The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-01-13


notation Of loan, nor be received in pay |
meat Of debt. The mutually of obligation |
between the corporation and the stockholders, I
is alike prejudicial TO the security which eth !
er might otherwise furnish. The stock of the |
corporation is discredted and deprecated, be-
cause it attaches personal liabilities to propri- !
eiors, and the personal credit Of proprietors is
distrusted in turn, because of their stock in |
corporations. The extent Of the injury, which |
| the practical application OF this principle Of
private responsibility is producing, is truly a
farming, while all the purposes for which it
] was imposed, are like to be defeated. The
! protested design was TO secure the credit of
| corporations, by enforcing the payment of
:heir debts the effect is to impair that conf
dence in property upon which alone, credit
can be obtained The business of manufac-
lures requires, for its successful prosecution,
the employment Of large capital. The contri-
buttons Of many individuals are necessary 20
the creation ofthe fund. But, men, with the adj
moniiions they have had, will no longer con-
sent, for the chance of profit upon a share in a
concern TO put their whole property at the haz
ard of circumstances, which they neither can
Gorsee, nor over which they can have any con-
troll. limo limitation of liability is hereafter
:, 10 protect them from danger Of loss in corpora
tons beyond their respective proportions in the
and the manufacturing interest, TO great ex-
tent, must be abandoned in Massachusetts.
j II the foregoing be not altogether mistaken
view Of the subject, there ID occasion for some
new measures Of legislation to preserve our ex-
isting manufactures. Their Importance to the
prosperity of the Commonwealth is too o5vi-
Gus TO be llsregarded. They have become iu-
timately connected with the other great inter
ests of society, and largely enter into all the
occupations of the citizens. The MECHANIC
ARTS are their auxlaries, and derive from
them their best employments and highest re-
wards. Turn back upon Eusbandry the thou
sands ofhands now busted in the operations of
machinery, upon the waterfalls Of Massachu-
sets, and, in the superabundance of the arti-
. Giles Of substance which they would produce,
AGRICULTURE would languish. Drive from
US this same Population, and consequences
, still more disastrous would ensue. The Work.
shops Of the interior, where mechanics and
, manufacturers are gathered in thick settle
, ments together, furnish the best markets for
, agricultural products. For many articles, they
are the only markets Provisions, and the
| perisha BILE commodities which tilage produc-
: es. but produces only with profit in the neigh
t borhood of dense population, find here a ready
demand. The fresh villages Of New England
with her fruitful fields Of recent cultivation,
witness to the advantages which flow from
manufactures These had not otherwise ex-
| isted, Frightening every prospect, ana full Of
the promise Of still further Improvement
; A practice has grown up in the Common
wealth, in the voluntary assignment by lnsol-
vent Debtors Of the whole Of their property to
preferred and favored creditors, which, from
the injustice it often occasions, and the abus-
rs attending it, requires 10 be presented to the
consideration of the Legislature. 1t is not the
Gn-I 8 Al
tributes, unequally, TO few and often those
least entitled, that fund, which is the equal
right Of many, but it is the more objectiona-
/ Bile, that, by a secret confidence between in
dividuals, it is made to sustain false credit,
and enable debtor, long after he ceases 10
be solvent, 10 continue his business, and more
deeply effect, by his ultimate failure, the for
tunes of others. IL certainly is no unusual
observation, that upon general assignment,
| BY an insolvent, his whole property is found in
the hands of those, who have given him trust,
upon the sole reliance, that whenever there
| might be occasion, their security should season.
! ably be provided for. A very common sent-
ment, that suretes upon accommodation pa
per entitled TO this precedence, favors the prac-
tice, and greatly agsravates the evils which
result from it. BY reason Of the money which,
upon this confidence, can be obtained, the per-
sonal ability OF men can no longer be deter
mined, by their ostensibe situation. 1t ena-
bles them to exhibit a fictitious capital upon
which to trade, and 10 gain credit from the
| possession of the property of others, to which
their own responsibility would not en:ile
} them.
Oflike pernicous tendency are secret pledg-
es OF personal property, while the possession
remains with the original owner. By the OPP
portunity for management which such arrang.
ment affords, the only obvious index of the
right to chattels is destroyed, and unless the
law shall interpose, it will soon cease TO be
any criterion, by which to judge OF the trust
worthiness of a tradesman, that his shop is fill
ed with merchandise, OF Of a husbandman, that
his fields are stocked with cattle or of house
holder, that he has ample furniture and stores
Of goods in his habiation. This appearance
Of one thing and reality Of another has, in
some instances, led to the grossest imposition
A mortgager, who seeks further credit, may
conceal the true state Of his property, and a
stranger to subsisting pledge, trusting to a
| cond lien, will be defeated Of his plighted Sc
curity. Officers of the law, in the execution
Of civil process, are greatly embarrassed, and
sometimes betrayed into serious difficulties,
by the situation Of property in the hands Of
debtors. Distrust and caution may either in
duce them to suffer it improperly to escape at.
tachment, or confidence in Selling it, involve
them in litigation. While the smallest por.
tons ofreal estate cannot be secured TO the
absolute proprietor, without registered no.
iice Of title, it cannot but appear strange, that
goods, to any amount, may be safely held in
pledge, upon mere bargain Of assignment,
against every visible badge of ownership.
1t is submitted to the wisdom Of the Legis.
lature, as matter of increasing concern, that,
upon contract Unconditional transfe of goods
and chattels, public notification OF the fact
or an actual delivery over and continued pos.
session of the property, should be required, to
render mortgage effectual.
In connection with the revision of laws
which relate TO the property of insovents,
those which respect their persons do not less
require examination. The claims of humanity
have lobg urged the abolishment Of impri,on-
I ment for debt, and cannot but recommend.