Daily Kennebec journal., 1876-08-25
From the New York Times.
Is Gov, Tildcn q Pcrjurcr?

! One of Mr. Tildens chief sources of strength is
the belief in his great wealth. a wealth which he
has been lucky enough to acquire himself, and
chiefly within the last fifteen years. Mr.. Tilden
is anxious to have it believed that he was an
earnest upholder of the Government in its war
with secession, and did his full share in strengthen
ing its hands. Yet fnd inquiry in the
proper quarter that Mr.. TdeD, whose voluntary
contributions 10 the support of the nations life do
not appear where those of others are found, also
took not to contribute his due share of the
involuntary contributions which IN theory all OF
lis were compelled to make. In other word, our
great +, former, defender OF honesty our earn
est suppo ter of the Government cOntrived in very
questionable ways to pay just as little as possible
of the tax due from him on the great wealth he
was acquiring during tue ten years or more that
a tax was imposed upon incomes.
The first Income Tax law was passed in August,
1861, and imposed tax upon the incomes of that
year, TO be collected in the Spring of 1862.
Amendments made in July, 1862, and at
various later periods. A, Is well known, every
was required TO make a return Of his income
under oath and with considerable detail. Mr.
Tidtn ma lie returns Tor the years 1862 and 1863
but after that time he seems TO have come to the
conclusion that it was cheaper for him to make no
return, bat 10 leave the Assessor to guess at his
income, and then to pay tax upon that sum
guessed at, with the penalty OF fifty per cent
added which the law imposed for failure to make
a return. And so Mr. 1llden made no return cf
his income after that of 1863 for all the years dur
ins which that tax continued, which down to
1872. We presume no one will suggest that year
after year he submitted to pay nalty for not
making a return, and to pay besides his jlst share
OF the TAX. The lnev table conclusion Is, that he
found it cheaper not to do an honest citizen,
sincere uplolder of the Government, would have
done-make out correct return OF his income
annually, and pay the tax upon 1t. Ii any one
has a lingering doubt upon that subject, 1t will
vanish when we say that during the entire period
OF the imposition OF the income tax, Mr.. Tilden
millionaire he was, paid tax average
income, penalties included, OF about fifteen thou
sand dollars year. This, be it remembered, was
during the years when he was receiving that large
income from his occupation as q railway wrecker
which has made his enormous fortune.
1t was during those years that he was rcorganiZ
ing the St. Louis, Alton and Terre Haute Rail-
road Company from which, alone, he admits under
oath, that he received in year twenty thousand
dollars in cash and a large amount of bonds that
he was, as partner, counsel and Trustee, gobblng
up the Galena and Chicago Railroad Company in
Illinois; that he was appropiiaiing to himself the
great profits OF the Continental Improvement
Company, and the Grand Rapids and Indiana
Railroad Company, and the Peninsular Railroad
Company, in Michigan. II was during this period
that, counsel OF Oahes Ames, he gave the
advice which led to the Credit Mobilicr, with its
crop of frauds and scandals 1t was during this
period, too that he stands charged upon the books
Of the Erie Railroad Company with twenty thou.
sand dollars paid to him tor legal services, extend
ing over two months only. 1t was during this
period tnat he purchased MS cOstiy reSlutHCe at
Gramercy Park. Yet, with all these sources and
evidences of large income, this earnest supporter
of the Government contrived to pay tax ON an
average income of only about fifteen thousand
dollars year. If the laws were enforced against
our model reformer we have no hesitation in say
ing he would have to disgorge large sum out OF
which he has cheated the Government. Why do
not the authorities take measures to compel him to
pay up? There is, we believe statute of limita-
tion against the Government in civil actions, so
ka ,ptnt tna1 md n npp al
prosecution is barred Mr.. TIlden, if his evidence
were needed, could not refuse to testify the
ground of eliminating himself.
Ii such suit is brought, we can suggest to the
Government where it will hnd some conclusive
testimony. On Dec. 26, 1868, Mr.. Tllden swore
to a return, under oath, in which he said II
hereby certify that the following is a true and
faithful statement of the gains, profits, or income
of Samuel j. Tilden, of the City of New York,
and County of New York, State of New York,
whether derived from any kind of properly, rents,
interest, dividends salary, or from any profession,
trade employ ment, or vocation, or from any other
/ source whatever from lst day of January to 3lst
day of December, 1862 both days inclusive, and
subject to an income tax under the Excise laws of
the United States. Income from all sources,
$7llS"
In other words, in December 1868. Mr.. Tilden
swore that his entire income liable to tax during
the year 1862 was 81 ,llS and upon that sum and
that sum alone, did he pay any tax. But in his
answer to the complaint in the Circuit Court of
the United States, in the suit of the St. Louis AL
ton & 1erre Haute Railroad Company against
himself and Others which answer was flied ~ few
davs ago, Mr.. Tiien swore under oath as follows
"That for such services the defendant TIlden
made charge of $4,000 against said second
mortgage bondhoders, and the said charge was
paid by or on behalf of said second mortgage
bondholders, on the 18th of October, 1862;
that the defendant Tilden, for part of his ser.
vices aforesaid, also made a charge of the like
sum of $4,000 account of professional SER
vices rem lered to the first mortgage bondholders
and The Receivers, which was paid to him by the
said Azariah C. Fiagg, and which @ pay
ment appears under date OF Nov. Z, 1862, in q
statement annexed to the first report aforesaid as
having been receipted for by the said Tilden, 'on
account of professional services"
10 other words, having sworn in 1868 that his
entire income for the year 1862 from all sources
liable to taxation-counsel fees, dividends rents,
profts-was only $7llS. he in 1876 swears that
during the same year 1862, he received from two
sources alope-his services 10 a single company
/ $40 000 Bv his own sworn admission therefore,
MIR. Tilden stands Indebted to the Government in
a considerable sum for unpaid income tax Of 1862,
and we nave two oaths by Mr.. Tilden, utterly in
consistent with each other. And yet this man Is
the honest man, the reformer of the country
We Of course do not overlook the fact that Mr..
Tilden's oath in 1862 that his income liable 10
taxation was only $7llS, and that, in arriving at
his taxable income, he was legally entitled to
make certain deductions from his gross income.
if he had no income whatever except the twenty
thousand dollars which he admits having received
from the Terre Haute Railroad Company, his de-
ductions for expenses, taxes, &C., would have
been nearly $4,000. That there could not hon.
estly have been any such amount of deductions is
clear from the fact that when, in 1868, Mr.. Tiden
made detailed return of his income, he could
figure out his deductions for expenses, repairs,
taxes ard other items allowed under the law, at
only $6552. But it is of course clear that in 1862
Mr.. Tilden must have had much income other
than the 500, 600 he admits having received from
the Terre Haute Railroad Company. His profess
sional income from other sources in that year
must have been large. Moreover, that he had a
considerable income from other sources is rem
dered certain by the fact that in 1868, when he
made a detailed statement of his income for that
year, he disclosed an income of nearly $4,000
from dividends and interest on investments. 1t
seems to US that it would be well for the Govern
ment to give MIR. Tdcn chance to explain IN at
tiers under circumstances where cross examina .
ton would refresh his memory.
Mr.. Tildens answer in the Circuit Court, to
which we have referred, contains other pregnant
evidence of still greater profits of his which es-
capped taxation. The complaint in that case
charged that there was about $2SO,760 Of mort
gage bonds and $49l 900 of stock Of the Terre
Haute, Alton 4 St. Louis Railroad Co., which
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