St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-29

the spelling of a name. or mistake I'D
the amount of wages paid, or through
some other legal bubble. the contractor
would find himself worsted i'll the fight;
and i'm addition to the loss of his money
and paying his lawyer would be saddled
with costs. i venture to assert that
contractor to-day i'll the state OF Illinois
could not collect claim under this lien
law if ably contested by the defendant.
1t would be far better to lay the lien
law aside and bring suit under the com
mon law if the owner were worth any
thing. and if not, for the sake of his
pocket ;at peace of mind. it would be
better to charge it up to experience ac-
count and call it loss. A proper lien
law is a
VERY NECESSARY THING
to protect honest contractors and their
subs and workmen, but il must be SIM
pie and equitable. Why should we not
have lien laws? Is there anything
wrong in person trying to collect what
honestly belongs to him? Is it not his
duty to his creditors, to his family and
himself 10 collect if he can the money
due him? What is the wrong in fair
and equitable lien law? In an active
business experience of over twenty-one
years have never known an honest
owner injured by our lien laws. Nor do
/ ever hear honest owners complain OF
a lien law. Some persons may say:
Why should the contractor or the men
furnishing materials and labor be pro-
tected more than any other class? Why
should they not carefully inquire into
the standing of the parties, the
SAME AS THE MERCHANT?
before making a contract or the doing
-, r.i-D Nf
tractor is different from the merchants
who sells bill of goods TO customer on
credit. The merchant has his choice to
keep his goods and wait for cash Gus
toner, or give credit and take his
chances. But the contractor has no
such option. He has to place certain
amount of labor and material in the
shape of improvements on premises be-
longing to the owner, which, when
placed there, are no longer his. and can
not be removed by him without the
consent of such owner. The owner
then can sell OF mortgage. and wipe
out all equity the contractor had in the
improvements. The contractor has no
redress unless there be good lien law.
The banker has decided advantage
OVER THE CONTRACTOR
or the trader who furnishes the ma
terialS or the labOrer who performs
service, in the fact that he gets in his
lien on the property before he advances
the money. The contractor cannot eX-
pect this. In my own personal expert
.ence the lien law of the state of New
York has directly saved me over 1000,
and indirectly many thousand more.
Where there is good lien law, such as
we have in New York, it is very seldom
that the plaintiff has TO carry the case,
if he have an equitable claim, TO final
decree in the courts. The case is gen
'erally sSettled before it reaches that
point. And this is one of lis greatest
virtues. OF the amounts l have been
saved through lien law had TO fore
close
IN BUT ONE CASE
only, and | effected a satisfactory set
Element in this case before final adjudi-
cation.
The greatest benefit of lien law
comes from the fact of its being a cloud
on the title, which, when placed there,
is like the libel on a ship-it sticks to
the property, no matter who the owner
is, until discharged by payment or order
of court. ] also know that, were it not
for the fact of having a lien law, con-
tractors and others engaged IN furnish
ing materials and labor woul be cheat
ed very often out of their money. If
we had to go into a court and waste our
time in a suit, and be subjected to all
the annOyanceS of
THE LAWS DELAY
and uncertainty, and the chances of
being beaten through some teehnlcality,
or the perversity of some juror, we
would let great many dollars be taken
from us rather than undertake the suit,
but with the possibility of cloud being
placed on his title the owner will pay
before having his property liened.
Why should we throw away any
of our safeguards? Is the boat
man so reckless as to throw away
his oar? On the contrary. we should
try to strengthen them where weak and
hold on to the oar. Because some other
trader in his business has no protection
against
BEATS AND SWINDLERS
is not good logic why we should not |
believe in protecting every honest man
as far as we justly can against all spe-
cieS of dishonesty. If any of our lien
laws are defective, weak or deceptive,
have them amended. Look INTO the
laws of the various states aud adopt
what is good in them, but reject the
bad, and when you have a good law
stop this eternal tinkering, which multi
fies the good of most of them. Have
YOU lleIl laws SiHple anu easily ulluoF-
stood by the laymen as well as the law
yers? Make it beneficial to the honest
owner as well as the contractor, trader
or toiler, and when you have such a
law the collection of your honest claim
Will be made easy.
MIR. Deeves' address was greeted with
loud applause, showing the sentiment
of the convention to be strongly in favor
of the preservation of the law in its en-
tirety.
The further discussion of the ques-
ton was deferred.