American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-01-04
1 Notable Bankrupt.

Mr.. Josiah Il. Noonau, Il wGli-hno WI
citizen of Milwaukee,. who has been IL
active and respected business man in thai
city for % years, has recently placed him
self voluntarily in the Bankrupt Court
He has for several years been engaged i,
manufacturing paper, and. as one of t.lt
proprietors of several paper mills. la,
been involved in lawsuits concerning leaS
es of water power. In answer 10 Il friend
ly reference in one of the papers concern
ing his bankruptcy, Mr.. NooDan has pub
liShed Il letter in which he describes tn.
sensations and experiences of 4 man
whose affairs have reduced him from af1iu
ence to the Bankrupt Court. He accepts
the situation with considerable philoSo
ply. Referring to the litigation in which
he has been involved, he says. that, see.
ing no end to ii, and having already ex.
pended 100000. he concluded to let the
lawyers take what they could get in {;
fight with his creditors, while he. at &C
years of age, would begin his life of labor
again. He comforts himself with the as
surance that his wants will not be as great
as they We're when he was younger. and
that. in the ordinary course of nature
those wants will not be long. He sug
gests that if anybody wants to test hu.
man nature, let him 90 into bankruptcy
In that Investigation there will be founG
illustrations of selfishness and heartless-
ness that fall below any lower depths
of meanness" TO which the imagination
has ever extended. He adds:
And you will find it. perhaps, more than ANY
where else, in the very midst OF those you hay,
counted your friends; with those to whom you
had rendered unnunbercl favors, to whom You
are in nowise indebted, and whose extended
hands. warm hearts, and sympathlzing glance-
you would expect to be the first to greet you On
the other hand, you would be chcercd by kind
words, and generous offers from sources from
which you would have but family expected them,
81 surprised at meeting them at all.
Among the consequences OF his bank
ruptcy he regrets the temporary inter
ruption of his business relations with the
publishers OF Wisconsin, Northern Iowa.
Minnesota, and Western Michigan. with
whom he has had constant relations ior
% years. In this business with them,
mostly on credit, and amounting to mil
lions of dollars, and extending over near
" a quarter of n century. he states his en-
tire loss by bad debts was less than Sl0,-
600. He questions whether Il like show
ing could be made of the same amount o!
dealing with men in any other business or
profession. Upon this point he says:
! have many times felt my blood sur faster
publisher, to a bank to be cashed, -outsde OF my
place of business,-to have some plnched-ur
squirt of teller. cashier, or President, look up
with that peculiarly sinister and superciiious
smrk, known only to those of that calling, and
inquire is the maker of that paper an editor
When told he was, then to hear him say, :. " e
don't like those country printers notes; They
not generally paid The poor devil, in all
probability, was, at the time Of the dialogue,
shining around to raise means to cover up some
of his own wheat or stock gambling losses. There
were more brains, business integrity, and tact in
the northeast corner of the country editors head,
who made the note, than there ever was under
the skulls of any three generations of the self
sufficient and narrow gauSetfwhelps who put the
question.
He has been sixteen years in litigation.
and naturally reaches the conclusion that
the country is .'lawyered to death" lie
states that the expenditures and costs OF
litigation in Wisconsin exceed in the an
nual aggregate the State and National
taxes. including all the expenses of the
common schools. and all the colleges,
academies. and other institutions of learn
ing.-Chicago Tribune, Dec. IS.