The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-01
BANKRUPTCY RECORD
 BROKEN IN AUGUST
Alabama Ranks Third in Num-
 Der of Petitions Filed
MANY CASES ARE PATHETIC
Officers Attribute the Large Bank ruptcy Business to Strict Garnlsh-
 ment Laws In Alabama,
 Story of an Engineer.

That very large percentage of the peo- pie of Alabama believe in the bankruptcy laws is shown by the number of petitions filed every month. The month of August was a record-breaker. there being a total of eighty-one cases filed with Charles j. Allison. clerk of the United States court. Very few of these cases amounted 10 any large sum of money, and in the opn- ion of Deputy Clerk Charles R. Johnson a very large per cent of them are the re- suit of the strict garnishment laws Of Alabama.
 Fully 5O per cent of these elghty-one cases were filed by negroes who had fallen into the clutches of the modern Shylocks and who turned to the bank ruptcy court their last refuge. A very large per cent of the remaining cases were those of honest but unfortunate wage-earners who wished to pay their debts, but who were unable to hold a job for any length of time on account of garnishments being filed against them by their creditors There Is a rule among many of the railroads and large concerns here which discharges any empoye who has a garnshment filed against him.
 Practically every one of the cases were those of wage-earners. There were only a few concerns included In the list, and most of those listed were very small There were only one or two cases where the amount involved passed the $1O,00O mark.
 Hr Tnb q hi said:
 Alabama Stands Third.
 Statistics issued q year or two ago placed Alabama third among the states in regard to the number of petitions filed In bankruptcy. But while Albama ranks third in the number filed, the amount of money involved was very small, and far below that of the other states. New York headed the list of the number filed. H. llnois came next and Alabama was third. Practically all of the petitions filed during August were filed by wage-earners. fully per cent of whom were negroes I attribute this to the garnishment laws of Alabama,
 "A negro will go to a money shark, borrow s5 pay interest on it for a week
 
 pay this interest with cant be found Another money lender will be visited, and the same programme carried out. This will be kept up until about a dozen of these lenders are after the negro. Then the bankruptcy court is looked up and the petition follows
 Most of the petitions filed by white persons are also those of wage-earners, and 1t is these cases which arouse the sympathy in a man. Some of them are very pathetic being the cases of honest men who are willing to pay their debts but who have been unfortunate Sickness is generally the cause of this misfortune for instance:
 Example of Unfortunate Man.
 "A petition was filed by man who was locomotive engineer and who had one of his hands mamed so that he could not handle a locomotive on a long run He could, however handle one in the yards of the large concerns around here. His wife became very i'll and he was put to q great deal of expense and was kept away from his work q large por- tion of the time Debts began to ac-
 
 on account of a garnishment being made against him. He lost several jobs in this way and finally came to the bankruptcy courts in sheer desperation. When he filed his petition he said that 1t was his intention to pay his debts with the exception of one man, who had not treat ed him right. He had found this inn possible to do though on account of the many garnishments filed against him. He was cleared of his debts and came in n few days ago and advised that he had paid every one of them. including the man whom he had said he would never pay. This man was honest. but unfor- tunate, and as soon as he was placed in position where he could hold job without being garnisheed was able to get himself out of debt.
 This is only one of many cases. Near ly all of these men signify their intention of paying their debts and ultimately do August was record breaker. A strange coincidence about bankruptcy cases is the regularity in the number of filed the number O. cases being between 65 and TO every month. This average holds good all the year round"
 The northern district of Alabama is handled by three clerks-one at Birming ham, che at Anniston and one at Hunts vile. The Birmingham office handles the southern and western portion of this district and handles more business than any other office in the state. two referees being required to handle the business
 Sacred Concert.
 There will be d sacred concert tonight