The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-02-02
PREFERENCES IN ASSIGN
MENTS AND THE HOME
STEAD LAW,
[ A Member of the Fayetteville Bar in
Wilmington Messenger!

1t is principally in the mercantile
world that the homestead is hot-bed
Of fraud and corruption. The follow
ing brief history, and, true in the
main, as l am reliably informed, illus
trates one of perhaps thousand sim
liar, or nearly similar, cases that have
occurred in the State, and have in-
jured the credit of good and honest
merchants who can not prosper because
of sharp and compulsory competition
with rascals who are fostered and pro-
tected, if not created, by law. Two.
young men in certain city in North
Carolina { think you will find SIM,
liar case, or number of cases, in all
the cities) went into copartnership on
a joint capital of $3.50. At first they,
paid cash and carried very small
stock. Then they borrowed money
presumably with promise to prefer
in case of failure), and with this bor--
rowed money bought goods for cash
with discounts off. From the proceeds.
of these goods the lending was paid in
. installments. 1t being known that
these merchants were paying cash they
were soon sought out by the argus
eyed omnipresent drummers for State,
and Northern firms. Inquiry is made
and nothing can be discovered to the:
personal discredt of these young met
chants, who are clever fellows and
in with the boys" Goods are sold to
them on credit, first in small quanti--
ties and on short time. Their bills.
are promptly settled. If they haven't
the cash they borrow as before. They
use the houses dealt with as references
These houses say: "They buy from
us-sometimes for cash and sometimes
on credit, and when upon credit their
bills are settled at maturity. Upon
investigation we car find nothing to
their discredit." There may or may
not be an arrangement by which these
houses shall in no event sui..::. More
goods are purchased, and tn mer-
chants move to a larger s.o1: IN Il
principal street, and do apparc";iy a
prosperous business. During che time:
they live we'll and spend money freely
They buy much larger stock than
usual, on credit and on long time
With their q money they each buy q
house worth from $1,000 to $4,000
and settle down. To dispose of their
surplus and the undesirable portion OF
their Stock or to " change the nature
of their business" they sell their i'm
mense stock of goods, bought on long
credit, at "cost" for cash, which they
pocket. When the stock is disposed
of SO that there is barely sufficient to
pay off preferences to home people $50
that any outside knowledge may not
be revealed and little local influence
will be exercised against them) and
perhaps to some Northern house, to
whom they have made a fraudulent
statement, they make an assignment
to some bosom crony, who is entirely
irresponsible financially and who by
the deed of trust, drawn by capable
lawyers and faultless upon its face, is |
given unlimited discretion; but in said
deed these merchants are careful to
preserve their rights to {" homestead
and personal exemptions as provided
by the Constitution and laws Of North
Carolina AS homestead each re-
ceives al the hands of selected friends
a house and lot worth say 500 at
low valuation. Each also receives as
personal exemptions $3.50 worth of
goods. They dispose OF these goods
tor cash (you notice they prefer taking
goods and with that cash they buy at
auction very nearly the entire stock
which is disposed of by the irrespon-
sible assignee at auction under Cir
cumstances most favorable to these
debtors. Then they begin business
in a short time as agents for their
wives, or some one else. In the course
of year or so, there may be modi-
fed repetition of the same thing
What can be more demoralizing to
honest and legitimate business ? What
can bring greater disgrace upon the
State1