Ottumwa weekly courier., 1876-09-06
The Latest Opinions Of the New
York Papers on Gov. Titden's
Income Tax.


Did Gov. Tildcn pay his taxes hon
estlv during the war, or did he dis
honestly cvadc part of his income tax
from 1862 to 1871 inclusive? We re-
grct that there is, as yet, no answer to
this question from Gov. Tilden him.
self. We hope to see him meet it
soon and make an end Of it forever.
For it is not to the public interest that
such charges can be sustained, or can
even become current, against a pub
lie man, who has been trusted, and
who has stood MS bulwark for hon
est citizens against public robbery.
If Mr.. Tildcn can meet this question
fairly, those journals and persons by
whom it is treated tlippantly do him
grave injustice. If the accusation is
true, it is one which will injurc, and
to injurc any candidate, but it will
injurc Mr.. Tildcn in very peculiar.
degree. His strength lies in the fact
that he has exposed and prosecuted
men who have defrauded the public,
and it would be fatal to him if it
were established that he had been en-
riching himself by defrauding the
government. lie of all men living
at this time, cannot afford to appear
as one who
compounds for sins they are incllnedto,
by damning those they have no mind to-"
Nevertheless, mere presumption
ought not to condemn man whose
honorable character has been attain
ed by many years of life and many
important services. The behavior of
those who speak for Mr.. Tildcn. as
his especial champions and friends, is
far more damaging than the evidence
yet adduced. They treat the matter
tlippantly and contemptuously, as if it
were not an objection i'm the estima-
ton of honest citizens that q candi-
date for the presidency had cvaded
taxes or made false returns. Or they
explain that the large sums received
in 1862, and subsequent years, were
really earned by many years of pro-
fessional effort. Unhappily, this eX-
cuse is so shallow that. if it could be
supposed to be made by Mr.. Tilden
himself, it would justify an absolute
refusal OF confidence in him as an up
right and law-abiding citizen; for he,
being an excellent lawyer, must have
known that the courts would construe
the excise law as they have repeated
ly construed il, as covering the
amount actually received during a
year, no matter when earned. If Mr..
Tilden made n return based upon a
different Interpretation Of the law, he
made return which he knew was
not according to the intent and judi
cial construction of the act. Tnhap-
PLY, forced constructions of law, for
the purpose of evading taxes, were
not altogether rare during the war,
and they were not quite confined to
those who disscnted from the govern
ment; but the fact remains that they
were not in accordance with legal
obligations or strict integrity.
New York Times.
The country democratic newspa-
'pers are picking up courage enough
to attempt some explanation of Mr..
Tilden's fraudulent income-tax re-
turns. Like their city contempora-
rics, the rural organs confine their at
tention to the year 1862, deliberately
ignoring the fact that Mr.. Tilden
swindled the government in every
year between 1862 and 1872, though
he was cautious enough to avoid re-
pcating the crime Of perjury. We
have no objection, however. to dis
cuss the question on the basis of Mr..
Tilden's income for 1862, and we are
perfectly willing to accept the un-
heard-of Interpretation Of law under
which the Tildcn organs insist that it
was only on income actually "earned'
in 1862 that Mr.. Tildcn was legally
entitled to pay income tax. Conccd-
ing the utmost that his newspaper
apologies demand we are quite ready
to prove Mr.. Tildcn a pcrjurcr and
Swindlor