New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-16


to classify all dues under the head of such trust
Professional and mechanical industrial service, as a
general thing can only be paid for aterit is ended;
and then what becomes of the proposition that they
who trust should run the risk The labor OF
women, too, is mostly performed before the pay
comes and if there be no redress for nOn-paynsnt,
Charles Surface Of an employer can easily outwit
them. If a plan could be devised by which all
debts could be resolved into debts OF honor and the
non.payment of them blast the man as swindler,
depriyng him of social position Though he might
get AZ, 600 votes Mayor, it would be an immense
ethical and economical achievement. But as there
is no chance of arriving at this desired goal the
best thing 10 do is to refine 20 far as possible, our
present system for the collection of this class OF
debts; and on this head particularly at this time
Of pecunary pressure and industrial difficulty we
propose TO say word.
A more effectual remedy for the collection of the
debts due to working people should receive the i'm
mediate attention of our Legislature for the pres
ent system amounts to premium for uDjustly with
holding the wages due such little people as seam
stresses, washerwOmen, as well as the GLASS gener-
ally of men laborers. But they alone are not the
sufferers; for through their losses the city is made
chargeabe with additional expense to provide for
persons so rendered destitute. Manufacturers and
employers, too who pay their labOrers, are also
losers for they are brought into competition with
others who, being ideal in regard to rendering dues
to workmen are enabled to undersell their COM
petitors. The anecdote of the broom-peddler who
asked another broOm-pedder how he managed to
sell cheap because the first stole the raw mate
rial and received answer that the second stole the
article ready made, will lucidy explain the adj
vantages of the nOn-payng system in enabling such
undersellers TO flourish.
Originally, the Justices Courts of our cities and
the Marine Court of this city were established in
order to furnish speedy trials for such little money
difficulties. As large portion of small actions are
founded upon wages, and as imprisonment for debt
was in force when these Courts were organized,
the labOrer had an adequate remedy. The act OF
1881, abolishng Imprisonment for debt, was doubt
less upon the whole, good thing; but substitute
should have been furnished for all cases founded
upon the wages of labor, so that the means for
the collection Of the abOrers wages might have
remained efectual. Instead of this, however, the
Legislature has continued to discriminate against
small claims which is practically discrimination
against the laborer. If the persons who deliber-
ately sell on credit be left to the present inefficient
remedy for recovering their pay, the laborer GER
tsinly should promptly receive his cOmpensa-
ton for he is not only usually unable to
wait, but has not facilities for determining
whom to credit, even if he had the ability. AS the
law now stands, no execution founded upon judg-
ment rendered for claim under S25 can be levied
upon real estate, nor can the plaintiff have recourse
to an examination of the debtor after the officer
returns the execution unsatisfed. The plaintiff
can only levy upon such goods and chattels as are
not exempt from execution. As large amount of
property is now so exempt the plaintiff finds him.
self unable to collect his debt after having been to
the trouble and expense of recovering his judg-
meut. Neither does the lien law upon buildings
protect aborers to the extent generally supposed,
for it is so complicated that it Accompanies but
very little good.
But in addition to inadequate law for the collec-
tion of small debts, another evil is found in the
present condition of the Courts. The jurisdiction
of the Marine Court of this city, for example, has
been so much extended of late years that il appears
to have forgotten it's origin; and the laborer with
his small claim for hard earned wages is speedily
lost in the magnitude and mystery, not to say the
costs, of this Court. The Justices Courts of
this city, too, are rapidly growing into SINH
lar condition. As for the Police Courts, they
do nothing for the defrauded laborer, be-
cause, as they allege, they have no jurisdiction,
and the laborer is often left to the charitable, or
the Governors of the Aims House, or perhaps
dcprayed or criminal life The Court of Common
Pleas of this city, moreover, seems to be following
i'll the wake of the lower Courts in their discrimi-
nation against the poor. Recently this Court,
which has appellate jurisdiction from the Marine
and Justices Courts, has adopted rule requiring
the examination of judgment-debtOrs to be held
before referees, instead of allowing such examina-
tons to be conducted before the Court in the Gus.
tomary way, thereby excluding all parties who
cannot pay referees fees from the benefit which
might accrue TO them from such proceeding.
The question now arises as to the remedy. Some
suggestions have been made at different times for
the establishment of Free Courts for the Poor
Such courts would be Of very little use unless they
should have powers for the collection of abOrers'
wages, which the present Courts do not possess.
The most direct and simple remedy would be to in-
crease the power Of the existing Courts in all ac-
tons founded upon the wages of labor so that it
would become as difficult and expensive TO defrsud
the lsborer of his wages as it is now easy and pro-
ftatle.
If the politicians and members of the Legislature
who talked So considerably of the labOrers before