Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-10-13
Gen. Dix on Tildeu.

ocratic State 66h,mittee- iplunderint
the Treasury and violating the Constitution
Of the stpterby consuming for currcnt ex-
penscs IRE sinking funds set apart and
state dsbts. : nc Republican party com.
menced the work of refprm in 1872, before
my clection, by cutting OF appropriations
forlocal charities, for the most part sectarian, D.,
which amountedlin thethfee preceding years,
under Democratic rule to moro than two
million dollars. After the adjournment OF the
Legislature at the session succeeding my nc.
cession to office, discovered that the sink
ing funds had been violated as above stated.
AT an carly period of the next session, after
alluding to the subject IN my annual mos
sage, | sent special message to the Legis-
lature stating that az S15, ,5A, ,901 05constitut-
ing the sinking funds nearly twosthirds ex.
listed only on paper, and that the moneys be-
longing 70 tbemyh had been consumed in de-
fraying the current expenses OF the Govern.
ment, in direct Notation oflthe eonstimhon-
al requirements and OF Che plighted faith Of
Staten These deficiencies were all made up,
and the moneys salely invested before the
expiration OF myterm OF office. In speech
In this hall, on the 26th of October, 1874,
said TINT ir9ny annual message Of the pre-
ceding January ] had stated that these
moneys wore to be replaced. added:
They have already been restored, and the
sinking funds are now complete. During
the same period the aggregate Indebtedness
Of the State has been reduced more than
$S000O00 II we are continued in power UNI
til the spring of 1877 the bounty-debt
amounting to $2i, ,000 Will be paid off.
without an Increase of taxation" added
that these and other payments OF debt thus
provided for would |releve the people ofthc
State from the annual payment OF 81 ,000,0O0
Of taxes" On the 18th Of August 1875, at
Utica, about eight months after his Access
sion to office, without Legislature of his
own party, for the Senate was Republican,
Gov. Tilden virtually claimed this reduction
of taxes as the result OF his own manage.
ment. After stating that the taxes in 1874
were seven and quarter mills, he added:
This year we have reduced them to six,
and we can continue still further to reduce
them to three or two and half mills,
until they are as low as they were before the
late civil war" BY the term "wcn GDy.
Tilden was understood to mean himself and
the Democratic party II is not true that
he or the Legislature, after his accession to
office, had made the reduction. Itwas made
through the dimiButlon of the outstanding
debt, which had been provided for by the
preceding administration. But it was an
nounced by his friends and allowed by him
TO be announced as one of the fruits of his
policy of reform; and it has been harped
upon and exaggerated from that day to this.
1t is falsely proclaimed throughout the
Union that he has reduced the expenses of
the state, Government from Sl5,000,000 to
81, ,000,0 600 At New Haven and elsewhere.
sumptionsau and fslsifcations of the Executive
Chamber, has given currency to the state
ment.u He did not say that Gov. Tilden made
the reduction. He said the last year of Gov.
Dix's administration cost the State S16,0OO,-
600; the present year of Gov. Tildeus ad- |
ministration will cost the State only IS, 600. |
900, leaving it to be falsely inferred that the
reduction was made by him. 1t is not the |
I" lie direct but one of the best possible ex-
amples of what the immortal bard calls the
lin dir IN al
by such respectable persons as Judge Abb
bolt, OF Massachusetts, and Montgomery
Blair, OF Maryland, not knowing it to be
false, but as the unconscious propagators of
falsehood. loading Gov TildenI with en-
coniums to which he has no title, and i'm
putting TO his predecessors administration
prodigallty Of which 1t IS innocent. Even If !
