The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-16

4
| trict, particularly in the hard lumber mar
ket But one firm was in the hands of a
receiver. and that had paid i per cent
dividends. Hugo &. Rothert of the Third
said that his district had formerly been
| known as the home Of the White Caps, but
1 Of recent times, he said, business condi-
! tons had improved wonderfully The trade
| in timber was good There had been abund-
ant crops. Trade was good and the banks
| had been paying large dividends. Mr..
| Powell, Of the Fourth, said that business
was satisfactory and there was little de-
mand for money: /. H. G. Royse Of the
| Fifth, said that his observations were con-
| fined largely to Terre Haute where the
| conditions OF trade were most prosperous.
lde spoke OF one concern that this year had
800 men employed on full time, that last
year had but 2OC men on half time James
r. Henry spoke for the Seventh district,
lie quoted a number Of firms, showing that
business had improved, among them, R. q.
Dun & Co, George Merritt, J. Q. Van
| Winkle +. G. Atkins, III. Sells & Co, the
Van Camp Hardware Company and Fred
Baggs, manager of the clearing house. Mr..
companies reported discounts and loans up
to Oct. 5, 1898, amounting to 81, 414 2.42, as
compared with Sizes 257.37 in October, 1898,
1891, compared to SIC So. S31.67 in 1898 He
spoke OF the recent election as indicating
that the l6-to-1 policy has been settled in
Indiana, and argued that no further him
drance to business was to be anticipated
from this source. c. f. Church of the Eighth
district, reported the same general condi-
tons Of prosperity that We're mentioned by
others who had preceded him. Mortimer
lowering, of the Tenth district, had the
same story to recount. Deposits, he said,
were rs per cent. heavier than a year ago,
and there had been no bank failures and
few assignments of any kind. A large num-
Der Of labOrtng men had been employed
building bridges and making other public
| Improvements that had been made neces-
on behalf of the Thirteenth district, made
a report similar to those that had spoken
at large, spoke of the chances for securing
legislation on currency reform as a result
Of the recent election. lie spoke of the
necessity of extending Indiana trade into
China and the East.
THE NEW BANKRUPTCY LAW.
The principal and closing address of the
afternoon was made by Nathan Morris, Of
this city, who discussed the effects of the
National Bankruptcy Law as applied to
banks. MIR. Morris went into this subject
at length, carefully reviewing the law, and
his paper on this question was listened to
most attentively by the large number of
bankers present. After giving the provi-
| sions Of the law in detail, Mr.. Morris said
in part:
1.-The criminal provisions of the law
the merciful handling of the debtor
il Ions step from the not so very ancient
laws which made it the first object to put
the broken trader into jail and keep him
there until he showed good cause for be-
ing released, and still longer from those
older practices of selling the bankrupt
punished for only two offenses-concealne
of property from his trustee or making a
false oath or account Creditors may be
punished for presenting a false claim under
oath, or for receiving any material property
from the bankrupt after filing the petition,
with intent TO defeat the act The bankrupt,
it seems, can go scot free while participant
ing in act for which a creditor, the other
party thereto, may be imprisoned for i've
| years. ,EXtortng, or attempting TO eXtort,
money or property from any person, as a
consideration for acting or forbearing to act
N . nTOrPRGTnoC
! Tense, and besides, there are some crimes
defined, of which the court officials aione
| can be guilty 1t is quite clear that the
! debtor has no cause of complaint against
the severity OF the criminal provisions OF
."I'he petition. either voluntary or involun-
| tary, must be filed in the district where the
debtor had his principal place OF business,
or domicile for the greater part Of the pre-
( ceding six months; or, If he mas his principal
| place of business and domiclle ABROAD or
has been adjudged bankrupt by competent
/ court Of another country then, IN the uls-
reason to doubt that it will be held that, as
| between the courts of bankruptcy IN TINS
country, that court which first obtains Jur-
! isdietion to try the question of bankruptcy
! will retain it for that purpose, to the eX-
! clusion of all other district courts, and VIII
thus have control over the administration OF
| the bankrupt's estate, the question or ms
! discharge, and similar matters, 30 Iar' the
! law is unobjectonable. But intimately con-
| nected with these matters are various
| others over which jurisdiction is expressly
| in doubt The most important OF such an
| cillary matters are the enforcement py
! others Of liens upon and claims 10 the pat uto
| rupt's property ana enforcement Dy ,. ius
| trustee of the bankrupt's credits, securities
! and claims to property III the h9lus o.
/ others or involved in dispute, ana the an
nlIment of fraudulent or preferential trans
| actions The statute itself enters INTO no
! Classification. but makes genera pI ati
| ion the application Of which 70 any paftc-
ular case or classes OF cases IS lett 10 the
/ courts -, -, 4,.4oo a..
| nIaintiff must be brought in the state courts,
| in all cases where they would De required
! to be brought there, had the bankrupt been
! the plaintiff.
PREFERRED CLAIMS.
Then he discussed other questions Of juris-
diotion and took up the question of pre-
ferred claims, concerning which he said
! .e3efore the passage of this law a debtor
4 who was unable to meet his obligations
promptly was at the mercy of his creditors
Frequently he was importuned to give them
/ security and, when a trader, the general
method Of giving such security was by way
of mortgage or pledge, which was nearly
always the advance agent of failure, and
often a bad one. All means. fair and UNI
4 fair were resorted to by the creditor or his
| representative TO obtain such a preference,
the creditor being prompted by the desire
! to save his debt, without regard to the ell
feet upon the debtor or his creditors. 1t
! WAS u race u OA4ioCAiSV OCNNSOAt NASNA@OAN's
and everything essential to reach the goal
/ first was resorted to- a failure was often
! unnecessarily precipitated and both debtor
and creditor sacrificed. The urgent de-
| mands of the creditor would tenu TO create
! doubt in the mind of the debtor Of his SOL
vency and ability to pay his debts when
| otherwise such doubt would not have arisen,
! and as a consequence the debtor consider
| ing the future welfare OF himself and those
| dependent upon him, would begin TO plan
! how ne might best serve himself, and often
! at the expense of his integrity and his cred
! itors, and not infrequently with the advice
| ana active cooperation oil the favored cred
| itOr. To those who may doubt the correct
| ness of this statement | refer to the COM
mercal lawyers, who have had much eX-
! perence in matters of this kind in the past
! few years, and to the numerous cases in the
! books growing out Of just such conditions.
/ The bankruptcy law viii virtually put an
! end to this practice, and the 'wrecker' who
| has heretofore figured in failures will no
| longer be known. The creditor viii recog-
niZe it to his interest to indulge the honest
debtor, knowing that any preference he or
. other creditors might obtain would likely
| be set aside; and the honest debtor, know
| ing that he may expect Indulgence, will
/ have every Incentive TO avoid failure. BY
4 striking down the right to prefer, the law
| has removed q peril menacing both creditor
and debtor, and tends to establish mutual
| confidence rather than mutual ciStruSt'
HOW BANKERS WILL FARE.
He did not regard the law as against the
bankers, and concerning its provisions with
regard to preference being given them by
insolvents. he said:
Bankers have figured as preferred credi-