Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-08-10
DEMOCRATIC LETTERS OF ACCEPTANCE.
Letter Of Gov. Tilden.

.4bdny, July 81, lS76.-Gentlemen
When | had the honor to receive a
personal delivery of your letter on be-
half of the democratic national conven-
ton held on the 2Sth of June at St.
Louis, advising me Of my nomination
as the candidate of the constituency rep
resented by that body for the Office of
President of the United States, | an
swered that at my earliest convenience
and in conformity with usage I would
prepare and transmit to YOU a formal
acceptance. | now avail myself Of the
first interval in unavoidable occupation
to fulfil that engagement.
The convention before making its
nominations adopted a declaration of
principles which as a whole seem. to
me a wise exposition Of the necessitie.
of our country and Of the reforms needed
to bring back the government to its true
functions, to restore purity Of admin
istration, and to renew the prosperity
of the people. But some Of the reforms
are so urgent that they claim more than
a passing approval.
The necessity of reform in the scale
Of public expense-federal, State and
municipal-and in the modes of federal
taxation, justifies all the prominence
given to it in the declaration of the St.
Louis convention. The present depres-
sion in all the business and industries
of the people, which is depriving labor
of its employment and carrying want
into so many homes, has its principal
cause in excessive governmental con-
sumption under the illusions of a spe-
cious prosperity engendered by the false
policy OF the federal government. A
waste of capital has been going on ever
since the peace Of 1865, which could
only end in universal disaster.
The federal taxes of the last eleven
years reach the gigantic sum of FORTY
FIVE hundred Millions, and local taxation
has amounted to two-thirds as much
more. The vast aggregate is not les.
than seventy-fve hundred Millions
This enormous taxation followed a civil
conflict that had greatly impaired our
aggregate wealth, and had made a
prompt reduction of expenses indispen-
sable. 1t was aggravated by most I'M
scientific and ill-adjusted methods OF
taxation that increased the sacrifices of
the people far beyond the receipts of
the treasury. 1t was aggravated more
over by financial policy which tended
to diminish the energy, skill and econ
omy OF production and the frugality of
private consumption, and induced mis-.
calculation in business and an unremu.
nerative use of capital and labor.
Even IN prosperous times the daily
wants OF industrious communities press
closely upon their daily earnings. The
margin OF possible national savings is at
best a smaliper centage Of national earn.
ings, yet now for these eleven wears gov
ernmental consumption has been lar
ger portion ofthe national earnings than
the whole people can possibly save even
IN prosperous times. For all new in
vestments the consequences of these
errors are now apresent public calamity.
but they were never doubtful. never
invisible. They were necessary and
inevitable, and were foreseen and de-
pieted when the waves Of that fictitious
prosperity ran highest.
In speech made by me on the oath Of
September, 1868. il was said of these
taxes: They bear heavily upon every
mans income, upon every industry and
every business in the country, and wear
by year they are destined to press still
more heavily unless We arrest the sys-
TEN that gives rise to them" II was
comparatively easy when values were
doubling under repeated Issues of legal
tender paper money to pay out Of the