The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-08
MAYOR CAYNOR HITS STAND
 OF COURTS
Declares Their Acts Many Times Block Social and Eco
 homie Justice
AMENDMENTS TO BE CURE

1ut6tVOUB hs1SuO " O6 OOut6 Would Overcome Effect by Changing
 of nstitutions-Doesn't Favor
 Recall of Judges.
 New Haven, May S-Mayor Gaynor of New York, former Justice of the Supreme Court bench of that State, before a large audience in Hendrie nall last evening criticized the atti- tude of the courts towards laws aimed at social and economic betterment and offered as the method for counteract- ing this stand and securing the legal status of such laws the amendment of constitutions so as to remove those objections which the courts found in the acts under the constitutions as at present in effect.
 Mayor Gaynor said in part:
 '@The subject on which you wish to hear me as you have put 1t down is, Are our courts standing in the way of social and economic justtce-and If so. by what authority I do not wish you to think that what I am about to say is something that I have set trary, while I was a justice of the Supreme court of my State. I publicly said the same thing frequently several years ago. It required some fort1tude to say it then. It made some look at me askance. But now those who say 1t have a hearing. And at the outset, let me say that I do not wish the question of the recall of public officials. Our terms of office. other than judicial, are so short that there does not seem to me any necessity for . recall. We can recall them quick enough at the end of their do not think the threat of the recall should hang over any public official to compel him to do anything. Weak officials would give way to 1t, and do things which their sober judgment told them they ought not to do. That would be no more true of the judges, however, than of other officials. do not rate the judicial department of the government as the most import ant. On the contrary, I think 1t the least important of all. Listening to mere private disputes day after day, which is the work our judges are en- gagged in. does not. compare to the important work of our executive off1- cials or of our legislatures. Of this be a recall of public officials, it should include the judges. I know of nc reason to exclude them. especially ir view of their long terms"
 Praises Competition.
 The Mayor then said:
 Perhaps the subject Distributive Justice would as we'll fit what I have to say. The prime object of govern ment is distrfbutive justice to all That means more than the mere rule of thumb administration of justice by the courts. It takes in legislative and executive action as well. Distrib- utive justice means that everybody will be dealt with justly as mem Der of society. Prosperity does no, depend alone on the amount of the total product of the industry of the community A just distribution oi the total product among those who produce it is also necessary for pros perity. Prosperity is the highest pro- duction which the community or the nation is capable of, consistent with the mental, moral and physical health of the community, accompanied by a just distribution of the total product ute to it's production. This does not mean share and share alike, but te each according to his mental or phy- sical work, or both, in producing the general result. You cannot place everyone on level, and give to each the same share of the total product That would do away with all zea and emulation, thereby greatly de- creasing the total product. Every one under such a system would be trying to do as little as possible. The result would be a small product, and general poverty, if not famine. The ideal system would be for everyone tc get what he actually earns. That would leave the whole field open te competition, and competition has beer and always will be the mother of ex. cellence in all things"
 Courts Stood in Way.
 The Mayor then said that this "dis- tributive justice of which he desired to speak included everything. It in- cluded proper wages, the hours oi work. the conditions under which work should be done, the safety of the workers, and the compensation and their work by the dangers inciden, thereto. He said that in recent years the courts had stood in the way o1 these things. In illustration he said he would call attention to some de. cisions of the courts. which he char. acterized as standing in the way o1 distributive justice.
 The mayor continued:
 'The courts instead of standing i, the way of this distributive justice or this social and economic justice if I may so call it, should, in tn, very nature of justice and right, ia vor 1t by their decisions. But strang, as it may seem, they are invoking cer tain provisions of our constitutions O. government, national and state, as tn, basis for their opposition. Indeed every economic abuse is using, O. trying to use. these constitutions guarantees as a shield. There is , provision in all of our constitution that No one shall be deprived of hi life, liberty or property except by du, process of law This is the provision of the constitution which is being us ed by the courts for the decisions t, which I have reference. But no on up to recent years ever dreamed O 1t being applied to the purposes whicl our courts are now applying it to The words liberty and property wer always understood to have their or dinary meaning in this constitutions guaranty until recent years. To de prive one of his liberty meant to phy sically interfere with him by arres or imprisonment, or some physica restraint To take a mans propert, meant the actual taking of his O: or his ass or his house. That wa the understa nding in this country u, to about 1870. Then some court sav l the elasticity of these words in thi constitutional provision. They say that the word liberty might h.