Year: 1877

There II one particular phase OF mod
ern society about which have ofter
tried to think charitably; but the more
think about 10 the more do dnd thai
my charitable impulses take on the
form of Indignation. To illustrate my
meaning, I will give you q touch OF


history: There is living I'm my street
. gentleman who was not long ago at
the head OF one Of the largest business
houses in Detroit. He lived In q mod
est way, comfortably, but In no degree
extravaganuy. His house failed and
In less than three months afterward
this unfortunate man began to live In


q style bordering ON the magnificent.


1t was certainly luxurious. His house
and grounds underwent q process OF


renewal. costing large sums Of money,
and his wife and daughters appeared


on the street In their carriage (pur-
chased since the failure, mind you), at
parties, at the opera and elsewhere, re-
splendent in purple and fine linen.
| The head of the family, whose failure


had plunged many deserving and for
u time almost helpless w0rkingmen
and their families into absolute want
because they could not get the wages
due them from their former employer,
smokes imported cigars, and, In his


way, enjoys life to the top OF his
| bent.
know another man, who for years


was considered the leading merchsnt
in Detroit. His establishment was
the fashionable emporium in his line


of trade, and Upper Ten Thousandom
| was not happy unless arrayed In gar
ments that had been trailed over his
counters. In the course Of time he,
| too, went under, and to day he lives In
luxurious idleness on the money that


by principle of right and common
honesty, belongs to his creditors.
was crossing Woodward avenue ut
State street one morning last week
| when I came very near being run
down by a superb span of bay horses,
whose proudly arching necks and
naughty step would have commanded


instant admiration anywhere. They
| could not have been bought for less
than a thousand dollars, 1 dare say,


and the carriage to which they were


attached shone like a mirror. AS /
sprang aside to escape knOck-down I
glanced involuntarily at the driver,


and saw man who failed in Detroit


less than year ago for hundreds of


thousands of dollars.


Do you wonder now why, whenever
/ think of these men, who represent a
much too numerous class Of frauds In
and / am tempted to call out, "St0p,


thiefp' whenever catch sight of


them? And what adds to my indigna-
tion is the circumstance that in all
of the three cases 1 have mentioned
the frauds are ostentatious pillars of
the church who live on money not
their own, and who lift up their voices
loudest and oftenest at the prayer


meetings.


lam willing to concede that many
good men go down in the crash of
business disaster, and for them have
no sentiment but compassion but
am firmly persuaded that where one
honest man has failed during the last
| four years fifty rascals have taken ad-
vantage of their creditors and dellber-


ately pocketed the proceeds of their


failures" These heartless sc0undrels
not only injure their creditors, but in


many instances their pretended fail


ures force merchandise upon the mar


ket at figures which are absolutely


ruinous to honest tradesmen who pay


their debts, and must, therefore, de-


mand a living price for their goods.


The result is stagnation whereof no


man can see the end.


There surely must be some way to


reach the dishonest authors of this


disorder. If our statute books afford
no protection, let US amend existing
laws or make new ones to fit the ne
cessity. Every journal in the land


owes it to itself, as the peoples palla-
dium, to agitate the question. The
evil has spread over the entire country,
and for my own part 1 would like to
see the powers that be adopt heroic


measures to wipe out or check its dis
astrous workings.


80! for q whip in every honest hand


To lash the rascals naked thro' the land"


A reporter of The Free Press drew
out G. II. Mabley on the fashion of
dishonest bankruptcy which has be.
come so alarmingly prevalent in the
United States. The first hint Of the
object of the reporters visit touched
the enterprising merchant on the raw,
as it were. He declared that the evil
had grown to altogether runmanageable
proportions and that as writer In The
Free Press of the previous Sunday sug-
gested, nothing but heroic measures
will check 1t.


"Why only think" said the gentle
man, "a man in business says to him
self, this thing is not paying very
well. I'll go down East and offer my
creditors twenty-five, thirty or posi-
bly, forty cents on the dollar. 1 know
they will snap at anything, and Tll
~.,tA C<xpt hi vNvsp
ahead, and nobody that care any
thing about will think a whit the less
of me. In fact, shall be looked upon
as a sharp fellow"


Reporter-"Have you ever known
time when dishonest bankruptcies
were as numerous as they are nOw%
things is simply unparalleled, and the
great trouble Is the public do not visit


the guilty ones with the condemna
ton they deserve. If there were
higher tone of public sentiment these
fellows could not pursue their outrage
GUS schemes with impunity, and we
should all, therefore, reap the benefit
of paying 100 cents on the dollar. j
haven't the least doubt that could
within thirty days compromise three
quarters of q million dollars at thirty
cents and retire from business with
we'll lined pockets. Those Eastern
men will snap at anything, OH the
principle that II Is always best to take
what they can get"


Reporter-"Have you suffered In
your own business from this cause"


Mabley-"I do not care to say any
thing that would injure anybody now
doing business here, but you can set 1t
down that indorse all The Free Press
said on that score last Sunday"


Have you ever thought
of remedy" 2"


Mabley-"Well, no; can't say that
/ have. You remember that In one
period of Roman history the merchant
who failed to pay his just debts was
sold with all his family into slavery,
and the odium of his bankruptcy at
tached to his descendants for geneer.
tions. In France, for example,, eveu
now to be known as the son Of q bank