Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1907-06-14
judge Gaynor on Tainted Money.

Judge w. ]. Gaynor of the appellate
division of the supreme court of New
York addressed the Knife and Fork club
of Kansas City May 90. Judge Gaynor
spoke on freight rate abuses. The Asso-
ciated Press gives extracts from Judge
Gaynor's speech as follows:
"There is no prejudice in this country
against honestly acquired wealth, how
ever large. 1t is wealth acquired infam-
ously which is under the ban of the
splendid intelligence and integrity of the
people of this country. The prime OBJ
iect of government IS to promote dis
tributve Justice to ALL Without this OBJ
iect being fulfilled there can be no true
prosperity. Prosperity is the highest
production which community is cap
able of consistent with the physical and
mental welfare of its members, accom-
panied by just distribution of the total
product among the producers. This does
not mean share and share alike, but ac-
cording to the productive capacity, phys
ical or mental, or both, of each. If a
few are getting each year, and constant
ly, by hook or by crook, the total pro-
Nduct of all who work, then the condition
is not one of prosperity.
sIf certain individuals in a short life
time become possessed of SO much prop
erty that they can make abnormal gifts
to charity; if one man can give away, for
instance, the vast sum of $32, 000,00 in
one gift without feeling it any more than
you would miss IS, we make fatal mis-
take if we ascribe such condition to
prosperity. If we find the railroads being
used to allow few to acquire such for
tunes at the expense of their fellowmen
by having their freight carried at rate
lower than others have to pay, so that
they are able to create monopolies in
themselves, our condition is not one OF
prosperity, but it is dangerous to the
perpetuity of our free government.
From the beginning of the world the
public highways always have been bull
by the government. In the same way
the government could have built our iror
highways-the railroads And ever
though privately built the railroads o.
} the country are still public highways.
"This is the decision of all the courts
: in the land. The corporations, nor thu
. individuals who control them, can no
/ do with them as they will. They arr
J mere trustees, or agencies of the govern
ment, to run them as, public highway
for the benefit of all, and without any
: favoritism or discrimination to anyone
Every free pass issued, every favor il
freight rates granted, is in defiance of tn
law. Some people are under the delusiol
: that recent statutes made these thing
unlawful. Not at all; they were unlaw
full from the beginning. We only need
ed statutes to make it a criminal offens
to grant them, and to Jail those witt
should grant them. That these public
r highways should be used to enable few
= men to destroy their business rivals is tn
l basest crime of our day and genera
ton.
t IF give an illustration, it is not TO
holding any one man up for reproacl
< above others. In 1870 l went through
e the oil regions of Pennsylvania and saw
( wilderness of derricks spread out owe
S the country over engines pumping oi
o from wells. Hundreds of people owne
o such wells, and were producing OIL Fiv
years later all these wells had passed int
the control of one man, or set of men
s All the other producers had failed an
n joined those unfortunates who fall b.
t the wayside in the struggle for exist