97 F. 26 | D. Ky. | 1899
C. A. Weaver proved his claim in this case for $300 for services rendered as a “traveling salesman” for the bankrupts within three months before the filing of the petition, and claimed a priority for the amount under section 64b (4) of the bankruptby act. Weaver, was employed by the bankrupt company as a traveling salesman at a salary of $5,000 per annum, and, the referee having refused to allow the priority claimed by him, he has petitioned the court to review that decision. The clause of the bankruptcy law referred to is in the following language: “The debts to have priority * * * shall be: * * * (4) Wages due to workmen, clerks or servants which have been earned within three months before the date of the commencement of the proceeidings, not to exceed three hundred dollars to each claimant.” 1116 determination of the question involved depends upon what is the correct meaning of the words “workmen, clerks or servants,” and whether a traveling salesman is such an employé as would come within the proper definition of any one of those words. It is argued that the definition should be controlled by the definition in the bankruptcy act of the phrase “wage earner.” While the court thinks it possible that that definition may throw some light upon the question, yet it is not at all clear that congress had in mind wage earners merely as defined by the act when it used the language in section 64 which- has just been quoted. The bankruptcy act in express terms excluded wage