such an economy as has been impudently
claimed for himhad been effected the credit
would nave been due, not to Gov. Tilden
alone, but equally to the Republican Senate
in 1876 and the Legislature Of 1875, both
houses of which were Republican. The as
sumption, independently of its falsity, Is |
bold act of effrontery, of which no fair man
would be guilty. These groundless pre-
tensions have been exposed and exploded by
the late Controller, Mr. Hopkins, one of the
most capable and faithful officers VINO has
ever had the management of the State
finances. He shows, first, that the reduction
of taxes claimed for Gov. Tilden was due to
the reduction of the State debt provided for
under his predecessors, and that the tax for |
the general purposes OF the Government for
the year 1876 "exceeds that of any other
year iu the history of the State by the sum of |
S56S, ,554!"@ With the exposure OF this bare
faced imposture in palming off GOV. Tilden |
er and an economists reputation earned |
very largely by his own incessaut clamor |
about reform-I submit to the voters to de-
eide whether hiseleyation to the head of the
Government would do any credit to their in
telligence or give promise of an administro-
ton which wonid red ouhd to the honor-dr
the prosperity Of the country. 70 --
His course on. the financial question is
marked by the same duplicity which has
characterized all his other movements since
he has become anaspirant for theP Presidency
Nearly onefourth of his firstmessage (exclu- /
siye of theappeDdix, to which almost all the
Information regarding the State and its insti-
tutions was consiguedl consisted of dis
eussion of the condition of the currency and
of such arguments in favor of a resumption
OF spseie payments as might have been OK
earnest was he on this subject that before
he had been three months in office he signed
blll, prepared and presented to the Lcgis-
lature, With his approval, requiring all Stnte
taxes afterithe~ lst of January, 1879, I'd be
COLLECTED in gold, gold certificates, or bank
notes redeemable. in gold on demand, and
pro- yiding that all contracts made and pay
able in the State after that date should be
paid IN United States coin. This act was de-
signed to respond to the act of Congress pro-
Viding for resumption of specie payments
on the, same day. IL was an emphatic sane
ton of thu. policy Of the Government on that
vital question. Now, however, having been
yoked by the St. Louis Convention to an in
hationist, or one Of those Democrats who are
in favor OF resuming specie payments by re-
peaiHg the act of Congress requiring it, and |
finding II necessary to conciliate an interest ,
without the aid Of which il became manifest
that there was no chance of his election, he !
does'not hesitate an instant to abandon his
ground by cOncuring in the accommodation /
to repeal that act and to stand before the :
world as q Yiolator Of the public faith. 1t is 2,
difiieuh 70 fancy more palpable desertion
oil principle for personal object. Nor is IL '
possible u fancy an act of greater injustice Z
us well as inconsistency, He approves bill IL
requiring the people Of New York TO pay ;
their taxes in gold, and settle their contracts
In specie, and then calls for the repeal of the
act OF Congress by which alone they could l
the means of making such pay I
ments and settlements, and leaves the peo- I
pie OF all the other States in the Union to !,
pay their taxes and settle their contracts in
paper money Mr.. Tilden is astute and sub '
Tie; but in my long experience 1 have never d
known cunning man who was perfectly
honest or consistent. His course in thisFe- 7
'pect makes 1t evident that the Democratic a
II
not be ready 10 yield, Clothed with the ex- /
ecutiFe power OF the country he would be n
The most dangerous man to whom ii has ever 4
been eonhded. Associated as le was with r
Ihe Northern men who were opposed to the !;
war for the salvation ofthe Union, he would Y
become the ally of those who took I
lp arms TO destroy It, The Democrats a
House OF Representatives has already shown q
Us sympathy with them by turning out of /,
,ubordinateplaces Union soldiers MANNED in =
tefending the Government and substituting |
'or them Confederates who had fought TO
oyerthrow IT. They could not conceal their G
Did political prOeliVitles until they could get a
nto power The nomination OF filden and J,
hendricks is a confession OF the purpose
which phderlies the whole Democratic move c
nent " is to get the control of the GOV t
;rnment,by the aid OF solid South, thus re- t
living the sectional issue--a course which a \
lew OF the far-seeing men Of the South openly !.
condemn as the germ of another dangerous '
'ivil dissension, Why did not the Demo {
tin al ~ l.