Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-03-10
The Bankrupt Law.

The New York Nation thinks the repeal
of the Bankrupt law would be ill-advIsed,
and gives some strong reasons for Its belief.
1t says:
The suggestion Of the petitioners that the
panic of 1873 and the consequent depres-
sion from which We are still suffering were
caused by the Bankrupt Act we DO not pro-
pose to discuss, because it does not seem to
be worth discussing the delays complained
of, the dishonest attorneys" the " fraudu-
lent preferences, the small dividends, are
all defects in the working details of the
law, and not arguments for its total repeal.
The process of winding up an estate Is ex-
posed to all these evils, whether it is done
by State or United States machinery. The
process consists of the appointment of re-
ceiyer or assignee, and the collection BY him
OF all the assets, an. the distribution of the
proceeds among the creditors under the
supervision Of court of law. Under eth
er system there will be - dishonest attor-
neys, attempts at fraudulent preferences,
and, if the system Is badly administered,
delays ard small dividends The remedy
for these evils is not oscillating backwards
and forwards from one system to another,
but the improvement Of the machinery for
the administration Of the act. No one will
say that, taking the whole Of the country
together, the State machinery for the settle
ment Of estates is better or more honestly
managed than the judicial resources Of the
General Government, and the conclusive ar
gument is that under the latter there is a
uniform system, while under the former
there Is no system whatever.
1t ought not to be forgotten, too, that as
general rule the smallness of dividends
from insolvent estates depends far more
upon the value of the assets than it does
upon the machinery for winding up. The
smailness Of dividends by which most credit
Ors are now struck, is the result generally
of insufficient inquiry into the basis eff cred
it on which they have advanced money.
The remedy for this is of course ciIcum-
spection and prudence, and stern resolve
to lerd money to - none but good men,"
not the repeal of the Bankrupt Act. This
we certainly hope will not be done without
careful examination oy the Senate into the
facts connected with the administration OF
the act. After succeeding for the first time
in the history Of the country in keeping
bankrupt act on the statute-bOok for num-
Der of years. it would seem very much like
a return 10 barbarism to confess by repeal
ing it that the Government cannot admins
ter it. We do not by any means intend to
say that the act is now satisfactory Amend
ments have been engrafted upon the origi-
nal act which have changed its character.
Bat all this is question of detail. The
main thing is that by a bankrupt act every
thing can be done that can be accomplished
By any other means and that while na-
tional bankrupt act properly administered IS
uniform and just, all others are local, and
therefore necessarily unjust.
The repeal of the Bankrupt law would be,
for Vermont, q return to the old ''grab-law
- and that would be, we think, a calamity
Let the law be amended, where i is faulty,
and then let it have longer trial.