The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-09-09
DESPERATION.

Nothing more tOrcibly shows the desperate
Shifts to which the republican papers are put
for material on which to conduct their can.
paIgn against the Democracy than the per
sisten,y with which they cling to the misera-
bic lie the New York Times started against
Tildcn, OF having sworn TO false internal rev.
enue returns. The substratum of fact upon
which the whole is based, is that Mr.. Tilden,
in 1863, made sworn return that his entire
income Of 1862, upon which he was liable by
law to pay an income tax, amounted to but
S71lS, whereas in his sworn answer in the
Terre Iaute Il Alton Railroad case, he ad.
mits having received 100000 fees for legal
services in that case. The ready answer to
this is furnished by Mr.. Tilden's private sec
rotary, by whom the return was really made.
and is to the effect that these $50, 600 were for
services rendered during six years previous
to 1862, and were not therefore taxable as ~
come for that year; and dozen OF cases
are cited where both the internal revenue bu-
reau itself and the courts have decided that
earnings of years previous to the year for
WHICH me ldN Is lcfltu, arc uOl 'aAaoio ioi
that year. L. s. Internal Revenue Commits.
sioner Lewis, as early as June 1868, issued
instructions on that subject as follows: "Phy.
scIans and lawyers shall include Gin their
returns Of income) actual receipts for services
rendered in 1869, together with an estimate
of unrealized contingent income for that
ycdr." This of course, settles it,
But" squeaks the Ottawa cornstalk.ilddleI
organ OF the whisky thieves, "Tilden swears
that his gross receipts for 1862 amounted tol
but $l37G0, which leaves no place for these
100000" The answer to this is, that the in
come tax was not levied on gross or net "re-
ceipts," but on gains for that year. The
100000 earned in 1853, 80, go, &c, were in
no sense earnings or gains" for 1862, and
were not taxable as such.
The Ottawa cornstalk fiddle organ finds
other charges against Tllden, rehashed from
the New York Times by the Inter- Ocean and
again stopped up by the Ottawa fiddle, to the
effect that Tilden not emily received those
100000 in 1862, but other fees, railway and
coal company dividends &c, amounting 10
$4,000 more. Well suppose he did Were
those other fees earned in 1862 any more
than The tees in the Alton case? Besides it
is we'll known that all incomes from banks,
railway or coal company dividends, earnings,
&c, were taxed to the banks or companies and
exempt from income tax to individual stock
holders.
This dirty lie against Tlldcn not only
won't stick, but involves so much meanness
that large number of the better class of re.
publican organs Iepudiate and condemn it,
The New York Ecenihg Post, a strong
Hayes and Wheeler organ, says it has no
legitimate foundation to rest upon. The
Springfield (Mass) ncpublcdn says, Though
Gov. Tllden does not seem to have been eager
that the government should get any more
from Inn than it WAS entitled to, there is no
proof that he made a false return, nor is II
likely that he will be defeated for the presi-
dency on that account" And the Nation
roundy dcnounces' il as degrading cam
pagn falsehood." None but fool believes
the lie and no intelligent man, unless he is Il
scoundrel, will propagate 1t.