European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 23, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse Pct a 4 the stars and stripes monday october 23, 1967 cases have trebled in 10 years personal bankruptcies out of hand9 by Charles w. White new York Nana How serious is the personal bankruptcy explosion in the unite states and what s behind it these questions often Dis cussed informally at Bankers and economists meetings Are getting into Public reports and the word is that the personal or wage earner cop out of the prosperous 1960s is getting out of hand. Oddly it does t jibe wit the general consumer credit picture which according to re cent american Bankers association reports looks pretty Good and is improving. The trouble is one ban economist told this writer personal bankruptcies Are be ing stimulated not Only by fed eral Laws that make it too easy but by certain lawyers and political groups who Are making Hay out of it. They Are doing this at the expense of the Gen eral consumer Public which is showing itself remarkably Hon est and prudent about its Money he cited the fact that for All the debt and inflation we have Consumers Are stash ing record sums in savings Banks and other types of Sav ing. But the personal bankrupt cies continue to shoot up. Using government figures which tend to be a bit late . News & world report recently disclosed that personal bankruptcies have increase from 63,617 cases filed in 1957 to 191,729 at june 30, this year. To As chapter 13." apparently that in t such an unlucky number for workers. It Cost you $30 to file your Case and a Compromise is worked out so you can pay off at say 50 cents on the Dollar. The regular plan under which the person gets a Complete discharge costs $50 filing fee. Of course attorneys fees have to be added at from $130 to $300 a Case. Very few come in without attorneys said William Eede a District court clerk at Indianapolis. Too Many including one millionaire who Godown to his last Cadillac a few months ago it can be a Nice proposition. Most of our personal or individual bankruptcies run to $5,000 or $6,000 in bad debts Eede said with some of them getting up to $50,000 or can be anybody. We Don t keep records As to the Raci Langle but you could Call them Ordinary people of both race Sand various that is they be trebled Mak ing a rate of increase Chart that looks As though defaulters have been aiming to Plant their Flag on a fiscal Pike s Peak. There Are reports that thesis exactly what some of them intend to do the National Maga Zine said referring to recent concerted efforts of a civil rights group and others. In de troit say going bankrupt under generous Federal Laws might make a Nice Way to get eve with Whitey might it not take a typical midwestern metropolitan Center Indianapolis which has been enjoying Boom conditions with one of the lowest unemployment rates inthe country. John h. Lyst business editor of the Indianapolis Star in a special column on the subject disclosed recently that Federal bankruptcy referees Are so bus they re running about three weeks behind and Only one out of a dozen of these cases is a business failure. The business failure situation nationally according to Dun & Bradstreet has been running on a rather level line one referee inter viewed by Lyst confessed that he does t like to talk about per Sonal bankruptcies because too Many people apparently know too much about it now in this local situation As i others aggressive activities of lawyers who specialize in per Sonal bankruptcy cases have been hinted at but after All it entirely Legal. People in trouble Over Bills can file cases under the straight voluntary method or a special wage earner Splan the latter usually referred lookouts . Marine observers watch from a Hill at con Thien South Vietnam Dur ing a break in the shelling of the key outpost and relay information to their command post.b52s Are keeping up their heavy raids against North vietnamese positions. Up photo longest yet discovered dead sea scroll found Jerusalem a the longest dead sea scroll Ever found has come into israeli pos session prof. Gal Ladin one of Israel s Foremost archaeologists announced saturday scroll which Ladin said is unique in its contents was discovered where the Qumran sect had lived in the Judea desert where the other hebrew written 2,000-year-old dead sea scrolls were discovered. The scroll is written on very Fine Parchment. Ladin who addressed a ses Sion of the Israel exploration society Congress said the scroll including All fragments and incomplete columns is 24feet Long. Even the Isaiah scroll up to now considered Tobe the longest scroll in exist ence it is kept in the shrine of the Book at the Israel museum in Jerusalem is Only 21feet Long. The latest scroll has not yet been wholly deciphered Ladin said. It deals with four groups of subjects All referring to jewish religious rites of the Qumran sect in biblical times More than 2,000 years subjects include enumeration of the sacrifices according to the feasts among them heretofore unknown feasts such As the feast of the wine and the feast of the Oil All celebrated by the special Calendar of the Qumran sect. A Large collection of Rule dealing with miscellaneous subjects among them ritual in cleanliness and purification. A description of the tem ple. Almost half the scroll deals with the plan of the Temple and details of the work in it. This part describes in detail the Temple and its courts and the holy vessels giving details of the measurements. The Temple description is no identical with that in the known sources up to Date and it could be assumed that it refers to a Temple of a later statutes of the King. Some of the scroll s column Deal with the statutes of the King in particular with unknown rules about the phases of preparedness and mobilization of the people of Israel when a War of extermination threatens them from an attack ing foe. This description differs entirely from the description of the War in the scroll of the War of the sons of Light against the sons of darkness which concerns itself with inoffensive War of the end of the what Are Basic cause the trend lawyers and bankruptcy court officials who work with the prob Lem every Day blame it As much on ignorance business incompetence or occasional bad Luck a anything else. There is some chicanery mixed up in it but maybe not much. Not Long ago said a professional debt adjuster who counsels people under auspices of a charitable Organiza Tion i had an automobile dealer come in Here and ask me for a list of people who d been discharged in bankruptcy. He wanted to go after them forbore business on credit of course. We did t give him theist and never it has been demonstrate Dover and Over again in fact that going bankrupt does t de stroy one s personal credit. The truth is the Chari table adjuster said by the time you go bankrupt any dam age to your credit standing probably has already been be been slow a Long time. Probably you be been sued Orare about to be sued and Gar so bankruptcy instead of put Ting a defaulter out of the credit business often puts him backing. However that May be per Sonal bankruptcies Are a Load on the Economy to the extent of about $1.5 billion a year it a Cost of doing business that makes prices of what you buy from groceries to cars Edge up accordingly. The cop out phenomenon seems to be taking place against an otherwise cheerful consumer credit background. Although private debt has risen rapidly in the great postwar Boom with the ratio of Cash owned to debt deteriorating actual delinquencies seem to beekeeping on an even keel. The Public is honest an they usually show Good sense about keeping their Bills in manageable shape one banker said. Repayments of install ment debt As a percentage of income have been rising along with savings. Moreover a number of Bank ers interviewed said they be been keeping a very close Eye on their instalment debts try ing to maintain Quality of the credit they extend. Even the much debated Bank charge cards Are not creating a Delin Quency problem one banker re ported. But ask any banker or Mer Cantile credit Man about per Sonal bankruptcies and you May have to stand by to administer Pep pills or tranquil Izeris. One phrase kept recur ring in such interviews it s european. Edition col. James w. Campbell Usa editor in chiefly. Col. F. 8. Michael jr., Usan. Deputy editor in chief Arnold Burnett managing editor Elmer d. Frank production manager Henry r. Epstein circulation manager an unofficial newspaper of and for the . Armed forces published by tha commander in chief . European command and printed Dally at Darmstadt Germany. Military address the stars and stripes Apo 09175. International mail the stars and stripes Postrach 1034, 61-Darmstadt, Germany. Tell Griesheim c prefix 06155 2071 m Darmstadt air strip prefix 2376 741. New York office 641 Washington st., new York 10014, Tel area code 212 620-5771. Second class postage paid at new York . The appearance of display advertisements in this newspaper concerning commercial publications does not constitute an endorsement by the department of defense or any of its components. T. The United states is an open society in which the people s right to know is cherished and president Lyndon b. Johnson
