
to terminate till the grave closes on their
labOrs aad their woes.
Can then legislative body, whose du-
ty il is not mere to provide for the secu-
rity and comfort than to make allowance
for the inlirmities of their fellow citizens.
hesitate to interposc in this aseF-to
feel for the necessities of so very large a
portion of them, or to acknowledge, that
III failing to d, so, they are in some de-
gree accessories before the fact to all the
evils which must ensue and daily accu'
mula'e upon the heads of the unfortunate
from tbeir neglect Of this most interesting
subject.