The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-02-01
NEW BANKRUPT
 LAW IS BETTER. Many Changes from the Old
 Instrument GREAT AID TO COMMERCE Chances for Fraud and Opportunities to Avoid Payment of Honest Debts Lessened in the Amended Sll'
 Will Soon be Approved.
GREAT AID TO COMMERCE
BY wArrERsoN sTEALEY.

washington, January Sl.-(special9- The concurrence of the house In the sen ate amendments to the bankruptcy act of 1898. and the probability that It VIII be shortly approved by the Presioenl' has caused numerous inquiries 10 pc nia"e as to the scope of the new amehuiuen.s'
 There were laid before the house Juuie- tarv comnoithee resolutions and commuhi- cations from more than 2o"o nianu- featuring and producing induslrles' "'s chants. wholesale and retail; creolt iiien and other business associations, lawyers judges. and business men generally rep resenting wholesale and retail uesieis emphatically approving the law asAlns It's retention, and approving the aInenu- ments which will shortly go ih'o feet.
 Of all communications received on this subject less than 10 per cent were op- posed to the bankruptcy law, ana Nhese' in the main, place their oppositioh oi inc oroundl of the defects in the law which the amendments seek to remedy. me communications were not the result or concerted action, but the result or oe- sire on the part of the committee on judiciary to fully ascertain the sentiment of the country on the question or the re- tention CT the repeal of the law Near the close of the last congress the chair- man of the house judiciary Judge Ray recently elevated to the federal peneh, sent out something like 15,0O0 inquiries indiscrin,inately addressed to all busl- ness interests, asking their opinion or the law and the advisability of It's re- tention and also asking their approval or disaDproval of the amendments pro- posed. 1t seemed to be snown by the responses that there is general de- mand for the retention Of the law, ana also a desire for the adoption Of the amendments, which have just been adopted
 Diminishes the Fees.
 Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, chair
 man of the judiciary committee, says the changes which have been effected are all in the line of ameliorating the con- dition of the bankrupt and diminishing | the fees.
 The important feature of the bill is that the Supreme court by majority of one has decided that creditor can
 not prove his claim if he has received payment of any debt against the debtor; /; | that is, if the debtors property is not
 equaE to his debts. Even if he received 1t innocently and without reason to be- lieve the debtors insolvency, he must surrender 1t before he can prove an un- disputed claim. The main feature Of the | bill corrects that.
 E. c. Brandenburg or this city, who | is the author of several works on bank r-uptcy and who Is specially retained by 1 the government in charge of bankruptcy
 matters says the bill as passed by the senate changes in some respects the pro- visions as the bill passed the house, not ably in that the provision authorizing a corporation to become q voluntary bank l'upt has been omitted and also omits the provision found in the Ray bill, which provides that when a bankrupt in any
 state has waived his right to exemp- tions fin favor of his creditors the bank ruptcy court shall not set apart to him this exemption as against said creditors. l This provision was particularly demanded | by many of the southern representatives. Old Law Effected Alabama. In discussing this question MT. Bran- \ denburg states that the question fre-
 quently arose in the states of Alabama | and Virginia, where a debtor had waived | his exemptions In favor of certain credi- | tors and then upon the institution of | bankruptcy proceedings ask that they be l set apart notwithstanding such waiver | The better authorities held that the court | of bankruptcy had no Jurisdiction over
 the matter other than to set the exemp-