Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-10-17
JUSTICE GAYNoR OPPOSES GOV
EMINENT OWNERSHIP,
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE BEST
Declares That Monopoly Is a Curse
overgrown Private Fortunes Held
To Be An Evil-WrongIy Ac-
quired Wealth Now Under the
Ban of intelligence.

that if the Tebates being given to IA
vorite shippers, and by them divided
up with railroad magnates and offic-
ials. were paid into the treasures of
the railroads. the amount thus re-
ceived would be declared out in diyi-
dends, and that dividens would there
by be largely increased? 1t used to
be a saying that a fool was born
every minute, and l fear it holds good
yet. Every one should support the
president ana the government in
eradicating this great evil. And we
must see to it that a successor to
President Roosevelt is elected who
will continue the work with his I'M
abated energy and purpose. l do not
think, however, that the evil can
ever be eradlcated by mere govern
ment prosecutions. An ounce of ex.
ecutiVe prevention would be worth
more than a pound of judicial cure.
Bismarck found in Germany that the
the government could not stop the
evil while roads remained in pri-
Yate hands. There are too many ways
OF secretly evading the law. Goods
can be billed at half their weight,
cars at half their capacity, and so on
through a long ist of ways of conceal
| ment and evasion. That great man,
therefore, had the government take
all of the railroads in Germany. For
my part would not like to Sc that
| done here"
So spoke Justice William J. Gaynor
of New York, in an address yesterday
in which he dwelt principally on
moral force in government.
He declared that private enter
prise is too valuable to be eliminated
from railroad operation and develop
ment.
Il would suggest" he said, that
the government should appoint the
general freight agent of every rail
| road He would not fix the rates.
They would be fixed by the companies
as now. but he would see that there
was no favoritism, that every one
paid the same rate, no more and no
less. He would instantly remove any
local agent that gave any favoritism
and also have him indicted and con-
! victed. This would summarily stop
favoritism in freight rates. This par
ticipation of government in the man
agement of the roads would be better
| than for government to take them.
But this one thing you may depend
on, namely, the people of this coun-
try have made up their minds that
| they will stop it, and halt at no meas
ure necessary to stop it. If in the last
pass they cannot stop it except by
taking the railroads then they wilt
| take them"
In speaking of the monopolies Gre
ated and sustained by fayoritism in
freight rates Judge Gaynor said:
"A monopoly is a curse. Both NOR
ais and labor abhor II, and no free
people will submit to it. Ii is q means
of oppression and debasement of the
many for the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the
! few. 1t enables private fortunes to be
accumulated, so vast and dishonest
that they provoke general discomfort
| and formal protest. This fayOritism in
! freight rates is the mother of mOnop-
| olies. One having a monopoly of a
| finished product is able, to arbitrarily
| fix the price at which the producer or
| grower of the raw material he uses
must sell it to him, for he is the sole
| buyer of such raw material. He is al
so able to fix his purchase price Of
| such raw material below such eConom-
| ic point, that is to say, below price
| which will enable the producer or
| grower of such raw material to at
least live, the production thereof will
| fall off and its consequent scarcity
| raise the price of it. On the other
hand, if he fix his selling price of the
finished product above the price that
people can pay, his sales will fall off.
But in the wide zone between these
| two economic points he can do as he
will. He can put down the price he
| pays to the grower or producer of
the raw material, and put Up the
price he charges the consumer.
Monopolies prevent that distributive
justice-that just distribution of the
total product of industry among the
/ producers thereof, of industry among
| the producers thereof, not share and
share alike, but according tosthe pro-
| ductive capacity Of each-which 1t is
| the prime object Of government to
| secure. They tax and exhaust the
many and create undue wealth in the
! few. Where monopoly rules, over
/ grown private fortunes, which could
| not be honestly acquired, become
common, and all the train of evils
/ which follow sucn a condition. Monop-
oily is an unjust tax on every mem
Der of society, and is intolerable from
every point Of view. There Is no pre-
| JUDGE against honestly acquired
| wealth in this country. 1t is Infamous
| ly acquired wealth which Is under the
| ban of the splendid intelligence and
| integrity of the people Of this coun-
| try"
I MICHIGAN LEGISLATURE
CoppECTtNH pRIMARH aW