National Republican., 1878-09-04
OF THE payKRprr LAW.


rupt law has passed away. II ended on
Saturday night last, and its last moments
were the most active of its life. Many who
had battled the financial storm for years, In
the hope of ultimate escape from disaster,
found when that door was about TO he closed
that they had no alternative but a life of
heavy debt, with its crippling power, or an
appeal TO the bankrupt law for relief For
this reason the rush to legal bankruptcy has
been very great during the last month, and
hence the registers all over the country have
gathered a rich harvest at the close of the
season.
Within the first century of its history this
Government has furnished the people with
three bankrupt laws, which have followed
periods of panic and widespread CONNER
cial disaster. The first was in 1900, which
continued for five years, having been pros
pectivcly repealed in 1s"3 The next was
in 1911, following the revulsioD of ls;l5, 80,
and 81. II continued until 1913, when IL
was repealed. Under its administration the
tide of rascality and fraud upon creditors
rose far above that of an honest surrcn-
der to its requirements. The next
and last bankrupt act became law
in 1sG7, and hence has had an
existence of eleven ycars-a much longer
period than any OF its predecessors. This
law seems to have been enacted more in the
interest Of its administrators than that of
either debtor or creditor. A truly poor and
honest man, who had been unfortunate In
his enterprises, must have a capital equal to
founding q small business before he could
have the door to freedom from his liabilities
opened to him, for the counsel fees and costs
of administration must be provided for, and
they would exhaust very considerable
capital. The creditor in nearly all such
cases found nothing 10 his credit when the
lawyers had got through with the case. lie
was ground to powder between the upper and
neither milestone. The debtor got his dis
charge on one shell of the oyster, the credi-
tor was endowed with the other shell, while
the operators and machinery Of the law
took the biyalve aud enjoyed it's luxurious
richness 20 far as il went. This law has
gone, and no one has cause tolregret its de-
parturc.
Several States have existing bankrupt
laws, but they are not in harmony with each
other, aud hence under Interstate trade
and consequent Indebtedness these State
bankrupt enactments clash and afford but
little relief either to debtor or creditor So
long as bankruptcy is one of the questions
committed to the care of Congress by the
Constitution il would seem that there should
he ingenuity and integrity enough in that
body to enact uniform bankrupt law, not
in the interest Of the legal profession, but
for the benefit Of the creditor and debtor
alike-the one to share something from
the assets involved, if there are any,
and the other to be freed from the
incubus of his Indebtedness when he
had made clean and honest surrender
OF all his property for the benefit of his
creditors, and the law cannot be too scru-
tinizing and rigid in that regard. Trade
and commerce are full Of vicissitudes and
misfortuncs, and their coast is constantly
marked by shipwrecks, even when there is
disaster. There should be law under
which men can escape by an honest surrcn-
der of what they have and be freed from
the shackles of unwieldly Indebtedness, 50
that they can once more enter the race Of
life aud trade without that milestone around
their necks to bear down their every effort
A Just and equitable law, framed in the in.
terests of the honest debtor and creditor
would be commercial blessing, and We
hope that some Congress before long viii
provide ii for the country