The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-01-07
BANKRUPTCY.


The Senate Committee on the judiciary
have agreed to, and reported TO the Senate,
Monday. Substitute for the bill which
passed the House, repeating the present
bankrupt law. The bill as it left the House
was nothing but sweeping repeal of the
whole system. brought about, perhaps in
measure, by an attempt to favor the house
or houses Of Jay Cooke a. Co. The sub
slitutc bill, reportedby the Senate Judiciary
committee retains the system, but modi-
iies aud Simpllies the present law in seve-
raj respects, and lessons the expenses there
Of 1t has always seemed to us that some
kind of "A bankrupt or iDsolvcnt law
was Il business necessity. Great Britain has
found it so and, for years, has had an adj
mirable code of laws upon the subject,
beneficial to the creditor and not oppressive
to the debtor. Massachusetts has, also, had
insolvcnt laws, which, however, became
practically imperative after the passage of
the national law Under its provisions,
many honest, capable business men have
been relieved from their pecuniary embar-
barrassmcnts and placed upon their legs +"
again. We need in this country, as well as
in all others. the services of every honest,
capable business man. They, together
with the farmer, are the producers of our
national wealth Some of them rs manu-
tacturers, Others as merchants, and still
1th1Ig in IilTnrnut eunnaitioa al,
know that the nature of business. in the
country at least with the fluctuations in
prices, the failure Of crops, the dangers
from fire, flood and loss at sea- is such that
liable To misfortune and failure Is it wis
dom, as Il matter of public policy, is it ben
elicial to the creditor, is it just to the hon
est debtor, to keep the debtor buried. for
eyey, under a load of debt, so that the coun-
try is deprived of his talents in the field of
business, and half dozen creditors Sc
cure the whole of the debtors property.
the others receive nothing?
Such is the effect in Vermont. fla bus
mess man meets with losses, with or with
out any fault of his own, there is no hope
Tor him, unless system of bankruptcy is
provided under which he can surrender his
property to his creditors, obtain discharge
and start again. Other states have their in
solvent laws, but to be equitable they should
be uniform throughout the country. The
trainers of the constitution recognized this
nd
power on Congress TO provide uniform
system OF bankruptcy. We do not believe
that the majority of the business men of
the country are i'll favor of the absolute re-
peal OF the present law, although they are
opposed to many of the provisions thereof.
There is no question that the present fees
are much too large, that many estates are
eaten up by the expenses, that, IN some in
stances. it is oppressive to the debtor, and
in others to the creditor. This, however.
Is no argument against the system. but
only against the law as il now stands.
Whether the Senate bill will meet the
emergency and give the country such "A
system AS is needed may, perhaps, be ques-
.ionablc-but it is far in advance of our
present law. The indications are that the
senate Will not agree to an absolute repeal
and 1t may happen that, through the refu-
sal of the House to agree to reasonable
law, the present one may be saddled ON the
country for still longer period Both the
Senate and House contain able LAWYERS, AS
well as capable business men, and they
should be able TO agree to a Cheap, easy.
feasible system whereby the unfortunate
can obtain needed relief, while the fraud
ulcnt debtor will be deferred from attcmnt-
ing to consummlte fraud Hereunder
There will be, of course, under any system
OF bankruptcy, or without any system.
more or less frauds committed by debtors
on their creditors hut such guards can be
placed that they will be reduced to the
minimum amount The country wants a
cheap, easy, ineligible bankrupt law, and
they look to Congress for it.