St. Paul daily globe., 1892-11-04

law is farce. Attorneys who have lit
te sympathy or regard for the laboring
man, who would charge him the amount
of his three or four weeks wages to
look at him, have always assumed to
draw lien laws for lab0ring men attOr-
neys whose only practice under the
lien law has beer to defeat liens on
technicalitieS for wealthy clients who
employ worthless contractors. The
remedy under the present lien law is
about the worst that could possibly be
provided. 1t requires all the liens on
the same structure 10 be forecloSed IN
one action; and, if the building is not
completed and all the lien claimants
brought in, the action must be delayed
until they are. The man who digs the
foundation
Must File His Lien
within ninety days, and commence a
suit within six months: then he must
wait until the last finishing touch is put
on every nook and corner III the
building. and the last lien claimants
brought in, before he can try his action.
To commence snch an action OIL
large building, is generally worth sew
eral hundred dollars. No labOring man
can afford to commence il. Many OF
the men who work on a building dur
ing its different stages of construction
get through long before the building is
completed: while the matreial man coll
tinueS TO furnish material for much
longer time. The consequence is that
the time for commencing suit on
portion of the wOrkingmens claims
expires long before it does as to the
claims of the material men, but no
action is commenced until some ma
terial man having large claim is will
ing to pay the expense OF bringing
a suit to tOreclOse all these liens. By
this time large portion of the laborers
have lost their liens, as they could not
commence the suit themselves. The
others who have not lost it in this man
ner are obliged to answer in the suit
within twenty days after the papers are
| served on them, whether they are
| through working or not. A great many
| OF them are either too ignorant or too
poor 10 employ lawyer and pey him
$40 or $50 to answer for them, ana they
Lose Their Claims
for that reason. Thus a great majority
of the laboring men are frozen out be-
fore the suit is commenced by reason of
not being able to commence it within
the statutory time alter their labor was
| completed. And those who have not
been frozen out in that manner are
| frozen out after the suit is commenced
by not being able to employ lawyers to
protect their claims after the papers are
served on them. The consequence is
| that the numerous suits that are accum-
| ulating III our courts are largely con-
tests between different material men,
| the majority Of the laboring men losing
their rights in one stage or the other of
the game.
| 10 rfi nj m cttif
keep accumuating term after term,
and even year after year, like the snow
ball which the boys roll Oh the ground
until 1t assumes gigantic proportions.
| AS the suit cannot be tried until the
building is finished, they may neglect
to put on the finishing touches, If they
so desire, and the suit may be easily
| prolonged from three to five years. Or
course the laborlng man cannot employ
| an attorney to dance attendance at court
term after term in this way. and he
either dies or gets exceedingly tired long
before the suit Is terminated. But il he
survives until the day Of the lOng-de-
| ferred Judgment, he has still waited in
vain. The owner can secretly settle
with the heavy lien holders, the material
men, and as
Nobody Ever Bids
at foreclosure sale except the persons
holding the lien claims, and as all the
lien claimants will have to join i'll the
bids, or else those who buy will have to
advance cash to the full amount of their
bids, the owner can settle with few
| of the heavy material men holding large
| liens by keeping them from joining in
the bid to purchase the property, and
! prevent the property from being bid in
| by the workmeD, because they have no
| money to advance.
Il think the working mans mite
ought TO be better protected; and a
! country which gives him no better rem
| edy than this can hardly be called civ
| iliZed. The bill which has just been
| passed by the legislature ana killed by
the governor provided remedy that
was so simple and certain that any
| cheap lawyer or lawyers clerk, who
! knew enough to ill out the blanks in a
deed. could file and forecose a lien
| under it as easily as he could sue for
| the same amount in Justices court.
| While this bill gave the lien claimant a
| quick and simple remedy, it was not
| harsh or unjust to any one. 1t gave
every man Il chance to defend his rights
| on the merits, but not on technicaiIies,
because when errors in the lien or pro-
ceedings were pointed out, the court,
when it deemed it just and proper, could
allow it to be corrected by amendment.
! The claim that the bill was unconsttu-
tional is simply frivolous.
Does this make it clear why Tom
LOwry's organ is opposed to Judge
Canty?
CaDty and Buck are friends of the
people when they are not candidates
for Office, and it will be strange if cor
poration money can take any number
of votes from them.
Every man who tolls in any walk of
life owes it to himself and family to
vote for Judge Buck and Judge CanLy