Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1876-08-22
GOVERNOR TILDEN'S LETTER.
The Great Issues of the CanvassI Prac-
tical Statesmanship.
ALBANY, July 81, 1876.


ALBANY, July 81, 1876.
| Gentlemen When l had the houor to
receive a personal delivery of your letter on
behalf Of the democratic national convention,
held on the 2Sth of June, at St. Louis, adj
visiug me of my nomination as the candidate
OF the constituency represented by that body
the office of President of the United States,
f-snssEered that at my earliest convenience
and in conformity with usage would prepare
and transmit to you a formal acceptance l
now avail myself of the first interval in una
vodable occupation to fulfill that engagement
The convention before making its nomina-
tions adopted declaration of principles which
as whole seems to me a wise exposition of
the necessities of our country and of the
reforms needed to bring back the government
to its true functions, to restore purity of ad-
ministratiou, and to renew the prosperity Of
the people. But some of these reforms are
so urgent that they claim more than pass
ing approval.
REFORM IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE.
The necessity of a reform in the scale of
public xpense-federal, State aud municipal
and in the modes of federal taxation, iusti>
6es all the prominence given to it in the de-
claration of the st. Louis convention. The
present depression in all the business aud in
dustries of the people which is depriving la
Dor of its employment and carrying want into
SO many homes, has its principal cause in ex-
cessiVe governmental consumption under the
illusions OF specious prosperity engcndered
by the false policy of the federal government.
A waste of capital has been going on ever
since the peace of 1865, which could only
end in universal disaster.
The federal taxes OF the last eleven wears
reach the gigantic sum of forty>ive hundred
millions, and local taxation has amounted to
two-thirds as much more. The vast aggre-
gate is not less than seventy five hundred
millions. This enormous taxation followed
a civil conflict that had greatly impaired our
aggregate wealth, and had made prompt re>
duction of expenses indispensable. It was
aggravated by most unscenti6c aud ill-adiust>
ed methods Of taxation that increased the sac>
rifces of the people far beyond the receipts
OF the treasury. 1t was aggravated moreover
by financial policy which tended to dimin-
ish the energy. skill and economy of produc-
tion and the trugality of private consum ption,
aud ,iuduced miscalculation in business and
Even iu prosperous times the daily wants
of industrious communities press closely upon
| their daily earnings. The margin of possi-
bic national savings is at best small! per
centage of national earnings, yet now for
these eleven years governmental consumption
! has been larger portion of the nationn earn
lngS than the whole people can possibly save
even in prosperous times. For all new iu>
| vestments the consequences of these errors
are now present public calamity, but they
were never doubtful, never invisible They
| were necessary and inevitable, and wrro fore
seen and depicted when the waves of that fic>
tltiuus prosperity run highest.
In speech made by me the 9th of
September, 1868. i. was said of these taxes
They bear heavily upon every mans income.
upon every industry and every business in
the country, and year by year they des>
tined to press still more heavily unless We ar
rest the system thar gives rise to them" 1t
was comparatively easy when values were
doubling under repeated issues of legal tender
| paper money to pay out of tho froth of our
growing and apparent wealth these taxes, but
when values rccede aud sink towards their
natural scale the tax-gatherer takes from us
not only our profits, but also a portion of our
capital.
| do not wish to exaggerate or alarm. l
simply say that we cannot afford the costly
and ruinous policy of the radical majority of
| Congress. We cannot afford that policy to-
wards the South. We cannot afford the
magnificent and oppressive centralism into
which our government is being converted.
We cannot sft0Ed the present magnificent scale
! of taxation.
To the Secretary of the Treasury said
| early in 1863 there is no royal road for a gov
ernment more than for an individual OF cor
| poratioD. What you want to do now is to
CUT DOWN YOUR EXPENSES
and live within your income. l would give
all the legerdemain of finance and financier-
| ing-I would give the whole OF it for the old
hOmely maxim, Live within your income"
This reform will be resisted at every step,
but it must be pressed persistentIy. We see
to-day the immediate representatives. of the
| people in one branch of Congress, while strug-
/ Cling to reduce expenditures, compelled to
! confront the menace of the Senate and the
Executive that unless the Objectionable ap-
| propriatons be consented to the operations of
the government hereunder shall suffer de-
triment or cease. In my judgment an amend
ment of the constitution ought TO be devised
separating into distinct bills the appropria-
tiUns for the various departments of the pub
lie service, and including from each bill all
appropriations for other objects and all inde-
pendent. In that way alone can the revisory
! power of each Of the two houses and of the
Executive be preserved and exempted from
the moral duress which often compels assent
to Objectionable appropriations rather than
stop the wheels Of the government.
TIE SOUTH
An accessory cause enhancing the distress
in business is to be found in the systematic
and unsupPortable misgovernment imposed on
the States of the South. Besides the ordi-
nary effects of ignorant and dishonest admins
tratious, it has inflicted upon them enormous
issues of fraudulent bonds, the scanty avais
| of which Kere wasted or stnlen and the er.