St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-24
GOOD FOR HONEST MEN.
Judge Torrey Defends His Bank
ruptcy Bill.

AhptCy AAAts
ST. LOUIS, Jan. 2S.-C0I. Jay L. Tor
Tey, of this city, author of the Torrey
bankrupt bill, will print tomorrow an
open letter to x-PostmaSter-Genera
Don NJ. Dickinson, in reply to the in
terview with the latter in relation to
bankruptcy which was reported in these
dispatches day or two ago. He saws,
IN part, House bill 1916, intro
duced by Judge Taylor. to which.
you refer, is the measure advoca-
ted by the commercial bodies of the
country as the Torrey bankrupt BILL.
You say that your examination of the
bill has been cursory. When you shall.
find time to make it thorough, do not
believe that you will consider the law,
''too elaborate and complicated" 1t is
Shorter than any law that has
ever been drafted which covers
the subject. You express the fear
that this law may develop certain OBJ
Jectionable features which existed in the
old law. They are as unlike as two laws
possibly can be. The old law provided
register III bankruptcy who received
fees from the estate and was thereby
Interested in prolonging the admins
tratiOn. The new one provides an as
sistant judge called referee, VINO is paid
salary and a uniform fee of $40 for
every case after it is disposed of. Both
amounts. as well as his expenses, are
paid by the government judges, so that
he is interested in eXpediting
BANKRUPTCY BUSINESS.
The old bill furnished an assignee, who
received various fees, including those
for attendance at meetings. The new
one provides trustee, VINO receives a
small commission on dividends actually
paid to creditors. He is, therefore, in
terested in having the dividends as
large and the expenses as small as
possible and in paying the dividends as
soon as the money comes into his hands.
The clerk of the bankruptcy court is
paid $40 in advance as full eompensa-
ton for his services in each case. so
that he. too, is interested in expediting
the administration of estates. 1t is not
expected that even this arrangement
will make lnsolvent estates pay 100
cents on the dollar, but it
IS morally certain that if
this law is enacted the
assets of persons, firms and corpora
tons who cannot. or will not pay their
debts, will be taken charge of by trus-
tees chosen by the creditors and be
ratablv, speedily and cheaply distrlb-
uted to the creditors. The business
SIOTt,
simple code, which will furnish uni
form standard for the determination of
rights in every state in the union.
rather then to an application of the
principles of equity. In the proposed
act you will find that 1.-The cumbersome
and expensive. irritating and prolonged
methods built up by and under the act
of 1861" have been entirely aIOided.';
A very large number of lawyers as
we'll as commercial bodies, having for
their objects the promotion of ali the
different commercial pursuits, trades
and industries in all parts of the
country, have formally passed resolu-
tons in support of the measure and ex-
tended their influence to securing its
enactment. The organizat on formed
at Minneapolis, is m iostd of
a large number of represe n alive uusi-
ness men from all over the country.
Its officers aud chairman are all West
ern men. The measure in aid of COM
mercial credit, and is designed to aid
all honest men in the promotion of
legitimate callings, and to deter disbon-
est men from the pursuit of dishonest
or illegitimate callings.