No. 591 | E.D. Pa. | Dec 3, 1900
The bankrupt having moved to set aside the adjudication on the ground that a coal-mining company is not a corporation principally engaged in manufacturing, trading, .or mercantile pursuits (section 4, cl. “b,” Act 1898), the question was referred.to the referee, who decided in favor of the motion. The
That a mining company is not engaged in manufacturing, within the ordinary meaning of this word, lias been several times decided, and I agree with the correctness of the ruling. Whether a mining company is not engaged in trading — using that word in a large sense • — may, perhaps, admit of more doubt, and I am not sure how I might .decide that question'if the point arose now for the first time. But the question has already been decided in three eases that arose in other districts, and I am unable to reach a clear conviction that a different conclusion should have been reached. In view of the advisability of uniformity in decision, so far as uniformity may be attainable, I shall therefore follow my Brethren who have already considered lliis question and have decided that a mining company is not engaged in trading or mercantile pursuits. In re Elk Park Min. & Mill. Co. (D. C.) 101 F. 422" court="D. Colo." date_filed="1899-12-26" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/in-re-elk-park-mining--milling-co-8740858?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="8740858">101 Fed. 422; In re Rollins Gold & Silver Min. Co. (D. C.) 102 F. 982" court="S.D.N.Y." date_filed="1900-07-12" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/in-re-rollins-gold--silver-min-co-8741426?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="8741426">102 Fed. 982; In re Chicago-Joplin Lead & Zinc Co. (D. C.) 104 Fed. 67. See, also, the analogous cases In re Cameron Town Mut. Fire. Lightning & Windstorm Ins. Co. (D. C.) 96 F. 756" court="W.D. Mo." date_filed="1899-06-12" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/in-re-cameron-town-mut-fire-lightning--windstorm-ins-co-8866336?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="8866336">96 Fed. 756, and In re New York & W. Water Co. (D. C.) 98 F. 711" court="S.D.N.Y." date_filed="1900-01-08" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/in-re-new-york--w-water-co-8867650?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="8867650">98 Fed. 711. Contra, In re San Gabriel Sanatorium (D. C.) 95 F. 271" court="S.D. Cal." date_filed="1899-06-26" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/in-re-san-gabriel-sanatorium-co-8865789?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="8865789">95 Fed. 271.
It may, perhaps, be worth suggesting that, although mining companies are in some sense engaged in trade, nevertheless they belong so plainly to a distinct class of trading corporations that they’ are almost always specifically named in any statute that is intended to embrace them. Failure to name them, therefore, raises a presumption of some force that they were not. in the legislative view.
The adjudication is set aside, and the petition in bankruptcy is dismissed.