Year: 1874

The Senate have taken hold of the bank


rupl law in earnest, and seem determined
to make something of it, that will tend to
the benefit Of the honest, unfortunate
debtor and, at the same time, give the Gre
ditor Il fair show. Systems of Bankruptcy
are nearly as old as the common or civil
law, and, with proper regulation, are almost
a commercial necessity. When business is
brought down to n cash basis, there will of
course. be 10 necessity for bankrupt or in
solvent laws. Then such names as debtor,
creditor, bankrupt, insolyent, etc, will be
obsolete So long, however, as the bulk of
trade is transacted upon credit there will


be bankruptcy necessity for something
like bankrupt laws. That there was sup
posed to be such a necessity is shown by
the clause IN our organic laws giving Con-
gress the power to pass uniform laws upon


the subject. 1t has further been shown, at
several times by the almost unanimous de-
mand of the people for the passage of such
a law. We need only refer to two occa-
sions : one Immediately after the panic of
1887, and the passage of which was made
an issue in the celebrated log cabin and
hard cider campaign of 1910 and then
soon after the close of the rebellion, which
resulted in the present law, approved
| March I'd, 1867, and has now been in force
being amended year after year-nearly
seven years, a longer period than any of
the former laws. The country-that is the
business interests of the country-needs
for its full development, and as an aid to
general wealth and prosperity, an uniform
system of bankruptcy or such system
has and will prove a detriment thereto.


Which has it proved If we may take
Great Britain and other foreign countries,


which have long had such laws in force,
or Massachusetts,, even, the answer must
be that it is beneficial. In reference to the


working of our national system, it may be
otherwise, and there are several reasons


why it should be so. Notwithstanding the


apparent failure of the law of 1867, as well


as of the former law, we doubt not that
! NAN AhANilo'iih bhHlhNco iliSls hhO Nhll WI


the great Industries and general business


of the country, feel the necessity of some


such system, although they have been COM


PEELED, in very self-defence, TO petition ant


work for the repeal of such laws as have


been passed.


There are several reasons for this-and i


is in the power of Congress to remedy mos


if not all of them-but we shall touch upoI


first place the action of Congress has beer


too spasm0dic on the matter. No law ha


heen suffered to remain on the statute bool


long enough for the people to become us,


to it, and govern themselves by it. On,
} reason for this is, to be sure, that tho mos
of these laws have been crude and i'm


perfect-hastily passed and as hastily re
pealed. Let law be drawn with all tn
: care and guards which distinguish othe
= laws, and, afterwards, perfected in place
where experience shows that 1t needs il
With such law, and the understanding
was to continue law, the business of th
. country would shape itself TO, and be ben
! Gifted by it Another trouble has bee
. that every one could rush, or be forced, in
= to bankruptcy whether they had any as
b sets or not. In the majority of cases |
the country, creditors have received jus
f nothing. The Senate have already adop
S ed an amendment under which no debto
= shall 90 into bankruptcy unless his asset
a pay thirty-three and third per cent. of h
d liabilities. There have been, too, a yer
: large per centage of fraudulent bankrupt
d at least we know of no other name
= call them by. We know personally of Il
r dividuals who took the benefit of the a.
!, in the first two or three years after its pa
/ sage, whose liabilities were large, VII
!, swore positively and unequlvocally tn
|. they had not directly or indirectly, OIL
l. cents worth of property, and, by virtue {
}. that oath-some friend, we presume, ha
u ing charitably given them the money