In re Albert O. Brown & Co.

HAND, District Judge.

Act March 2, 3867, c. 176, § 27, 14 Stat. 517, provided that priority should not be given, “except that wages due from him [the bankrupt] to any operative or clerk or house servant” shall be preferred. In the present act (Act July 1, 1898, c. 511, § 64b (4), 30 Stat. 563 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3447]) the words are “workman, clerk, or servant.” “Workman” is possibly a wider phrase than “operative,” and “servant” is undoubtedly wider than “house servant”; but the section is obviously copied after the law of 1867.

It is quite clear that Olmsted is not a “workman” for the…