New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-11-27
REPEAL OF THE BANKRUPTCY Law.

Onr Washington correspondence states that
strong pressure will be brought to bear at
the opening Of Congress for the repeal OF some
sections. if not the whole of the Bankruptcy
law. 1t is also regarded as probable that the
repeal of the clauses applying to involuntary
debtors will be recOmmc nded by the President
rs a measure of financial relief. Last Febru-
airy the House of Representatives, without
much discussion or consideration, passed a
bill TO repeal the law. 1t was then late in the
session there was not time to bring the mat
ter fully before the people, and the Senate
was not disposed to sanction such hasty legls-
lation.
The original Bankruptcy act was passed In
1871 and served as model for the present
one of 1867. In each instance the reason tor
enactng such a law was precisely that when
is now to be urged for its repeal: the relief
Of the mercantile community. The form oil
relief afforded by such an act has always been
regarded as among the possible consequences
of commercial crises, and tho Constitution
adverts to it in terms indicating an expecta-
ton that it might at some time be required.
A good Bankruptcy act, faithfully and eco
nomically administered, should serve to aid and
ease, rather than Cypress those who are
struggling with ill fortune. The Bank
ruptcy Courts of England not only re-
lease the honest debtor from the clutches
of his grasping creditors, they add certlii-
cate of character which frequently serves rs a
letter of credit to start the unfortunate man
IN business again. Our present Bankruptcy
law was largely advocated at the time OF Its
passage as a measure of relief to the South
and to merchants who had been engaged in
Southern trade at the outbreak of the war.
1t was argued, and with justice, that great
wrong to individuals, az well as an injury to
the community, was inflicted by holding this
class of debtors in u position where their bust
ness talents and energy were permanently re-
pressed where every effort to better their
condition and regain their standing In bust
ness did but draw upon them again the hum
CRY brood OF creditors. ~. 4rr...- >,
But in the actual working of this act it
would seem that q new class Of expressions
has originated The law il needlessy and
astonshingly expensive IN execution. 1t is
a notorious fact that III the vast majority of
bankruptcy cases there is little or nothing
left after the forms of law are satisfied and
the lawyers are paid. Only a rich man should
attempt to pass through bankruptcy; the fees,
the references, the percentages, the thousand
and one minor expenses, are far too much for
an honest, poor insolvept. Merchants, recog-
nizng the fact that they Will get little or
nothing from a bankrupt, are placed at the
mercy of designing debtor who only threat
ems bankruptcy; and accept whatever he may
offer as q compromise, as better than such an
alternative.
The process of involuntary bankruptcy Is,
however, the one fraught with greatest injury
to the trading community. Many instances of
the frghtful oppression which can be exer-
csed by its means might be cited 1t affords
an opportunity, not to say an inducement TO
the smallest creditor of an embarrassed house,
no matter what the extent of It's Ultimate re-
sources to plunge it ut once into ruin. The
small creditor thus holds the larger creditors
as we'll as the debtor in his power and in
stances are frequent in these stringent times
where this power has been used for n species
of blackmail. 1t cannot be denied that this
feature of the law is bringing the entire
bankruptcy system into Odium. 1t may even
be questioned whether it is not bringing dis
grace upon the mercantile credit of the whole
community. A law which affords facilities to
dishonest debtors on the one hand and I'M
scrupulous creditors on the other, while it
poorly protects and but little assists the honest
man, certainly needs amendment. And while
we believe in the virtues of good Bankrupt
act, and are convinced that its principles cor
rectly carried ont would be of service to the
mercantile world, we freely admit the neces-
sty of reform in the provisions and admins
tration of the Bankrupt act of 1867.