Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-08-03
How Tilden made His Money.

Where and how he got his money are
| Questions which his democratic friends
appear to think of no consequence, al
though in Mr.. Blaine's case, who has not
tenth part so much property as Iiiden,
they considered it all-important That the
public should be informed very partlcu-
| larly about all the business transactions
| in which he was concerned or supposed
10 have been concerned, and how he got
the moderate fortune which he possesses
IF Mr.. Blaine instead of being worth only
$3.50. 900. had been worth 81 100000, as
Mr.. Tiden is reputed to be. the demo
cratic reformers would have made Rome
howl with cries of corruption and dis
honesty.
How did Mr.. Tilden get his money
He was poor, now he is immensely rich.
He is a lawyer; could he got his millions
in the honest practice of his profession
1t is not possible. The best lawyers in
our larger cities seldom make more than
$4,000 year. A lucrative practice
seldom extends over more than twenty
or twenty-five years. and $4,000 year,
if it were all saved, would give but quar-
ter of a million of dollars at the end OF
twenty-five years, while Mr.. Tllden is
worth not less than three and probably
seven millions. How did he make it :? No
legacies have been left him, he has been
engaged in no business outside of his
profession except politics, he has never
been considered one Of the great lawyers
of the country, how then did he make his
money!
1.-The fact is" says the Chicago Trib-
une, "Mr. Tilden's so-called law office
has been mill, railroad mill,-where
railroads were taken and ground up,
separating the good meal from the chaff.
Mr.. Tilden and his partners always kept
the good meal, and the chaff was sent
back to the original owners. 1t required
much influence and several active part
ners to get nearly all the railroads in the
country to pass through Mr.. Tilden's mill,
so that the profits were divided among
several persons. How large they were in
the aggregate may best be estimated from
the fact that Mr.. Tilden's personal share
was several millions. Probably he got
the lions share, since he was in position
to control the New York State Legisla
ture, and the New York City Council as
the real "boss" of the democratic party,
and the real power behind Tweed's
throne. He procured railroad legislation
to suit his purposes, and gathered in his
helpless victims under laws that he had
especially constructed to that end. 1t
was in this sort of traffic that Sam Tilden
made his millions in very few years,
though lawyer Of mediocre ability and
apparently small practice.
Most of the Western railroads have been
through Mr. Tilden's mill in one way or
another. We showed the other day how
Mr.. Tilden figured in the Credit-Mobilier
Investigation as having advised and APP
proved that jobbery at every step. The
fact is, he was the father of the Credit
Mobilier system of building railroads, and
applied it extensively all through the
West. and to his own great profit, long
before the Pacific Railroads were built.
Cakes Ames was but Tilden's imtator.
Tilden's active partners in the mill pro-
jected the railroads, and got subscriptions
in aid thereof from States, counties. cities,
townships, and private individuals. all
through the West, on the basis of "devel-
oping the country" They pocketed this
money, and borrowed funds to build the
road on first-mortgage bonds, generally
taking the bonds themselves and advanc-
ing the money they had received from
local subscriptions. Then they paid
themselves the money they had advanced
for building the road at the most exorbi-
tant prices. Having taken all the money
back, the road would be nomnally out Of
funds, and unable to pay the interest on
its bonds before completion. Then it
would be put through Mr.. Samuel j,
Tilden's famous mill,-a process which
wiped out the State subscriptions, the
county subscriptions, the city subscrip-
tons. the township subscriptions. the pri-
vate subscriptions, and all the original
stock, leaving the road the property of
those who held the first-mortgage bonds,
who would thereupon proceed to reorgan-
ize the company. This was the process.
The result was that the New York Rail-
road Ring built railroads on the money
advanced by other people, but owned the
roads themselves after they were COM
pleted. Under the tutelage and advice of
Mr.. Samuel j. Tilden it was all done
illegally" and in proper form,-he and
Tweed having first arranged the laws
accordingly.
The counties and towns of Illinois owe
between $l2,000.000 and $4,000. 900 ON