The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-11-29
TRUSTEE PROCESS BILL.
Senator Gordon Defends Measure to Car
ny Out Party Promise.

|
Editor, Times. Senator Cushman has
published the defense of Senate bill No,
20, known as the trustee bill He claims
for it some peculiar virtues. Among
other things, he says it will secure credit
to the laborer, that it will not permit
and almost induce a man to be dishon-
est, that ii will be mutually beneficial
to creditor and debtor, that it win make
Conditions perfect and complete har-
mony be maintained" that it will be
best for the wage Garner and best carry
out the pledge Of the party. If the bill
could fulfil all these claims, it would
certainly be an ideal measure.
But we do not believe it would accom-
plish any of the objects claimed IN con-
sidering this question, we must view It
from practical standpoint. Under this
bill, the employer is made liable to pay
10 per cent of the weekly wage of an
employee to a judgment or creditor on
any sum, no matter how small If the
Judgment were for debt of one dollar
and costs, the costs would probably be
five dollars and the total Judgment would
therefore be for six dollars; or five times
the debt, or am increase of 500 per cent.
This result alone is sufficiently astonish-
ing to make the ordinary individual look
at the Cushman bill a second time but
it probably has no lettering effect on its
advocates. They do not seem to realize
what an opportunity would be furnished
for Shylock creditor to Cypress the
honest debtor. They assume that all
debtors are dishonest, when in fact the
great majority are honest or supposed to
be so by their creditors or else credit
would not be given. The prudent mer
chant does not now trust person known
TO be dishonest If he does, ought we
to pass a law that would open a door
for the oppression OF the honest? If
so, why not 20 back to the laws that
allowed Imprisonment for debt or a lit
tie farther back to the laws that per-
mitted the creditor to sell the debtor
into bondagei
There is another phase of the question
that does not seem to be taken into con-
sideration by the advocates of the Cush-
man bin. As a rule, the lower the abil.
ity of the debtor to earn wages, the
lower Is his ability to resist the tempta-
ton TO run in debt. Such wage earners
are more inclined than their stronger
brothers to incur debts beyond their abil-
| ity to pay. The pushing vendor has
them in large measure at his mercy
\ He would be willing to push his bar.
gains with greater credit If be could rely
upon the oppression that would be fur
nished him BY the Cushman bill for the
collection of his debt We have passed
many laws like our fraud and temper
ance laws, to protect men against their
own appetites and against frauds that
they do not have the ability to guard
against Why, then, should we not shape
our laws so as TO give no further advan-
tage, as the Cushman bin would do, to
the grasping or INSCRIPTIONS vendor
The vendor. as a rule, is shrewd, The
purchaser too frequently is simple
unwise Any person who has had any
considerable experience in the collection
business knows how true this is. Any
n law that guards the simple or unwise
against oppressive remedies with penal.
ties of 100 to 500 per cent, by way OF
bill of costs is as wise and humane as
laws against fraud. intemperance or cru
city to animals God makes many of
us simple. We are not to blame. The
NEiEAAkbl kAtlNo taAH AANAs LII AAtkA UET
ware
But Senator Cushman says his bin
has powers Of transmutation that it
will make the dishonest honest This
effect Of his bill must have been revealed
in vision. for It IS not based upon any
actual or known experience. The bill
does not provide for a trustee process
at all II provides for supplementary
proceedings in the nature OF an eXecu-
ton. No wages are held for attach
ment rs under our present law. The
fling of a copy Of the Judgment with
the employer operates as a levy upon 10
per cent OF the present and future wages
until the judgment Is paid Before a
Judgment can be obtained. at least six
days notice by way of summons must
Y be given to the dishonest creditor He
has six days notice TO abscond, Do you
believe the dead beat" will wait for
the filing Of the judgment before decamp.
ing, because. as Senator Cushman SAYS,
of the satisfaction that he is paying
I his debtss" If the satisfaction" of
paying his debts could have the effect on
him of making him honest after a large
bill of costs had been added to the debt,
why would not that Satisfaction" oper-
ate with the same efficacy before the
costs were addedf Would not the very
fact OF 4 greatly increased debt stimu-
late him to evade payments One Of the
great objects Of legislation should be, as
4 Gladstone SAYS, "to make 1t easier for
men to do right DO you make it easier
4 for man to pay bis debts by increasing
them manifold The claim that the bin
would prove moral tombstone is alb
surd in the light Of experience.
4 But there is another party, the en-
ployer, that must be reekoned with In
considering this bill BY its provisions,
he Is put under new and burdensome
obligations. Under our present trustee
law. he is put to little inconvenience, for
\ in the small suits against wage earners
/ the plaintiffs attorney usually looks
after his interests without expense and
/ he is always entitled TO his costs unless
/ in certain cases. when he contests his
4 liability and is defeated. Besides, he
is exempt from liability if the funds
I in his hands do not exceed ten dollars,
\ Yet the slight inconvenience that he now
suffers is sufficient in many cases to lead
/ him to adopt a rule that an employee
will be discharged in case of second
/ trustee process,
How whl it be with him under the
Cushman billg He will be subject to a
/ Judgment process for any sum from one
cent upwards But this is not the worst