The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-08-11

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being sent out OF the State to pay heavy bills
for what we could we'll do without, or could
! make at home with profit. In other words,
our manufacturing Interests, are not in
symmetrical proportion to our other pursuits
We need more manufactures so as to keep a
fair part Of our money at home and to bring
| more here for circulation among us.
I'd. That the surplus in the hands of Vir.
ginia owners is no longer invested or. lent
| out in the State, but it is withdrawn from
home circulation.
Sd. That, so far as can be done, money
heretofore loaned or owing is being called
| in and withdrawn from circulation.
4th. That capital from abroad is not
| brought into the State for loan or for invest
ment in Virginia securities or industrial en-.
| terprises.
The careful consideration of the first.
named cause is commended to all as well
| worthy of their best thought. This paper,
however. must be confined to the eXamina.
| ton of the last three causes.
Is it not fact that the greater part Of our
home surplus capital has been, or is now
| being, withdrawn from circulation here, and
| that the influx Of money from abroad for
loans has diminished or ceased? If so, why
1t is because capital, timid and sensitive
as maiden modesty, is frightened out of cir
culation by the State and Federal laws-by
the "relief" legislation, enacted with the
intent to delay, hinder, and prevent Il had
almost said defTnud) the creditor in the in
forcement Of contracts or the collection OF
debts for to this end the legislation since
1865 has been directed. in unkind kindness
to the debtor. so seduously rs, by its abso-
lutte prohibitions or by its interpretations OF
delays and difficulties, to make it exceedingly
uncertain and we'll nigh impossible to get
money back when it had been once parted
with. even since the war. And no man is going
to put out his money amid such perls when
he has the alternative Of safe, prompt, and
profitable investment elsewhere.
Let us look at these "relief" laws, by
which legislation has tampered with the OBJ
legations Of contracts.
/. There was the Richmond stay-law of
1S65-'6G, utterly prohibiting the compulsory
collection Of old debts. 1t was enacted ut a
time when creditors were in compromising
mood-when a debtor could have made
almost any arrangement for relnltting the
interest and for payment of the principal by
iustalments, however small, so only thaC the
process of payment went on. though slowly.
AS il was, by the stay-law debtors were
lulled into neglectful security, debts accu-
| mulated, and creditors became irritated.
Phis tampering was a blow to the conn
dence of capital in the law as a guard ana
| protector.
Though not next in order Of time, there
| were the acts prohibiting forced sales Tor less
than certain proportionate values, or on less
| than credits extending practically for years
| and causing yeXatious delay.
Then there is the "homestead" " provision
in the Constitution, carried out by the act OF
| Assembly with the sweeping provision Win
drawing 81, 900 of every mans estate from
liability for his debts or contracts, old or
new.
This showed the animus, the tone and
temper, of the trainers of the organic law
and of the people who adopted it, although
the Supreme Court Of Appeals confined the
exemption to the cases of new obligations.
Then came in the amendments to the
bankrupt law, solicited by our people, bring
ing to bear the power of the United States
to peryert and defeat the Federal Constltu-
ton, and to override the Virginia court In
its effort to sustain and obey it, thus con-
yerting good law into an engine OF fraud
and injustice.
4 bankrupt law which, upon full and
honest surrender of the bankrupts whole
estate, discharges him from bondage Whlch
could do nobody any good, frees him from
an incubus of debt he can never pay by his
personal effort, and which would forever in
caDacitate him from all effective effort, IS
not only humane, but it is right and wise.
| If the assets be faithfully administered by
| lust collection and distribution no one would
object to the exemption of a small amount or
| accessories for the immediate use Of the
| bankruptS family.
Capital everywhere recognizes an honest
bankruptcy as one Of the casualties lncldeDt
| to human affairs, and it is not alarmed; and
| where it is an honest failure it will often re-
lease and not unfrequently help the fallen.
| But when the Congress of the nation steps
| in to defeat the State courts ana TO efade
the Federal organic law, and not only frees
the debtor, but graciously presents him with
Il respectable fortune out of the property OF
his creditors, capital feels that it Is betrayed
by the law which should give it just pro-
lection and it lo.es faith in the security OF
contracts which, by the cooperation of State
and Federal laws, parties are not only per-
mitted, but are invited, by premium to an
nul. Far better for Virginia would it now
be if her law-girers had left the adjustment
of these matters to those who were parties
to them. The debtor would have found in-
dulgence and abatement, and he would have
braced his energies TO the back of economy,
self.deniai and payment, while the creditor
would have asScnted to the necessity OF de.
Law. with unimpaired faith in the goodwill
of the debtor, and in the ultimate payment
Of his claims; and having this faith and
seeing the difficulties, he would in most
instances have helped the debtor.
Let us work out to its legitimate results
this homestead exemption llnder the State
and Federal laws in Virginia.
One universal effect of these laws is to
| throw doubt on the security Of any debt,
and on the solvency of any debtor, and on
the safety of any transaction on time.
| In the proceedings in bankruptcy the
oath Of the applicant is tremendously cItec-
tive. Ii is p,inea facie evidence of the truth
of all his statements, and is necessarily taken
| by the officers as conclusive until it be lnl-
peached by creditors, who rarely have such
hope of dividend as will justify their con-
testing the matter. S1 that the appllcint
has every opportunity for successful fraud.
| This is bud enough when all he expects is a
| discharge; but when he is offered freedom
and fortune Of two or three thousand-the
premium on perjury which is offered by the
iaw-human nature, pressed by trouble, is
often too weak to resist the temptation, ana
too often dishonesty succeeds. But with
! these facilities for escape from dlfhculty, ana
with this premium on bankruptcy, Wfat
creditor can be assured that his debtor will
not at any moment liquidate his debt with
| the sponge of bankruptcy
Again: uuderour State homestead, what
assurance can creditor have that his debtor
VIII not claim the exemption against him, or
that If the debtor himself be too honest to do