New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-05
AT LAST.
Governor Tilden's Letter OF
Acceptance.
rhe following is Governor Tiiden's letter

rhe following is Governor Tilden's letter
of acceptance:
ALBANY July 81, 1876.
GENTLEMEN-When l had the honor to
receive personal delivery Of yonr letter
Oh behalf of the Democratic National Con-
ventiop. held on the twenty eighth OF June,
at st. Louis. advising ME OF ny nomination
as lhs candidate OF the constituency repre-
sented by that body tor the office CT Presl-
dent of the United States, | answered that,
at NV earliest convenience, and IN CON
tormity with usage. l would prepare and
transmit Won formal acceptance. l now
avail myself of the frat interval in an un-
avoidab!e occupation 10 fulfill that engage
uieIt
The convention, before making its nomi-
nations. adopted declaration OF princl-
pies, which as whole, seems to me wise
exposition of the necessities Of our country,
snd of the reforms needed to bring back
the government to its true functions. to re
stora purity oi administration, and to re-
new the prosperity OF the people; but some
OF these reforms are &c urgent that they
claim more than passing approval.
The necessity OF a reform IN the scale OF
public expense, Federal and State and
municipal. ana in the modes CT Federal
taxation. jus,ilies all the prominence given
to it in the declaration Of the ST. Louis con
business and industries OF the people, hch
is depriv!ng labor OF its employment and
carving want into SO many homes. has its
principal cause in the excessive govern
mental consumption under the illusions of
specous prosperity engendered 10y the
false policies Of the Federal government
A waste of capital has been going on ever
since tie peace of 1865, which could Only
end in universal disaster.
The Federal taxes of the last eleven
years reach the gigantic sum of Si ,5oO, ,0Oo,-
900. Local taxation has amounted to two
thirds as much more. The vast aggregate
is not lees than 81 400 ,00O,0 900. This enor-
nous taxation followed a civil conflict that
had greatly impaired our aggregate wealth
and had made a prompt reduction OF ex-
penses indispensable. 1t was aggravated
by most unscientiic and ill-adiusted meth
eds of taxation that increased the sacrl-
fees of the people far beyond the receipts
of the treasury. 1t was aggravated,
tended to diminish the energy, skill
and economy of production and
the frugality Of private consumption,
and induced miscalcrlatiOn in business and
an uuremunerative use OF capital and labor
even in prosperous times. The daily wants
of industrious communities press closely
upon their daily earnings. The margin Of
possible national savings is at best small
per centage of national earnings. Yet now
Tor these eleven years governmental con-
sumption has been a larger portion of the
national earnings than the whole people
can possibly save even in prosperous times
for all new investments.
The consequences of these errors are now
accute public calamity, but they were
never doubtful never invisible; they were
necessary and inevitable; were foreseen
and depicted when the waves OF that iic-
titicus prosperity ran highest. In speech
MADE by me on the twenty-fourEh OF Sep
tember. 1868, it was said OF these taxes:
They bear heavily upon every mans H.
come, upon every industry, and every busi-
ness in the country, and year by year they
are destined to press still more heavily I'M
less we arrest the system that gives rise to
them.''
Ii was comparatively easy. when values
were doubling under the repeated issue OF
legal tender paper money, to pay out OF the
frcth of our growing and apparent wealth
these taxes; but when values recede and
sink toward their natural scale, the tax
gatherer takes from us not only our income,
not only our profits, but also portion OF
cur capital.
| do not wish to exacgerate or alarm;
simply say that We can not afford the cost
ly and ruincus policy Of the Radical ma
j5rity OF Congress. We can not
Afford that policy toward the South
We can not afford the magnificent
and oppressive centralism into which
cur government is being converted. We
can not q ford the present magnificent scale
OF taxation. To the Secretary OF the Treasury
| said, early in 1865: There is no royal
road for government more than for an in
diyidual or corporation. What you want
to do now is to cut down your expenses
and live within your income" would give
all the legerdemain Of finance and fnancier-
ing would give the whole of it, for the
OLD, homely maxim: Live within your in
come"
This reform will be resisted at every
step, but it must be pressed persistently.
We see to-day the immediate representa-
tives Of the people in one branch OF Con-
gress, while struggling to reduce expendi-
lures, compelled to confront the menace of
the Senate and executive, that unless the
Objectionable appropriations be consented
to, the operations OF the government
Hereunder shall suffer detriment or cease.
In my Judgment an amendment of the
constitution ought to be devised separating
into distinct bills the appropriations for the
various departments of the public service,
and excluding from each bill all appropria
tiOns for other objects and all independent
legislation. In tnat way alone the revisOry
power Of each of the two houses and OF the
executive may be preserved and exempted
from the moral duress which often COM
pels assent to Objectionable appropriations
rather than stop the wheels of government.
An accessory cause, enhancing the distress
in business, is to be found in the system
attic and insupportable misgOvernment i'm
posed on the States of the South. Besides
the ordinary effects of ignorant and dis
honest administration it has inflicted upon
them enormous issues of fraudulent bonds,
the scanty avails of which were wasted or
stolen, and the existence OF which is a
public discredit, tending to bankruptcy or
Reputation. Taxes, generally oppressive
in some instances, have cOnfiscated the en-
tire income of property and totally de-
stroyed its marketable value. 1t ls
not possible that these evils should
not react upon the prosperity of the
whole country. The nobler motives OF
humanity concur with the material inter
ests of all in requiring that all obstacle be
removed to complete and durable recon
ciliation between kindred populations once
unnaturally estranged, on the basis recog-
nzed by the st. Louis platform, OF the con-
stitution of the United States, with it's
amendments, universally accepted as final
settlement of the controversies which en-
gendered civil war. But in aid Of result
so beneticient the legal influence of every
citizen, as well as every governmental au-
thority, ought to be exerted, not a'One to
maintain the just equality before the law,
but likewise to establish cordial fraternal
good will among citizens, whatever their
race or color, who are now united in the one
destiny of a common self-government.
Ii the duty shall be assigned to me, |
should not fail to exercise the powers with
which the laws and the constitution of our
country clothe its chief magistrate, to pro-
tect all its citizens, whatever their former
condition, in every political and personal