created by Section 3694 of the Revised Statutes: And provided further, That the two-per-centum bonds to be issued under the provisions of this act shall be issued at not less than par, and they shall be numbered consecutively in the order of their issue, and when payment is made the last numbers issued shall be first paid, and this order shall be followed until all the bonds are paid, and whenever any of the outstanding bonds are called for payment interest thereon shall cease three months after such call; and there is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to effect the exchanges of bonds provided for in this act, a sum not exceeding one-fifteenth of one per centum of the face value of said bonds, to pay the expenses of preparing and issuing the same and other expenses incident thereto.

SEC. 12. That upon the deposit with the Treasurer of the United States, by any national banking association, of any bonds of the United States in the manner provided by existing law, such association shall be entitled to receive from the Comptroller of the Currency circulating notes in blank, registered and countersigned as provided by law, equal in amount to the par value of the bonds so deposited; and any national banking association now having bonds on deposit for the security of circulating notes, and upon which an amount of circulating notes has been issued less than the par value of the bonds, shall be entitled, upon due application to the Comptroller of the Currency, to receive additional circulating notes in blank to an amount which will increase the circulating notes held by such association to the par value of the bonds deposited, such additional notes to be held and treated in the same way as circulating notes of national banking associations heretofore issued, and subject to all the provisions of law affecting such notes: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to modify or repeal the provisions of Section 5167 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, authorizing the Comptroller of the Currency to require additional deposits of bonds or of lawful money in case the market value of the bonds held to secure the circulating notes shall fall below the par value of the circulating notes outstanding for which such bonds may be deposited as security: And provided further, That the circulating notes furnished to national banking associations under the provisions of this act shall be of the denominations prescribed by law, except that no national banking association shall, after the passage of this act, be entitled to receive from the Comptroller of the Currency, or to issue or reissue or place in circulation, more than one-third in amount of its circulating notes of the denomination of $5: Any provided further, That the total amount of such notes issued to any such association may equal at any time but shall not exceed the amount at such time of its capital stock actually paid in: And provided further, That under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury any national banking

association may substitute the two-per-centum bonds issued under the provisions of this act for any of the bonds deposited with the Treasurer to secure circulation or to secure deposits of public money; and so much of an act entitled "An act to enable national banking associations to extend their corporate existence, and for other purposes," approved July 12, 1882, as prohibits any national bank which makes any deposit of lawful money in order to withdraw its circulating notes from receiving any increase of its circulation for the period of six months from the time it made such deposit of lawful money for the purpose aforesaid, is hereby repealed, and all other acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this section are hereby repealed. SEC. 13. That every national banking association having on deposit, as provided by law, bonds of the United States bearing interest at the rate of two per centum per annum, issued under the provisions of this act, to secure its circulating notes, shall pay to the Treasurer of the United States, in the months of January and July, a tax of one-fourth of one per centum each half year upon the average amount of such of its notes in circulation as are based upon the deposit of said two-per-centum bonds; and such taxes shall be in lieu of existing taxes on its notes in circulation imposed by Section 5214 of the Revised Statutes.

SEC. 14. That the provisions of this act are not intended to preclude the accomplishment of international bimetalism whenever conditions shall make it expedient and practicable to secure the same by concurrent action of the leading commercial nations of the world and at a ratio which shall insure permanence of relative value between gold and silver.

Approved March 4, 1900.

AMENDMENT TO UNITED STATES
BANKRUPTCY ACT

An Act to amend an Act entitled "An Act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States," approved July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That clause five of section 2 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "(5) Authorize the business of bankrupts to be conducted for limited periods by receivers, the marshals, or trustees, if necessary in the best interests of the estates, and allow such officers additional compensation for such services, but not at a greater rate than in this Act allowed trustees for similar services."

SECTION 2. That clause 4, subdivision (a) of section 3 of said Act, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"or (4) made a general assignment for the benefit of his creditors, or, being insolvent, applied for a receiver or trustee for his property or because of insolvency a receiver or trustee has been put in charge of his property under the laws of a State, of a Territory, or of the United States."

SECTION 3. That subdivision (b) of section 4 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

“(b) Any natural person, except a wage-earner, or a person engaged chiefly in farming or the tillage of the soil, any unincorporated company, and any corporation engaged principally in manufacturing, trading, printing, publishing, mining, or mercantile pursuits, owing debts to the amount of one thousand dollars or over, may be adjudged an involuntary bankrupt upon default or an impartial trial, and shall be subject to the provisions and entitled to the benefits of this Act. Private bankers, but not national banks or banks incorporated under State or Territorial laws, may be adjudged involuntary bankrupts.

