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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1901)
Conservative * 11 27 , 1001 ] that any moiioy , paid by an insolvent , to any one of his creditors , even though it be paid in the ordinary course of his business , if paid within four mouths of his bankruptcy , whether the debtor was insolvent or not , and whether the creditor had any reason to suspect insolvency or not , or whether any preference -was intended or not , must be given up by the creditor as a condition precedent to having his claim allowed against the estate of the in solvent and participating in the divi dends of that estate ? And must not such a decision to a very large extent , unsettle all legitimate mercantile credit ? Can the existence of any law be continued and justified when the law itself is at bottom morally wrong ? Can the present Bankruptcy law be tolerated , except on the basis of expediency , and the imper ative public necessity for some sort of bankruptcy law ? Have not the condi tions which brought , this statute into existence passed away , and the necessity for just such a law ceased ? Is not its continuance a wrong and its spirit con trary to the righteous idea of holding each man responsible for his acts ? Is it not at base the government coming in to relieve a man from the obligations of his own contract ? In short , is it not an indulgent paternalism ? Was not the en actment of this law , without limiting its operations to a specific and compar atively short period of time , a mistake in economics and in morals ? Men are made strong , honest and prudent by teaching them that they must bear the consequence of being weak , imprudent and dishonest. One great objection to the present bankruptcy law is that it puts all creditors the careless , the in competent , the ignorant and the inat tentive , upon the same basis as the in telligent , the vigilant and the indus trious. The honest man who found himself deluged with debt , overwhelmed in the depths during the panic of 1893 and 1894 , could , in a majority of cases , compound with his creditors , by agree ment , upon surrender of his estate. But ' the fraudulent debtor who has , in viola tion of his creditors' rights , pretended to sell estates by transferring them to relatives , practically does away with any contest over the fraudulent aliena tion , because as creditors must all share pro rata in the division of an estate , no one creditor is interested in proceeding at his own expen&e , to contest the fraud ulent transfer for the benefit of all the creditors ; and , as a rule , these contests are therefore rarely made , and it is safe to say that in a great many instances , debtors have proceeded to bankruptcy and become relieved of their obligations while large estate were held practically iu trust for them by relatives and friends. In the western states I believe the rule is , too large exemptions from legal pro- cess. Perfectly well I remember an ex- eruption law in the fourth legislative assembly of the territory of Nebraska , which exempted from all legal process a quarter section of land and all the improvements thereon. This law was passed for the purpose of inviting men from other states to escape into Nebras ka with dishonestly acquired funds , which could be absorbed in a quarter- section homestead and protected against all invading or pursuing creditors. The result of such law-making ought to be and generally is disastrous to the people who indulge in it. The credit of the Ne braska pioneers referred to was based upon property , and as there was no property to speak of , except improved quarter-sections of land held as homes , the very basis of credit for everybody was knocked out and it was not long before common sense and honest de cency and self-respect caused the repeal of that wholesale exemption. It is safe to say that throughout the Northwest generally these exemptions have been very large , too largo , and in many of the states they are still quite too large. The fundamental and righteous idea of the exemption is , of course , that some protection or provision ought to be made for the family. But experience teaches that the larger the exemption , the more it encourages men-to rely upon government for protection : to depend upon law , rather than to face the asperities of their con ditions and to work out their own sal vation. The states severally , and the republic at large , need at this time a re vival , an arousement , as the Methodists call it , in favor of individual honesty and absolute mercantile integrity. All the commercial world ought to be con verted to the doctrine that a contract is a binding and not a voidable obligation. Every member of the industrial and commercial organiza tions of this country ought to under stand and swear allegiance to the great principle that as a man agrees to do so iu truth and honor , he must and shall do. The government should not be im portuned to protect the indolent , the extravagant and the thoughtless from the consequences of their own misman agement. The prevalent idea that it is the duty of the government to provide or secure every man a living and an es tate ought to be erased. Recent legislative assaults upon prop erty rights and against organized prop erty interests have degraded and cor rupted public sentiment. All attempts to divert from the provident to the im provident the fruits of industry and thrift are detrimental to the moral and social status of the people of the United States. All exemptions by state author ities should be restricted to a mini mum. All legislation which stands in the way , or which is intended to stand in the wayof the working out of modern commercial tendencies ought to be re pealed. It is not the function of the government to relieve the inert and improvident from the consequences of their own extravagance and indolence , at the expense of the frugal and indus trious. It is the function of govern ment to maintain the peace and to per mit each citizen to have an equal chance in the struggle for life , liberty and property under a system of fair , just and equitably administered laws. Each American must learn that he must defer for himself and not depend upon the government to do for him , and every body ought to know that to "do" the government by getting an unnecessary appropriation , or creating a sinecure for a political favorite is not statesmanship. All the "Stay laws , " whereby debtors suspend for an indefinite time the decree or judgment in favor of the creditor , ought to bo repealed. All laws which permit appeals in foreclosure cases , from orders confirming sales , upon bonds which do not protect the creditor , but which permit the defaulting debtor to remain in poeession of the land , reaping the harvest thereof , ought likewise to be repealed. The laws which intention ally make it difficult by delay , and very expensive for an owner to obtain from a defaulting tenant the posession of his property , ought likewise to be repealed. All laws which make it easy and cheap to appeal A cause , in order that the delay which the debtor thereby so profitably secures , because the delay is worth more to him than the 'ex pense of the appeal , ought to be obliter ated from the statute books. All laws , the theory and principle of which are to give to the debtor who has made default in his obligation some privilege of value , at the immediate expense of his creditor , ought to be repealed , because such laws are inherently dishonest and shame lessly reward dishonesty as though it were a merit. The class of laws alluded to are inimical to the debtor , whose best interests are conserved by speedy liquidation. They are likewise very expensive because the creditor in dealing with him , endeavors to guard against all these contingencies so far as he may , by charging a higher rate of interest or a higher price for goods. Thus the bur dens which fall alike upon the honest debtor and the dishonest one are created by unwise legislation. But the most malicious effect of this sort of law-making is its general result. Laws encourage and foster the spirit to which they pander. The ambition of dishonestly wresting from a creditor what it was agreed he should have makes the improvident a particular class , for - whose interest this sort of specific legis lation is enacted and for whom these special rights are provided. Whenever any class of citizens believe themselves * , ' entitled to enacted privileges , their demands - , / mands grow more importunate and * * '
