The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-26
THE BANKRUPTOY BILL.
Senator's Plumb's Reasons for Opposing All
Kinds of Bankruptcy legislation.
SpeciaI the nd Journai

Senator's Plumb's Reasons for Opposing All
Kinds of Bankruptcy Legislation.
Special to the indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, April Ex-senator Plumb Of
Kansas, was the only Senator on the Republican
side who opposed the passage of the bankruptcy
bill Your correspondent saw Senator Plumb to
day and requested him to state his objections to
the bill His answer was in substance about as
follows:
1.-The bankruptcy bill, as it passed the Senate
is Az excellent measure of the kind, and l h3.v Q
objection to it as bill. l think the bill will
do away with the evils of the old system to a
great extent The exorbitant fees are abol-
ished and the time occupied in bankruptcy pro-
ceedings will be greatly diminished. 1t will be
possible to foretell with some degree of accurac V
the amount of bankrupt estate which the cred
itors are likely to get The plan of paying
salaries to the register will be of great
benefit, and will remove the temptation to post
pone final settlement from time to time in order
to increase the compensation of the government
officials, The clause in the bill which provides
that the register must go to the residence of the
bankrupt instead of compelling every claimant TO
travel long distances to prove claims at his office
will facilitate matters greatly But it is not this
| bill that object to. 1 am opposed to the system
l consider bankrupt law immoral, in that it in
vites the fraud which it is aimed to prevent 1t
is urged that bankrupt law is necessary in Or
der that an honest debtor may be freed from his
debts when it is proven that he has made every
effort to extricate himself from financial difficult
ties and has failed, and that under the State
laws this is impossible. Now / claim that nine
tenths of the business firms of the country are
willing to settle with debtor and to discharge
debt when convinced that the failure is an honest
one and that no fraudulent practices have been in
dulged in. In my experience, and 1 have had
great deal of experience in the collection of debts
have found that an embarrassed business man
can generally make satisfactory arrangements
with his creditors without the aid of a bankrupt
law; and in fact many of the large whosesale
houses in New York and elsewhere will even
advance money or credit to place a customer
upon his feet again. Now as to the immortality
of bankrupt law In Kansas Illinois and other
agricultural States of the West there are hun
dreds of business men who do large credit bu-
sness with the farmers. When crops are good
they get their cash; when bad, they must wait
from year to year. They carry half the popula-
ton on their books, and must make some
profit These men help to support the schools
and churches They pay taxes, and are neces-
sary to the existence of the towns When they
have worked hard for years and built up bust
ness and a reputation, along come irresponsible
men who have no interest whatever in the town
or its inhabitants They hang out red flag and
at once disturb the whole business of the neigh
borhood. They sell regardless of cost and stay
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tie with their creditors upon the best terms they
can get and, under the bankruptcy law, secure
discharge and start in somewhere else, hav-
ing injured the legitimate merchant and dis
turbed trade to a serious extent 1t is on account
of these dishonest men and their proceedings
that am against any general bankrupt law