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CHAPTER XXXII
NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY
I have, since I have been in the Senate, taken great interest
in the passage of a bill for a system of National Bankruptcy.
The Constitution gives Congress power to establish a uniform
system of Bankruptcy. The people of Massachusetts, a commercial
and manufacturing State from the beginning, have always desired
a Bankrupt law. They were large dealers with other States
and with other countries. Insolvent debtors in Massachusetts
could not get discharge from their debts contracted in such
dealings. The Massachusetts creditors having debts against
insolvents in other States found that their debtors under
the laws of those States either got preferences or made fraudulent
assignments which they could not detect or prevent.
On the other hand, the bankruptcy laws have always been unpopular
in many parts of the country. The Democrat who strictly construed
the Constitution did not like to see this power of Congress
vigorously exercised. The National Courts, who must administer
such laws, were always the object of jealousy and suspicion
in the South and West.
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