The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-09-06
POLITICAL.

Hon. VIM. A Wheeler Serenaded in
Vermont.
Other Interesting Campaign Lit
nature.
Is Governor Tilden a Swindler and Per-
jurer?
1t is bad enough for presidential
| candidate to be defendant in a suit
which involves a charge of breach of
trust, if not of actual embezzlement.
the answers to which charges are in
effect confession of the most serious
OF them or an evasion by means of
legal bubbles and techincalities. But
the case is made infinitely worse when
the same candidate is charged with de-
frauding the government as we'll as his
clients, and with covering up his ras-
calities with deliberate per- uries.
This is the exact position in which
Samuel j. ihen stands to-day.
Mr.. Tilden, in 1868, filled out his in
come tax return, and swore to it, set
ting forth that his entire income liable
tostax from the LIST of January, 1862,
to the 3lst of December, 1862, after
making the deductions allowed by law,
was So ,ll8. The deductions made in
his return for 1868 aggregated $S6,552.
1t could not possibly be much, if any
greater in 1862. Thus his entire in
come for the whole of the year 1862
was under $4,000. 10 this Mr.. Tilden
made oath and the affidavit is on file.
A few days ago Mr.. Tilden filed the
answer of himself and his associates
in the st. Louis, Alton and Terre Haute
Railroad suit. In that answer it is
averred, "That for such services the
defendant Tilden made charge of ten
thousand dollars against said second
mortgage bondholders, and the said
charge was paid, by or on behalf of
said second mortgage bondholders, on
the 18th of October, 1862;
that the defedant Tilden, for the part
of his services aforesaid, also made a
charge of the like sum of ten thousand
dollars on account of professional serv-
ices rendered to the first mortgage
bondholders and the receivers, which
was paid to him by the said Azariah
Z. Flagg, and which payment
appears under date of November I,
! 1862, in a statement annexed to the
first report aforesaid, as having been
receipted for by the said Tilden, son
account Of professional services -
Thus Mr.. Tilden having sworn in 1868
that his entire taxable income was but
So, ll8, which added to the deductions
made under the law brought his gross
income for the year under $$l4, 900, he
swears in 1876 that from two sources
alone he received $4,000 in that year
as fees. Thus he sWore falsely in 1868
or in 1876 to the amount of over &c.
900. even if he had no other income in
1862.
But it is very we'll known he had
other income during that year to
large amount. 1t is further shown by
the report of the committee of the
directors Of the Terre Haute Railroad
company that Governor Tilden receiv-
ed during the same time stock of the
road to large amount on the individ-
ual account and in addition received
1874 900 of the first mortgage bonds
and ST $3.50 interest. These Sums were
not included in his income tax return.
The income tax was imposed in 1861
| tt11U NOA1C114LACu u1IV1l 1Ct IfCl pCl
son was required to make a return of
his income under oath and with con-
siderable detail. Those who failed to
do so had their incomes set down at a
certain sum according to the judgment
of the assessor, and penalty of fifty
per cent. was added to the amount.
Mr.. Tilden made returns for the years
1862 and 1868, but for all the SUBJ
sequent years allowed the assessor to
guess at his income and add the pen
atty. For the whole period, from 1861
to 1872, Mr.. Tilden, the millionaire,
paid tax on an average income, includ-
ing fifty per cent. penalty, of only
about fifteen thousand dollars per year.
During this period he wrecked the
st. Louis, Alton and Terre Haute Rail.
road Company, and according to his
sworn statement received 500, 900 from
it one year for his services, besides the
large amount of cash and bonds he ap.
propriatea from the wreck. lie was
at the same time, as partner, counsel.
and trustee, gobbling up the Galena
and Chicago Railroad Company in Illi-
nois, and appropriating to himself the
great profits of the Continental I'M
provement company, the Grand Rapids
and Indiana Railroad Company, and
the Peninsula Railroad Company in
Michigan. He was at the same time
giving Oak Ames advice which led to
the formation of the Credit Mobelier,
on whose accounts he stands charged
with the payment of $25, 200. It was
during the same period that the books
of the Erie Railway Company charge
him with a payment of $4,000 tor
two months extra legal service.
The large payments which stand re-