The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1868-05-16
A Sensible View Of Bankruptcy al
fairs In the South.

tic lOlAOWlLE WHOLESOME views touching the J
main features of the bankrupt act
The members of the Marion, Ala, Bar
have raised the minimum fee IN Bankrupt
cases to one hundred dollars, heretofore the
minimum fee in the surrounding counties.
TITS Is cheap enough for the manual labor
alone, to say nothing Of the study and mental
toll necessary to acquire the requisite skill /
in this entirely new branch of professional
practice.
Ne would warn our friends that the time
has nearly expired when voluntary bank
ruptcy will be practically at an end.
The Bankrupt Act is the only legislation
of the present Congress that tends to the
relief of the oppressed and impoverished
people Of the South and such of them as
can conscientiously take it should act at
once.
There is a foolish and ignorant prejudice
against Bankrupt laws, which is justified
neither by reason nor experience. Since the
days Of the Roman Code of the Twelve
Tables, Bankrupt legislation has increased
in popular favor and popular efficacy until
it has now become permanently engrafted
on every code Of civilized jurisprudence.
Our former laws IN this line were failures,
and hence in pant the unpopularity of this
Act The Act of 1900 was all for creditor.
The Act Of 1871 was all for the debtor; it
was practically a voluntary system, and did
not apply at all to CORPORATIONS. These
faults, and its PARTISAN character, led to its
early repeal.
Those who have not studied the new Bill
imagine it a re-enactment Of the old one;
they think they still see and smell the
/" Raocoon's tail and paFsum's jaw.
Henry Clay aud the Bankrupt law"
enormities Of the Act of 1871 Not bit
of it. The present act includes corpora
tons, provides for Involuntary bankruptcies,
and composition settlements; and while it
discharges the debtor on the honest sur
render of his property, it protects. the credi-
tor from his fraud and reckless improyi-
dence. Its theory and practical effect is:
Give up your property, wipe out your debts,
and take fresh start.
Apart from this old ghost of political pre-
judice that havers over the subject, many
good old grannies honestly think that the
law Is vicious and viii corrupt the pure
morals of our righteous population. Let Us
see Under our State legislation man may
avoid the payment Of his debts anyhow;
his going into bankruptcy, not only does not
prevent him from paying the debts he deems
of moral obligation, but enables him to do
so by choking off those SbylUeks, who are
waiting and watching to grab the first fruits
of his labor, by opening to him again the
arena of honest industry. so that he may
safely accumulate property, and when pros
perity returns and that property assumes its
normal price, he may sell 1t and pay what
debts he pleases.
You owe ten thousand dollars, an old Sc
curity debt, or a debt for negroes, or to
Northern merchants, or to Southern specu
lators. You also owe five hundred dollars
for bread and meat for your family, owe it
to your friends and neighbors, may be to the
widows and orphans Of your comrades who
fell in battle by your side. You can't pay
all You want to pay the last debt. You
80 to work like aero, you labor day and
night your crop is made, gathered, prepared
for market; IN a few days you can pay these
debts of hOnor-yOu can wipe the tear from
! the widows cheek, you clothe and feed the
] orphan you can save from ruin the friend
who helped you.
just then little attachment for the old
/ debt lays It's iron paw upon your property
all is over The widows bread is gone, the
orphan creditor must suffer on, your family
may starve in the future, because you have
/ beggared the friends who trusted you. But
/ you have the consolation of having
avoided the " Baceo0n's tail and the possum' s
! jaw" you have been too e honorable"
q1s0tAa, to go into bankruptcy, but not too
| honorable to ruin your friends and impoy
erish your family. A fig for such maudhn
/ folly about honor
that is the debtors side of the picture,
! Now, Mr.. Creditor, let's look yours, and
! see if the law hurts you
A debtor, whose property Is safely hid
away, and who can pay all his debts won t
/ pay any of them. That's the rule. so
there is no hope there Of collecting your
debt.
Let him relieve himself from the load of
! debt, begin life fresh and free, and he may
/ possibly pay all these old debts viii pay
/ e Al, -. = Al
a chance for something against certainty
! for nothing
/ The war found the South in debt, but with
! vastly overbalaneing amount of property
/ 1t swept away the property but left the
! debts incurred on the faith Of continued
! ownership Of that property
! The debts made since the war have been
mostly personal trusts, imposing higher OBJ
! legations than the debts based on property,
| which has been destroyed by no fault of
! yours. it not Your duty to place your
! self in such condition that you can first
/ liquidate those debts based on faith in your
! honOr-trust in your personal integrity
/ That's the question.
! Is far as morals are concerned, we sub
NIT to these old grannies, that it is better
! and far nobler for man to 90 into bank
: rUptcy openly and boldly, and begin life
anew, than to submit to the system Of legal
! stunning anu ShHlKlHGi anu SuULeEIu4lng
/ now practiced BY our people. Many of our
J best business men are compelled to do bust
7 ness under a cloak to keep from starvation.
| Look around you, and see how many of your
J neighbOrs ibesides yourself, may be,) are
| operating under cover-agents for wives, or
/ sons, or parents, or somebody else who lives
/ in the moon. Go to the records Of your
! Probate Court and see who holds the prop
/ erty. Y on win find dense cloud Of crino-
/ line hanging over the titles to nearly all the
real and personal property in Ferry county.
/ The old law of corertifre is reversed.
Blackstone says that the wife's legal OK
istence Is Incorporated and consolidated into
tha5 Of the husband, under whose wing, pro-
lection and cover, she performs every thing"
Our observation says, " the husband legal
{ existence is incorporated and consolidated
into that Of the wife, under whose wing,
protection and pettieoats he performs every
thing" 1t is not now as it used to be, ma
hat" or even 4" car hat" it IS all HER hat Z
All this Is morally wrong, and only Partially
justified by the plea of self preservation, and
/ a man, from good motive, in discharge Of