"The bankruptcy of a corporation shall not release its officers, directors, or stockholders, as such, from any liability under the laws of a State or Territory or of the United States."

SECTION 4. That subdivision (b) of section 14 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(b) The judge shall hear the application for a discharge, and such proofs and pleas as may be made in opposition thereto by parties in

interest, at such time as will give parties in interest a reasonable opportunity to be fully heard, and investigate the merits of the application and discharge the applicant unless he has (1) committed an offense punishable by imprisonment as herein provided; or (2) with intent to conceal his financial condition, destroyed, concealed, or failed to keep books of account or records from which such condition might be ascertained; or (3) obtained property on credit from any person upon a materially false statement in writing made to such person for the purpose of obtaining such property on credit; or (4) at any time subsequent to the first day of the four months immediately preceding the filing of the petition transferred, removed, destroyed, or concealed, or permitted to be removed, destroyed, or concealed any of his property with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud his creditors; (5) in voluntary proceedings been granted a discharge in bankruptcy within six years; or (6) in the course of the proceedings in bankruptcy refused to obey any lawful order of or to answer any material question approved by the court."

SECTION 5. That section 17 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"SECTION 17. Debts Not Affected by a Discharge.- (a) A discharge in bankruptcy shall release a bankrupt from all of his provable debts, except such as (1) are due as a tax levied by the United States, the State, county, district, or municipality in which he resides; (2) are liabilities for obtaining property by false pretenses or false representations, or for wilful and malicious injuries to the person or property of another, or for alimony due or to become due, or for maintenance or support of wife or child, or for seduction of an unmarried female, or for criminal conversation; (3) have not been duly scheduled in time for proof and allowance, with the name of the creditor if known to the bankrupt, unless such creditor had notice or actual knowledge of the proceedings in bankruptcy; or (4) were created by his fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation, or defalcation while acting as an officer or in any fiduciary capacity."

SECTION 6. That subdivisions (a) and (b) of section 18 of said Act be, and the same are hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) Upon the filing of a petition for involuntary bankruptcy, service thereof, with a writ of subpoena, shall be made upon the person therein named as defendant in the same manner that service of such process is now had upon the commencement of a suit in equity in the courts of the United States, except that it shall be returnable within fifteen days, unless the judge shall for cause fix a longer time; but in case personal service cannot be made, then notice shall be given by publication in the same manner and for the same time as provided by law for notice by publication in suits to enforce a legal or equitable lien in courts of the United States, except that, unless the judge shall otherwise direct, the order shall be published not more than once a week

for two consecutive weeks, and the return day shall be ten days after the last publication unless the judge shall for cause fix a longer time."

"(b) The bankrupt, or any creditor, may appear and plead to the petition within five days after the return day, or within such further time as the court may allow."

SECTION 7. That subdivision (a) of section 21 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) A court of bankruptcy may, upon application of any officer, bankrupt, or creditor, by order require any designated person, including the bankrupt and his wife, to appear in court or before a referee or the judge of any State court, to be examined concerning the acts, conduct, or property of a bankrupt whose estate is in process of administration under this Act: Provided, That the wife may be examined only touching business transacted by her or to which she is a party, and to determine the fact whether she has transacted or been a party to any business of the bankrupt.

SECTION 8. That subdivision (b) of section 23 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(6) Suits by the trustee shall only be brought or prosecuted in the courts where the bankrupt, whose estate is being administered by such trustee, might have brought or prosecuted them if proceedings in bankruptcy had not been instituted, unless by consent of the proposed defendant, except suits for the recovery of property under section 60, subdivision (b), and section 67, subdivision (e).”

SECTION 9. That subdivision (a) of section 40 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) Referees shall receive as full compensation for their services, payable after they are rendered, a fee of fifteen dollars deposited with the clerk at the time the petition is filed in each case, except when a fee is not required from a voluntary bankrupt, and twenty-five cents for every proof of claim filed for allowance, to be paid from the estate, if any, as a part of the cost of administration, and from estates which have been administered before them one per centum commissions on all moneys disbursed to creditors by the trustee, or one-half of one per centum on the amount to be paid to creditors upon the confirmation of a composition."

SECTION 10. That section 47 is hereby amended by adding thereto the following subdivision:

"(c) The trustee shall, within thirty days after the adjudication, file a certified copy of the decree of adjudication in the office where conveyances of real estate are recorded in every county where the bankrupt owns real estate not exempt from execution, and pay the fee for such filing, and he shall receive a compensation of fifty cents for each copy so filed, which, together with the filing fee, shall be paid out of the estate of the bankrupt as a part of the cost and disbursements of the proceedings."