The Portland daily press., 1876-08-08
Our NewYOrk Letter.
The Letters of fAcceptance-Curious Doc.
uments-Surrender of the Hard Money
Men-Hoiiowness of the Preienees Of
Reform.
New YORK, Aug. 5, 1876.

undoubtedly very much impaired by the delay
In their preparation, but the gravity of the stu
alton sufficiently accounts for that. Our calcu-
iating Governor enjoys andlI fancy is rather
| proud of the reputation Of being an astute DO
ltical strategist. The st. Louis Convention
| gave him an admirable opportunity of display
ing his skill In this line. To reconcile opinions
so divergent as his and those of his indiana
associate would have seemed an impossibility
to an ordinary mind Mr.. Tilden has always
been hard money Democrat. In the earlier
| days OF his party, he was in agreement with
that uncomDromising bullionist, Thomas II.
| Benton, on this subject. He not only believed
in gold, but was rather averse to any form of
| paper money. He has never indicated the
slightest symptom Of wavering in his support
| OF these views. Left to his own inclinations he
would undoubtedly have embodied in his letter
of acceptance, vigorous protest against the
smallest concession to the initiation craze But
the temptation to exert his ingenuity in fixing
things SO that the party might get the benefit
the hard policy in the East, and the soft policy
in the West, led him to set about contriying the
scheme which stands revealed in these two
| curious documents. /. was by no means an
easy task 1t required repeated consultations
and negotiations and vast quantity of argu-
ment, expostulaton and adroitness. The two
principals were not the only actors in the dra-
ma. The lower House of Congress was
made to play leading part in it. The plot
turned upon the repeal of the Resumption Act
Mr.. Tilden and his friends deprecated this pro-
ceeding as humiliation and folly. Mr. Hen
bricks and his followers insisted that it must and
should be done. No entreaties could move
them from their purpose.
For while the Tilden men showed some
pluck and seemed disposed to break with the
Hendricks men rather than stultify themselves
by consentlng to so unreasonable o demand.
But here the question of expediency arose and
1t had a potent influence in weakening Gov.
| Tilden's spinal column. He thought of Indiana
and tbs State election there on the 10th Of
October. He realized that on the issue lof that
contest hung all his hopes of the Presidency.
He hesitated, softened and succumbed. But
that was only the initial act of the surrender
the hosting of the white flag and call to par
icy. The Committee on Banking and Currency
had to be ''seen" and labored With. With all the
various stages of the negotiation which led to
the conversion of the number of members of
the Committee necessary to secure a report in
l
lar. If such shameless bargaining had ever
taken place among the Republicans, the party
would have repudiated 1t and the participants
in it promptly and decisively. One member was
permitted to retain seat be had usurped and
to which he had no legal claim, as the price of
his apostacy.
At last, when the tally showed working
majority" in the Committee and the House,
the mine was fred. The letter was published
and the repeal carried the same day. They be-
longed together and were very properly Matched
simultaneously.
Now this sort of thing would deserve the
name of jugglery If it had not been managed so
bunglingly that everybody could see the trick.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of
any bird, +" runs the Scriptural proverb. A trap
that is set to catch contractioni SITS and infa-
tlonists, with spring and bait in plain sight Of
| both, is not very we'll adapted to make many
| captiyes. How much better it would have
been, as we'll on the score of candor as of wis
| dom, ii Mr.. Tilden had written plain, straight
forward letter of acceptance declaring himself
| unequivecally in favor of a return to specie
payments, as much earlier than the day fixed
| as practicable, but in no event later. That ia
what he would have said if he had been left
free to express his actual opinions. The parts
of his letter. in the composition of which he
was not hampered by the interference of his
associate, are in the main creditable to him.
The averments that resumption does not seem
to him "a work of dificulty"--that ''if wise
y planned and discreetly persued, it ought not
| to cost any sacrifice to the business of the coun-
try"-'that it shoul tend on the contrary, to q
/ oe Il ..xskt
the approval and concurrence of thoughtful
men. who have devoted careful consideration TO
the subject of finance. But the force of these
commendable utterances is greatly diminished
by his obviously insineere defence of the abro-
cation of the promise of the country to redeem
on fixed day. This was obviously wrung from
him by an imaginary political exigeney, and
makes discord with what goes before it.
The Governor leaves no room for doubt as to
what he would do in respect to civil service re-
form if he were elected TO the Presidency. On
that point the Democratic mind is in no mood
to be trifed with. He is expected and re-
quired, in the event of his success to make
clean sweep of Republican incumbents. This
he promises plainly enough to do, and yet
with keen eye to the possibilities of vote
here and there from the sincere seekers after
that landable improvement in affairs, he indi-
Gates willingness "fnally' is, after the
patronage has all been distributed-to go on
to "a patient, careful organization of better
civil service system"
| And just here we get an accurate conception
of the hollowness of the pretensions of "re-
form" which constitute the working capital of
the Democratic party. The one thing needed
| oh all 9th 70 ala kha ION a~1
the condition of our government is to dscour-
age and repress the passion for Office holding
which has raised up an army of applicants for
places, who haunt every avenue which points
in the direction of employment in the public
service. This importantly has grown so intol-
cradle that every man who possesses or is sup
posed to possess Influence is besieged with
,utors for.positions, asking his interposition in
their behalf Every member of Congress, of
course, is expected to devote great deal Of his
time to soliciting favors Of this kind for con-
stituents or friends of constituents. Indeed,
the chief discomfort and annoyance TO which
Representatives and even Senators are sub
jected arises out Of this chronic pursuit of sit
uatons. And no matter how willing the party
applied to may be, to interest himself in the
matter the number who seek his aid is so great
that he cannot possibly succeed in helping
one In ten of them. The result is that the
disappointed nine become his enemies, even il
the lucky tenth one proves grateful, which
is not always the case.
Patronage is the weakest and most unreli.
able of all the props which hold man in
power. We hear great deal Of foolish talk
about the potency of ofice-holders, but they
are of very small account in political warfare.
The ''outs" are formidable because they are
illimtable in numbers and hungry from long
fasting from the coveted SPOIL But the sins"
possess neither of these elements of strength,
and the party that fights to get control has an
immeasurable advantage over the party that
fights to keep it,
Considering how very meagre the salaries
are, in the federal service, it is amazing that
they are so eagerly sought for. The highest