New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-03
SHIFTY AND THRIFTY,

/ OOSASSsSA~s~
does not despise the selfish creature thai
while the dead were bemoaned and th
manned borne back to burden themselve
and their friends, rejoiced in passes an
permits to run the blockade, whether fo
the exchange Of cotton or the importa
ton of popular necessaries.
Many of these knaves realized larg
sums. They lived on luxuries among
starving people. They managed to &c
their ''pardons" through the brokers Q
the day. They are now large proprietor
and extensive merchants, while the mel
who fought the war, and the women VIII
expatriated themselves rather than sub
NIT to Federal war rule, struggle on il
the utter abasement of poverty.
Mr.. Samuel Tilden, attorney-at-law
Wall street, New York, seems to have fol
lowed the thrifty and shift btrade Of tn
Confederate home blockade runner.
would appear that as the Democrat,
organization was in allegiance, while Nc
Clellan and Blair were engaged in futile
effort to recapture the Democratic fugi
tives of the South, Attorney Tilden dedi
Gated his intellect to the accumulation o.
wealth. 1t does not appear that ne took
sides with the Union. 1t is not apparent
that he exposed himself by any more open
advocacy of the Confederacy than by the
Democratic declaration that the war was
"a failure" by which he was bound as a
member Of the Chicago convention. The
very adroit manner in which he gave
away his political pal, the centennial thief
Tweed, proved that he had not been Of
counsel around the Toombs without
having learned to jump at the
right moment. Attorney Tlden was too
old for the draft, and too cunning
for the tax collectors. he withdrew
from politics during the war, and Tam
many. with tears, learned this stern reso-
luton. 1t was, We believe, very cum
ming old rat, who had been always the
first in the raid on the meal tub, as in
evading the guardian cat who told the
assembled tribe that he must abdicate
that perilous position and devote the rem
nant Of his years to peace and prayer.
The departure was sad and the bereaved
brotherhood, after futile effort to change
his resolution-the mode of reversing it
"by reclamation" was not then known
took down their imploring paws and
wiped their eyes with their tails. 1t
is further stated that one or more incred-
ulous Of such heroic denial, or hoping to
obtain authority to move a reconsidera-
ton, stole softly after the retiring hermit
and found-that he had cut hole into
the centre of rich cheese of Parma,
where he might mediate upon concrete
cream over the dangers of traps, terriers
and ratbanes.
The Democracy has established stand.
ard of public and patriotic purity SO
very high as to constitute serious i'm
pediment to fulfilling their own super
scrupulous qualifications for Office, so that
the record Of the thrifty Attorney Tilden
having been overhauled it would seem
that he had drafted the bills of the Credit
Mobilier, and engineered the devices by
which that fraudulent concern succeeded
in robbing the people while the nation was
in the imminent and supreme struggle of
the war.
The Republicans have set aside those
false apostles who stained their hands
with this dishonest fund. Attorney Til
den, as lawyer, might counsel robbery
with impunity, just as Democrat he alb
stained from supporting the government
during the war.
But like the Confederate home block
ade runner and the tricky old rat in the
fable, Attorney Tilden put in his time dur
ing the war and grew enormously rich.
For this are We attorneys. 1t has become
necessary for the Chicago Times not
merely to file the general plea of Democ-
racy in bar of all political responsibility,
but it replies specially that Lawyer Til
den was growing rich SO rapidly, while
other people were fighting, that he could
not really take time to estimate how rich
he was, or what might be the amount of
his income, until he should have seen
how far his contingent fees might be
realized. We will pause to say that if
our property holders get hold Of this
theory that a man can not swear to his
income until he collects his bad debts or
works off his old stocks, it may be several
years before truly conscientious citizen
can pay his taxes.
What we have occasion for at present is
the patriotic pursuits Of Attorney Tilden
during the war. The Chicago Times says:
During the early years of the war, it ap-
pears from the records, Tllden's business |
though good gave him no extraordinary in
come. Great amounts became due him |
which have net until recently been realized, |
and many commercial ventures which have |
him OF late were sources of loss |
rather than income during the first two |
years Of the war.
1t then appears:
l. That Attorney Tilden at the begin
ling OF the war was rather an obscure
practitioner. We do him not the ipjus.
ice to call him shyster, but he did not
ertainiy rank with Evarts, O'Conor,
'ield, or other legal lights which shine
eyond the horizon of Sandy Hook. The
extraordinary income" which came in so
apidly that there was no time to account