The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-12-23

| Dl SSS vi thS SOohSA y "'H Wv 1SSNO Va
a bill on the subject has for some
time been in course OF preparation
under the supervision Of Judge
Lowell of the l.. S. Circuit Court of
Massachusetts. He has consulted
with the leading commercial associa-
tions and many of the prominent
leagaI and business men OF the cCun-
try, and it is believed that Il bill will
be ready to present to the Congress
to meet next week that will obviate
the defects of former laws on the
subject and include new principles
based upon proper regard for the
rights of both creditors and debtors.
W lille it would be pleasant to con
template state of things in which
there would be no necessity for such
laws, it has not been found conven-
lent for the States to regulate the re-
lations between the debtor and cred
itor classes without some sort of Il
local substitute in the absence of Il
general law on the subject. While
each State may and does regulate
these relations between its own citi-
zens, it can have no authority out
side of its own territory. A writer
in the american gives Il history Of
the bankrupt laws which from time
to time have been enacted in TINS
country and as often repealed, and
makes u strong arguments in favor OF
the passage of some law of this char.
acter by Congress. Three times has
"a bankrupt law been tried in the
United States, and as often has it
been repealed because of inherent de-
fects and its failure to serve the pur
pose for which it was enacted. On
April 4, 1900, Congress passed an act
to establish uniform system Of
bankruptcy throughout the United
States which by its terms was lin
tied to five years, but it worked so
badly that it was repealed in Decem-
Der, 1903. Its great evil results
prejudiced the honest public against
all such measures, and not until
1911, was another bankrupt
act passed. 1t operated but
little better than the law of 1900
At the time Of its passage the coun-
try was in distressed condition, and
debtors were not slow to take advan-
tage of law which enabled them to
get rid of debts which were pressing
them very heavily. The courts were
kept busy grinding out hankrupts to
the exclusion almost OF all other
business. AS a specimen of the work
ing of the law, it may be stated that
in Massachusetts alone there were
1889 debtors, with aggregate liablli-
ties of over $50, 000, 900, who filed APP.
plicatons to be adjudicated bank
rupts during the year and half that
the law was in force. On March 3,
1913, the law, which in the meantime
had been declared unconstitutional
by number of courts, both OF the
| United States and the several States,
was repealed. For period of
twenty four years it was lett solely
to the State governments to enact
laws for the protection OF lnsolvent
debtors. On March ,, 1867, the third
and last bankrupt law was passed by
Congress, and for over eleven years,
until September |, 1873, with certain
amendments from time to time, con-
tinued in force. While the country
continued in state OF prosperity,
the law seemed to answer It's purpose
in measure, but with the panic OF
1873 there sprung up A crop OF
would-be bankrupts which, until the
repeal of the law, and even until
now, has kept the courts busy. No
one who witnessed the scenes attend-
ing the last days of the old law will
soon forget the long list Of anxious
but smiling debtors who waited at
the doors of the courts in every city,
to lie their petitions in bankruptcy
before it was too late. On the last
day there were filed in New York
City 494 petitions in Philadelphia,
SO in Brooklyn, 100 in Chicago,
400; in Cincinnati, 100 and NJ
Cleveland, 100, while other cities
added their quota to the vast army
of debt shirkers. But, continues the
same writer, the evils that were born
of the old bankruptcy laws are not
arguments against law which will
protect the honest debtor and the
creditor alike. The folly OF the
former laws was in their permitting
rogues to ply their trade with the
stamp of legality upon 1t. Expe-
rience should guard against the repc-