Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-12-23
For the JournaI.1Y n
RedemDtiOn and ADprn ise1ment |

For the JournallY rr
Redemption and Appraisement.
Mr.. EDITOR Your suggestions in regard
to the above topics fofthe consideration OF
tho Legislature meet With my most cordial
approval, believing as | firmly do that the
interests of large and m0fitorious proper.
ton of the citizens Of Iowa require for their
protection Just such enactments. l am
cognizant OF an item having a bearing
on tllisvsnbject in the history of two honest,
liard-working men in my vicinity, who
bought and paid for small parcel of land
containing a rock quarry. They employed
themselves in getting out and selling rock.
Subsequently, with the view of eventually
burning lime, they purchased few acres
of timbered land on the, terms quite usual in
such transactions, viz !: one-half down, and
tho balance secured by note and mortgage,
payable on future day. The day came but
unfortunately the panic of '57 had come be-
fore it, and the demand for rock had abated.
Those who owed for rock either could not
or would not pay-consequeatly the mort
gage remained unreleased and the mortga.
gers at the mercy of the mortgage, who
modestly and legally utterly stripped them
of both lots-timbsr and rock-althoueh
the amount due was but little over 500.
This case may perhaps seem peculiarly hard,
vet is doubtless not without many parallels,
and if the sufferers under such treatment
escape decentralization they must be singu-
larly fortunate in their organization as COM
pared with their opprsssors All similar
sufferers need redemption law plain
Justice loudly calls for it.
A man may sell his farm in another State
for 81 1000, and receive three fourths of the
sum in hand, and come to Iowa with his
teams and Other stock, aud buy 20 acres of
timber at $50 per acre aud pay for it. And
he may then buy l60 acres Of prairie at $40
per acre and pay half of this price at the
time, giving a note and mortgage to secure
tho payment of the balance. lie may then
go, to work and build house, break up and
fence his farm, and, in the course Of TWO
years, expend every dollar of his available
means. Now, supposing that the note for
$500, which he owes on his land, comes due
at the end of those two years if he fails to
receive ST. 900 then over due. and owing t.
him, for the farm which he sold, he will be
thus liable to be irredeemably deprived of
his whole real property, including all of his
improvements. A circumstance of this kind
lately occurred in my neighborhood and
the loser could not, had he been 50 inclined.
60 back whence he came and permanently
GUST his debtor, as he himself was ousted,
because Of the existence there of legal
barrier !; such as zoe need here.
Our laws; az far As practicable, ought to CO.
incide with, and be equally as just and lib
eral as the laws of our sister States, other
wise our State will soon become unenviably
and unproftably notorious, and there will
be deferred from settling amongst ~ many
members of class Of citizens which we
wish to see largely augmented.
believe we need and might have law
providing for the appraisment of personal
property to be sold under execution, which
would be just in principle and beneficial in
its operation. Much of such property has
been so sold during the last two years for
sshalf nothing;' - and many honest debtors,
with this fact staring them in the face, have
no doubt been almost necesstated to prevent
the sacrifice of their property by every
means in their power. A few more such
years under our present laws and an hon
est debtor will be a rare bird in Iowa.
"Debtor," your contributor to the Journ-
al of the 26th of November, may POSSIBLY
be erroneous ia believing s'the doctrine
founded upon reason and approved by expe-
rience, that the State which gives the lender
the readiest means of collecting his claims"
gets along the best at least there are some
whose opinions are entitled to equal defer
ence, who profess to have closely studied
this matter and confidently assure US that if
all laws enforcing the collection of debts
contracted with full consent of the creditors
were totally abolished all parties concerned
would be benefited by the act. The reck.
less and dishonest would be mostly driven
out of the market and those of different
character being no longer necessarily taxed
to make good the losses sustained Or account
of the former-could obtain loans on easier
terms than they now can and the legti.
mate profits OF the lenders would not be
diminished. The reckless could by means
far more certain obtain a livelihood better
on the average than they get now-and the
dishonest would lie compelled to do SO by
means more honorable than fraud or else
resort to direct theft. ''Debtor" says he
should regard a law compelling tho creditor
to take property at an appraised value ''as
q statute acknowledge Of universal
of an apprasnent law never have asked for
this, but would be satisfied if it were taken
at two-t thirds or at most four. ffths OF its
appraised value-allowing the creditor the
alternative of taking it So, or waiting till he
gets the money. | can see no peculiar hard
ship, nor symptom of bankruptcy, nor ras-
cality in this-aud beg leave to assure
"DebtAi" that the man who owes sixteen
dollars and can pay it in property honestly
worth $40, is far more solvent than some
debtors that have known in State in
which existed as ready and summary means
of collecting claims as could we'll be devised
or desired.
l presume the people of Iowa do not
want radical change of their laws in re-
iation to the matter; certainly not change
to encourage illegal cheats'-for en- soil
much less fertile than ours knaves as a crop
prosper very well without any cultivation
but while we guard against the debtor be-
coming legal cheat let us at the same time
try to defy the creditor to become q legal
oppressor--let US at least have few ad-
dititional obstacles deposited in his way.
In regard to redemption, s'Debtor" says !:
Snow if you should give to the grantor in
the Trust Deed the RICH. to reclaim then |
the lender would insist upon an absolute |
to him of the property sought !
to be pledged, with an agreement on his
part to re-convey upon payment of the
debt" The code of every State Gncluding
Iowa) that has come under my limited no.
tice contains clause in substance and terms
as nearly as I can record from memory
''Every instrument in writing efecting
the title of real estate, and intended as secur-
ity in the nature Of a mortgage, though it
be an absolute conveyance in terms, shall
be considered as a mortgage"
If this be good law, and if the aforesaid
agreement to re-convey be good for anything,
it must necessarily destroy the absolute con-
veyance by proving it to be simply mort
gage. But even if this evidence were in
the grantor fail to pay the