Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1876-09-28

me that Mr.. Tildrn has shown more
correct, detailed, statesmanlike know
ledge of the evil, the remedy and the
process sof cure than other public man
who is eligible.
am, OF course utterly opposed to
the repeal Of the Resumption Act or
any part of it, and disapprove OF any
concession on that point; in form or
substance, by Mr.. Tilden or anybody
else.
put next in this canvass the matter
OF administrative reform. Mr.. Tilden
has been Governor of the State which
has led in the decentralization of e,r
politics since the beginning of the cen.
tnry. He has had the hardest position
for beginning reform, perhaps, which
there is in the Union. He has made
the only positive and successful steps
toward it. at the risk of his own politi~
cal fortunes, which | know of in the
country. The newspaper exposures of
the Tweed Ring would have made no
more impression on that body that the
patteriug Of rain on the hide of
rhinoceros, and the members of the
Ring would to day have been Haunting
their stolen wealth in the face Of the
public, if Mr., Tilden had not reduced
their guilt to an aritnmetieal demonstra
ton, available in court of law. The
Canal Ring fight Is known to every
body.
have in mind, however. nos only
these ''reform efforts, but also adn,in-
istrative reform. l will take a single
case which foated in a paragraph
through the newspapers, occasioning, so
tar as | ever saw, very little attention,
but which had an immense effect on
my mind, and which l have often urged
in private conversation
1t was stated that the politicians of
the Southern tier of counties of New
York were bitterly hostile to Governor
Tilden. The reasons were given, two
in number: l. Mr. Tilden had refused
to remove the Republican superin-
tendent of the asylum at Elmira in
order to appoint Democrat. 2. Mr..
Tilden had removed, for cause, the
Corporation Counsel of Elmira, who
was Democrat, although the Common
Council of that city was Republican,
and could elect Republican successor.
These were good grounds for the
opposition of the "politicians," but were
an imperative demand on me, if was
an "Independent, and meant what |
had been talking about for years. to
give him my full, hearty, and efficient
support if it ever came in my way.
know that the soft-money Demo
ocrais have claimed that Mr.. Tilden has
surrendered on the currency question,
and the Republicans have fastened to
accept their authority as conclusive on
that point. Mr.. Tildens opinions on
this point are not new, nor were they
first placed before the public in his
letter, but if he does not in that
document lay down hard money docs
trines, then language has no meaning,
and | could not express bard-money
doctrines myself. The soft money men
have, within year or two, begun to
use some hard money phrases in forced,
artificial and impossible applications.
They find those phrases in Mr.. Tiden's
letter. and that is the ground on which
they claim his surrender.
Mr. Hayes has made very distinct
avowal that he will resist the repeal of
the Resumption Act unless something
better is put in its place, and if he is
elected I shall certainly await with
generous confidence fulfillment''of that
pledge. The difficulty is just the one
which seems to me radical in his can
dida ure. Between two candidates, one
of whom is recommended to me on the
opinion of his friends, the other of
whom has record of action and
achievement under my knowledge and
inspection, my most rational expecta.
ton of snch performance as desire
attaches to the latter.
That Mr.. Tilden is politician enough
to he available is only an advantage,
since we cannot get an angel with a
flaming sword, and I think that we In
dependents have cast worse reproach
upon ourselves than our most sarcastic
critics, since we have failed to seize
upon chance which offered itself to
our demand, and have chosen to trust
to groundless faith and hope for
which we cannot give reason. In
this latter light I must be allowed. with
out offense, to regard the support Of
Gov. Hayes.
l received letter while ago from a
friend of Gov. Hayes, who declared
that Gov. Hayes was a very modest
man, whose modesty prevented him
from accepting the United States SenaA
torship. l quote it as an instance of
what seems to me wrong reasoning on
these matters. If Gov. Hayes is such
a man as is now claimed, it seems to me
he is just the man we have sadly need
cd in the Seuate for the last few years,
and, if he refused to go, he turned his
back on the call Of public duty. l do
not deny his right to refuse, although
in general hold it sound doctrine that
a man of good health and independent
fortune ought TO serve the State when
duly and honorably selected but if Mr..
Hayes was ever to be candidate for
the Presidency, he ought to have pur-
sued public career in the subordinate
places which opened to him; he ought
to have allowed us to see him in those
places, and he ought to have made a
record on which we could form a judg-
inert to~day, and not be thrown on the
say so of his friends. If he is to be
elected, / shall certainly not PREJUDICE
him, nor allow any prejudice to rise in
my mind but when look back on
former cases in which the campaign