UNIFORM SYSTEM OF BANKRUPTCY.

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employed to not only secure prompt results, but as large dividends as possible that is to say, the referee and trustee will not receive any compensation from an estate until its administration is concluded, and the commissions they receive will be computed not upon the total outgo of the estates, but on the amount actually paid in dividends and com missions. The clerk will receive but a single fee, which will be paid to him in advance, and he therefore will be anxious to have the estate administered as quickly as possible, as he can not have any interest in delays in the administration or in piling up expenses.

The expenses are limited' by the bill we recommend to those which are actual and necessary, and it is required that they shall be reported in detail under oath to the court.

The committee is confident that the bill it recommends will not be found objectionable when it becomes a law because of the amount which will be expended in its administration.

BANKRUPTCY IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

The committee has taken no little pains to ascertain what other countries have done in respect to bankruptcy legislation. It has caused an examination to be made of the laws of other countries, so far as they are available, and of the reports of consuls of the United States on the credit and trade systems of other countries, and corresponded with the representatives from other countries to the United States, and from these various sources finds that the countries which have bankruptcy laws are as follows:

It is gratifying to note that the great nations of the world have responded to the needs of their people for a bankruptcy law. This fact should be of great value to us in forming a judgment as to whether or not we will carry out the provisions of the Constitution.

The committee did not ascertain whether or not there is a bankruptcy law in Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Peru, Syria, Switzerland, or Venezuela."

Aside from China and the United States, and possibly Japan, there are no countries of any considerable importance but what have bankruptcy laws.

In Guadeloupe there is no relief whatever for a bankrupt.

In Siam "there are no bankruptcy laws as we understand them. When a man's assets fall short of his liabilities, he either compounds with his creditors or leaves the country hurriedly. If taken, his own person and those of his family may be held until the debt be paid."

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UNIFORM SYSTEM OF BANKRUPTCY.

In China "the various foreign nationalities, except the United States, have bankruptcy laws which are enforced against their nationals, those of Germany being very strict, the others perhaps less so.

There never was such a law in existence among the Chinese as a bank. ruptcy law."

"All delinquents (in China] pass into the dishonored class and are soon put under process of coercive termination of a business career, and are subject to punishment by bamboo blows."

"The laws against bankrupts (in China] are theoretically very severe, a failure of $1,500 to $5,000 entailing banishment, and from $5,000 upward summary decapitation. No distinction is made between frandulent bankruptcy and unavoidable ones."

In Russia "the right to resume depends upon the good will of the creditors. If a compromise is effected, the bankrupt may at once resume, but a dissatisfied creditor, by a monthly payment of $2.25, can keep the bankrupt imprisoned until the debt is paid. Fraudulent bankrupts are punished by banishment to Siberia. There are no relief acts in bankruptcy."

In Liberia "when a person in business fails he must make an assign. ment of all his property, except one bed, one table, two chairs, cooking utensils, and so much wearing apparel as is privileged from execution. for the benefit of his creditors and * make oath that his assignment is true and correct; and must enter into bond, with good sureties, and he can not resume business for three years after the assignment." When a person fails in Switzerland he loses his civil rights.

Ought the United States to be classed hereafter with England, Germany, France, and their associates having bankruptcy laws or con tinue in the class with China?

It will be manifest from the foregoing that the provisions of this bill carry bankruptcy legislation into the domain of humanity to our debtors and creditors.

IN CONCLUSION.

We have not attempted in this report to point out all of the advantages that will follow the passage of a bankruptcy law such as we have recommended, nor have we so extended the report as to discuss all the objections that have been advanced from time to time. But in con sidering this bill all substantial objections have been considered and remedies provided.

We believe that we are recommending a law which will prove to be of great advantage to the country, and secure also the approving judg ment of the American people.

UNIFORM SYSTEM OF BANKRUPTCY.

EXHIBIT A.

FAILURES IN THE COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

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The number of commercial and industrial failures, the number engaged in com mercial and industrial pursuits, the percentage of failures to those so engaged, and the aggregate liabilities in dollars of those who have failed for the year 1879 (the first year after the repeal of the last bankruptcy law) and the year 1895, together with the total number of such failures, and the total amount of the liabilities of those who have failed in the last seventeen years, are shown by the following tables:

UNIFORM SYSTEM OF BANKRUPTCY.

EXHIBIT B.

FAILURES IN THE COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL WORLD,

51

Recapitulation for all of the States and Territories for the years 1879 to 1885, inclusive, of the number of commercial and industrial failures, the number engaged in those pursuits, the percentage of failures to those so engaged, and their aggregate liabilities in dollars: