Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-03-03
Especial washington Letter


Law.
Especial Washington letter.
The present congress is making rec
ord which will damn the Republican
party for all time The further it goes
the worse it gets. It's another case of
AFTER us the delugel' and it will be a
deluge and no mistake There are not a
dozen districts in the United States in
which the Republican candidate for
congress will not be busy explaining"
from the start, and the candidate who
makes an explaining campaign is al
ways heavily handicapped and general
ly is lost. History repeats itself. Nc
Kinley's bill lost them the elections in
1890, and his administration will lose
them the elections of 1898. After next
November divers disconsolate Republic
an statesmen will add to their vooabu-
larry new verb ''to McKinleyize, y
synoym for shoodoo. -
ssBlaclS Saturday" ~
In 1890 the Republicans passed the
Mckinley bill, which ruined hundreds
of thousands of honest and industrious
people 1t should never be forgotten
that it was the Mckinley bill which
converted a surplus into deficiency.
Feb. 10, 1898, which will be remem-
bered as Black Saturday, they passed
through the house bankruptcy bill,
variously known as ''the Torrey bill, y
"the Henderson bill" and the Torrey-
Henderson bill, = which, if it finally
becomes law, will turn over to the
tender mercies of United States mar
shals thousands of unfortunates who
have committed no crime save and ex-
cept becoming incapable of paying their
debts under Mckinley conditions. and
the federal courts will grind unceasing-
ly. This is returning with vengeance
to imprisonment for debt, a performance
SO cruel and unreasonable that it was
long since abandoned in this country.
No other American bankruptcy law
was half as oppressive and outrageous
as this enactment of the McHannaites.
Judge Bells Startling Statement.
Ny readers must not take this state
ment as reckless one made merely for
political effect. 1t is sober truth. In
deed, as the queen of Sheba said to King
| Solomon when she first beheld the
glories of the temple, 1.-THE half hath
not been told. / have not in the fore
| going remarks stated the moiety of the
| iniquities of this monstrous and infa-
nous bill.
Judge John @. Bell of Colorado is
universally acknowledged to be one of
the ablest and most conservative mem
bers of the house. His congressional ac-
quaintances, who have had opportunity
to study him, implicitly believe his
statements. They know that he does not
exaggerate. Our eastern friends appear
to believe that all Populists are wild
eyed and irresponsible demagogues with
out respectable antecedents and with an
| inevitable tendency toward anarchy.
Nothing could be wider of the truth.
On the average they rank up well with
Democrats and largely surpass Repub-
licans in all the elements of good citi-
zenship. Judge Bell is hereditary ju-
rist and statesman, being cousin to old
| John Bell Of Tennessee, candidate for
the presidency in 1860 and one of the
| greatest Wings that ever lived. He
served with distinction on the bench in
| Colorado. He thoroughly studied this
bankruptcy bill, and after mature delib-
GRAFTON he made this startling statement
on the floor of the house: "The gentle
man from Illinois (Mr. Conolly) has
said that in the act of 1900 we had 20
causes for bankruptcy. While my in
genious friend finds in the law Of 1900
| 90 causes of bankruptcy gentleman
who has gone over the four preliminary
pages of this bill and found the different
senses in which each of these terms
may be used tells me that there are 81
causes for bankruptcy in the bill under
consideration This gentleman was none
other than one Ct the senators who has
taken great interest in this bill. He fig.
ured out that there were IS reasons, aft
er man got into bankruptcy, why you
should keep him from escaping or OBJ
tanning discharge. y
After showing that the proposed law
is much severer than the law of 1900 ol
that of 1857 Judge Bell said: "Take
section 2, and what does it provide? II
provides that ii any debtor permits an
execution for $500 to be levied on his
property and remain there for a period
Of 80 days he may be thrown into bank.
ruptcy. Now, you know enough about
the laws delays and the powerlessness
of litigants to realize that shrewd
lawyer or a disreputable sheriff may an
noy man for 80 days and prevent him
from releasing his property if he were
disposed to do it. .
That statement is a deadener, bui
here is still stronger one by Judge
Bell:
IAN invincible objection to this bill
is that every retailer will have mas
ter. His wholesaler will hold this Law
over him, charge him whatever he sees
| fit, and he cannot change while be owes
anything Or he will meet his fate. 90
! casionally you will find man vicious
enough to use such law for revenge.
10 not believe that many men will be
thrown into involuntary bankruptcy II
this bill passes. 1t is not SO profitable tC
/ sell men out under such bill as it is tC
hold and control them under the over
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