The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-03-25
CHARLES T ON.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, MARCH 25, 1858.
The Bankrupt Act.

| The Bankrupt act which mas ho" peen 40
operation for nine months has been already
approved by its results as wise expedlent
of public policy. Some measure OF relief
was needed in behalf of that large class who
by losses during and since the war, by the
fluctuations of markets and the uncertainty
of national affairs have been unhappily re-
duced to insolvency. 1t was necessary to
wipe out the old scores. Many noble for
tune has been wrecked; and few are the
fragments cast upon the shore, and vain are
the efforts to raise the sunken treasure from
the deep. Wisdom requires that we should
let the old adventure 60, and seek for such
new blessings as await the hopeful heart
and diligent hand. Our condition exactly
reverses the moral which Mr.. HARTE, the
California poet, draws from the legend Of
.The Lost Galleon." We ask his pardon
for altering his pretty lines:
--s'Hear the truth:
Over the trackless path somewhere,
Lie the lost days of our tropic youth,
Neue,' regained by faith and prayer,
Neuer recalled by prayer and plant,
A lost day has no patron saint ]"
Perhaps if we knew the history of the
Bankrupt act we should understand better
why Mr.. JENcKEs, one Of the most thought
full of the Republicans, allowed so many
Objectionable features to have place in it,
why it was burdened with unnecessary
technicaities, why it admitted of long de-
lays, and why it made better provision for
the lawyer than the creditor. Yet as pre-
scription for the alleviation Of the public
distress, it was timely.
And while the act affords relief it guards
against fraud with great care. The books,
papers, and business transactions Of the
debtor are subjected to close and critical
investigation. He cannot falsify the record,
or transfer to the care of friends various
articles of property, to be restored after
the settlement of his affairs. The inquisi-
tors ere behind the scenes, and it will re-
quire no common adept to play any stage
trick upon them; they can see the lighted
side of the dark lantern and the trsp-door
where the ghost deScends.
This is very well. But if the act is good
and wise, on the whole, why limit its opera
ton to one yeer? Why require that after
the year ends, the bankrupt shall not be
discharged unless he is able to pay fifty per
cent. on his indebtedness, or unless q ma
iority in number and value of his creditors
assent in writing to his release? We see,
indeed, that it is even doubtful whether
there is a full year of grace allowed, or
only part of year. According to Sec
ton fifty, the act is to commence and take
effect as to official appointments and the
promulgation of rules from the date of its
approval (N1arch 2, 1867, but no petition
should be filed until the first of June, 1867.
Now the question is, at which of these dates
did the act begin to run. If at the earlier
date, no papers can be legally fled now
unless under the thirty-third section, which
requires the payment of fifty per cent. or
the assent of creditors. If at the later, the
remedy extends to the first of June.
For our part we do not see the necessity
of adopting any such restriction at all. A
just Bankrupt act should become perma.
nent part of our jurisprudence. And surely
a man who is utterly ruined should not be
less tenderly considered than man who has
lost but half his fortunel And, if even this
simple principle ofjustice and common sense
should be disputed, who does not see that
the evils which the Bankrupt act was in
tended to relieve have not yet ceased to
operate. The effects of the war have been
prolonged by social disOrganizatiOn and
unfriendly legislation, by bad crops and
declining prices. Our people are striving
to make head against swift, strong cur
rent of misfortune. They are staggering
under multiplied burdens of debt and taxa
ton. Let the measure of relief at least
stand until the tide turns and the burden is
lighteIed.