El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-06-19

- ing their annual convention in
Boston. The National Association Of
Credit men has been working for years
to secure the enactment of needed leg
islation by the United States and by
several of the states. and already has
had many new laws and amendments
to old laws written upon the statute
books of the country. Perhaps most
noteworthy among its achievements in
the field of legislation was its sue
cessful fight for the amendment of the
/ feder-l bankruptcy law. As amended
/ by congress in 1910 that statute meets
most of the ends which the credit men
Of the country have been taught by
experience to regard as necessary.
One of the principal amendments to
! the national bankruptcy law has to do
! with the compensation of receivers and
/ trustees. The courts had repeatedly
held that the matter OF compensation
! was in their discretion, and that they
! could order the receivers and trustees
/ paid any amount they saw fit Very
I often this resulted in 4 large part of
! the resources of the bankrupts estate
| being diverted as fees. Under the
! amended law there is j fixed scale OF
! charges graduated according to the
/ size OF the estate, beyond which the
! courts cannot go, although it lies with
I In their power to make the charges
! less than this maximum allowance.
Another amendment permits ordina-
] ~ corporations. except municipal, in
/ surance, banking and railroad corpora
tlOnS, to go into voluntary bankruptcy
thing that was denied under the old
/ law. The change permits creditors to
proceed against corporations adversely,
( thus avoiding long receiverships and
/ thinly drawn out litigation. Still an
/ other amendment permits insOlvent
( debtors, before the adjudication OF
! their causes, to compose matters with
their creditors sort of compromise
under the eye Of the court-thus en-
abling the debtor to avoid the stigma
of being declared a bankrupt" and al
the same time taking care Of all the le-
sal rights of all the creditors.
Under the new law a trustee in
J bankruptcy may oppose the discharge
of a bankrupt at the expense of the es-
tate Formerly such opposition ex-
who made the opposition. There is also
a more carefully hedged provision
about preferred creditors, making it
more difficult for man about 10 be-
come insolvent to cheat his ordinary
creditors out of what rishtfully be-
On the Job All the Time.
The National Association OF Credit
Men has a number Of important stand
ing committees which are on the job
all the year round. One of these is a
legal bureau, which renders services to
its members, free if research is not
required and for a nominal charge II
il is. Another is the bankruptcy law
bureau, which interprets the bank
ruptcy law for creditors ana wages a
constant campaign to educate the bust
ness world as TO its rights, duties and
remedies under the law
There are hundreds OF problems con-
Stantly arising with which the associa-
ton deals If a court decision on any
law point in any state is such as to
make ineffective j law designed TO
guard the interests Of creditors the
association takes immediate cogniZance /
OF II, and sets to work to have the de-
feet remedied. Does some individual
invent some new scheme for defraud-
ing creditors, the association haStens
10 expose the trick and to look for
new legislation which viii prevent the ]
future operation Of that scheme. Does
some man set up in business for the
purpose Of buying large quantities OF |
goods on credit and make away with /
them DerOre the account IS due. the /
association. as soon as the fraud is re- /
vealed, sets to work TO warn all bust i
ness houses against him and to bring l
him to justice.
There are many times when 4 man. J
with all good intentions, may do ]
wrong. What is lawful in one state is /
unlawful in another, and this conflict |
OF state laws has worked many hard
ship For instance, the legal rate OF
interest in Wyoming is eight percent.
4 business man might there draw up a
note for a debtor in another state to
sign, making eight percent the rate OF
interest Now, there are states where
such interest is unlawful, and if he
should have to sue for the payment OF !
the note the debtor might set up the /
usury law rs a complete defence. The /
credit men, therefore, aim to keep their
members informed concerning interest |
laws.
Many Business Houses Defrauded.
Many a business house has been de-
frauded by men carrying on business
under fictitious names or titles To
put an end to this abuse the association /
has drafted a model law on the subject, 1
and one by one the states are adopting
laws following the general ideas OF
this law. Again, many men have
sought to dodge their lawful creditors
by selling their property in bulk The
minute the creditors came IN they
would find a bill Of sale for the whole
stock of goods, and they were thus left
without opportunity to recover Ihus
a man might through colluSlon, de-
fraud every creditor. The credit Men
drafted a model law TO overcome this,
the provisions being essentially those
of the Michigan law, which requires
that the seller must furnish 70 the pur-
chaser list of all the creators, ana
he in turn must notify the creditors OF /
the proposed sale five days before 1t | ,
takes place. Otherwise the sale Is void | /
and the goods may be taken TO satisfy !
the creators. IN some SldlCS l4lG llO- 1
tfce is given by making it a matter of
record in the county clerks office OF
the county in which the vendor resides
Only six states still lack such law on i
their statute books. II
Have to Combat Queer Laws.
The credit men of the country have
some peculiar experiences ana come |
face to face with some queer laws in / I
the course of a years business. Some | !
time ago a manufacturer in Detroit, |
Mich. received an order from North {
Carolina signc5 John Doe, agent" q
The rating of the man making the or
Ter was looked up in Dun and Brad
street. and il was found to be excellent, 5
so the order was filled He received G
the goods, but failed TO pay for them /;
Finally the seller put his claim in the 1
hands Of an attorney. who brought suit I
against the man before justice of the / e
peace and was awarded a Judgment. I
NE defendant took an appeal and car
led it to the superior court. There it u
,annon may be needed to repel their q