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VOL XXII.
No. 24.
Published Every Saturday at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, July 4,1896.
In The West.
The Law and trie Creditor.
TAPPER IN THE SHERIFF'S HANDS A REPLEVIN
SUIT THE EVERETT-BENT INFRINGE-
MENT SUIT GLEANINGS.
SOME REMARKS WHICH ARE PREGNANT WITH
COMMON SENSE—-THE PRESENT SYSTEM
OF CREDITS PLACES A PREMIUM
ON DISHONESTY.
P
ETER TAPPER, a manufacturer of
pianos, at 30 West Randolph street,
confessed judgment last Saturday in favor
of Wessell, Nickel & Gross for $810. A
Deputy Sheriff levied on Tapper's shop,
but found only a tew unfinished pianos
whose value would not satisfy the judgment.
Lyon, Potter & Co. are defendants in a
replevin suit brought by H. C. Jenks, a
money lender. The piano, a Vose, was
sold on the installment plan to a man
named Sullivan some time ago, and he
turned it over to Jenks as collateral for
money borrowed. Lyon, Potter & Co.
seized the instrument, having a prior
claim, hence the replevin suit. The case
is one of interest, inasmuch as it will de-
cide whether mortgaged property can be
resold without the consent of the mort-
gagor.
I. N. Reed, of 327 Wabash avenue, will,
in future, represent the Doll piano in this
city. He has purchased the balance of the
Rintelman stock, I understand, for cash.
The suit of the John Church Co. against
Geo. P. Bent for infringement of patents,
was before the United States Circuit Court
last week. Decision will not be rendered
before next October.
I understand that the assignee of the D.
H. Smith Music Co., an off-shoot of the
Wheelock concerns, has paid the creditors
a dividend of 10 per cent.
C. H. Winton, representative of the Mc-
Phail Piano Co., Boston, is sojourning in
this city.
The Russell Piano Co. must be busy, for
they have been fined $50 for violating the
smoke ordnance. I wish there was more
smoke from all the factory chimneys. It
would indicate more business.
A report from the West states that an at-
tachment has been issued against A. L.
Bancroft, of San Francisco, for $9,600.
The members of the music trade in this
city are taking an active interest in the
concerts to be held next Saturday, July 4th,
for the Root Monument Fund. Prominent
members of the trade have testified their
interest in their success by securing boxes.
HERE was once a time when the debtor
had no rights under the law. In an-
cient Rome he could be killed and his body
divided among his creditors. During the
middle ages he could be compelled to work
out his indebtedness, becoming, in fact, a
slave. Imprisonment for debt endured up
to the first quarter of the present century.
But the feeling that the honest debtor was
not and should not be treated as a criminal
even if unable to pay, has so affected mod-
ern legislation that through the efforts to
preserve the rights of the honest debtor the
creditor has been made the sufferer; the
safeguards intended to preserve the debtor
from persecution have become the protec-
tion of the criminal insolvent and operate
against the collections of just claims from
those who are able to pay, but will not.
A man seeks credit and bases his plea
for it on the fact that he possesses certain
property. This is often the sole reason
why he receives any consideration from the
credit department. How often does it
happen that his property is transferred by
some legal fiction just before his failure is
announced. Yet it is so difficult to attack
this sort of a transaction that in very few
cases is any attempt made to set it aside.
For this condition of affairs the debtor is
not wholly to blame. A premium is placed
upon dishonesty by the eagerness of firms
to sell. If a man offers the fact that he
owns real estate to the extent of $20,000 as
a basis for a line of credit to the extent of
$10,000, he might be asked to secure the
firm by a mortgage to that amount; but he
would not do it, because he can always find
some one to trust him, no matter hpw
shady his past commercial record may have
been, or how evident his lack of experience
in the business in which he proposed to en-
gage.
The injury that these men do is not con-
fined to those whom they owe. Their hon
est competitors suffer as well, remarks the
Apparel Gazette, very properly. Of a
recent failure it was said that the debtor
had made at least $40,000 by his settlement.
Was, in short, that much better off than if
T
$3.00 PER YEAR-
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS
he had paid his debts, yet his creditors ac-
cepted his offer, partly because they had to,
or else enter upon expensive litigation, and
partly because they hoped he would buy
other goods, which he would pay for. The
best friend the honest merchant has is the
jobber or manufacturer who scans credits
and forces payment to the full of his ac-
counts; is slow to accept settlements except
at 100 cents on the dollar, and refuses to
sell an)' firm that owes him on old accounts.
If all wholesalers would act on these rules,
business would be less of a game of chance,
in which the brainy, conscienceless mer-
chant has so big an advantage of the man
who tries to pay what he owes. The
credit man is usually the most berated per-
son about a wholesale house, yet if the re-
tailer would believe it, he is the best friend
he has. So far as he can, he stands out
for commercial morality. And it is a pity
that he cannot have his way more often
than he does.
They Handle the Sterling and
Huntington.
N last week's REVIEW, in referring to the
instruments handled by Lyon, Potter
& Co., no reference was made to two makes
of pianos which are exceedingly popular
with that great Western house, and with
which they have had phenomenal success
since handling. We refer to the Sterling
and Huntington pianos. Both of these in-
struments are sold largely by Lyon, Potter
& Co.
I
Spellman Appointed.
N June 30th, Judge Beach, of the
Supreme Court, appointed John H.
Speliman Receiver of the Muehlfeld &
Haynes Piano Co. This settles definitely
the matter which has been pending for
some time, and the Receiver will take pos-
session of the corporation's affairs imme-
diately. The Muehlfeld & Haynes Co.
some weeks ago requested the appointment
of W. F. Boothe as assignee. The appoint-
ment of Mr. Boothe was objected to by
some of the creditors, with the result as
stated above.
O
THE firm of Geo. Jardine & Son, organ
builders, has been reorganized. The new
firm will carry on the business under the
same firm name.