The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-11-07
THE TREATMENT OF rILDEN.
BILE Letter Of Mr.. Charles Reemelin of Cincinnati.
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why NNpH III NhNlA Bllblt bllNui NHth III NOlNi'
tton similar to ours when the tongues of scandal
were busy with Phocian and Demosthenes 1T
we do not soon go under, we can not be saved,
The great men of America have always been
treated meanly Even Washington did not es.
cape the venom of the party press Rut their
worst work was done on Hamilton, Jefferson the
Adamses, Jackson, Van Buren and Henry Clay,
In our day its spite is at Tiden; and you must al
low me a few words Of warning at this time
What would ask, do all the charge against
Tilden amount to, even If they were true2 lsit
at most, any more than that he is a New Yorker
that he is wary of Sycophants; that he prefers to
be the hammer To being the anvil; that he battles
unjust taxation; that he will not submit 10 the de-
grading necessities OF cur partisan poit cs, and
that his barrel Of money was not ready for the
open sesame of every parasite2 Grant 1t all to be
true and the question is still an open one, Are
these points OF character not really negative vir
tues imposed on him by our political condition.
Compare them with the accusations made
against Jackson, witt Seducing another mans
wife, procuring divorce for her and marrying
her; being bloody rufiisn, having hung Illegally
two Euglshmen; being tyrannical in his di posi-.
ton end rehelliuUs against lawful authorities, as
| well as inclined TO usurp unlawful powers, How
contemptibly small are the charges Inst Til
den compared with these. The lies against Jack
son, with the exception Of the first, were all of
kind that would, II true detract from his being
6t custodian of public functions, whilst those
against Tilden, were they even proven, IN no
sense disqualify him for public position, and In
several good senses qualify him therefor. For
surely we need at this time a man In the Prtsi'
dency who is not the tool of the small politicians
| but their superior. We want agsln, as near as 10
possible, Washington's inapproachability to dem.
| agOgues (tbe snakes In our paradlse), and not
! Grants readiness to associate with the low and
vile. We need again Jefferson's disinclinatiOn to
make public exhibitions of himself and not the
propensites of the Bishops, the Hayeses and An.
dy Johnsons to travel for public amusement
And more particularly still do we want Presi
| dent who reciprOcates the hate corrupt public
| men bestOW upon him, and who is not afraid to
carry out in this country the example setby Scot
land and to briug scoundrels In high position to
condgn punishment. But the charges against
Tilden are all false just as those against Jackson
were, false In motive and false in fact. And,
what is more, they are made In a more dastardy
manner than any recorded In history, and have
no object except to crush statesman who is in
the way of partisan politicians that are In power
by fraud,
The Income Tax Law was a crude measure in
It's very inception. 1t had to be amended and cor.
rected by Executive instructions before the first
dollar was paid Not single individual in all
| the land understood it. No two officers interpret.
| ed alike. 1t was full of exemptions, deductions
| and seCretions, so that the public conscience at
last puked 1t up and had 1t repealed, as the hrst
| act of returning public reasan. The law was
wholesale spOiatiOn, and no greater act of justice
| could be'done to- day than TO return to each per-
| son that paid the income tax the amount thus
taken from hin The only Just fcaton for not
doing 1t is that there was so much wrong done
| during the war thai measure like that may have
co laled the general injustice among ALL 1t is
dead, let us say with the preacher, VINO preached
tile funeral sermon of a horse racer, cUok.hght.
| er aud gambler: Remove the cussl"
will not waste words on the cipher dis
| patches" Let us first understand whether the
| crime charged upon Itden Is to be that he WIS
| tUiling or Cnat he was unwilling to bribe. Let us
| know whether the cOuuuy's virtue Is to be ap.
| pealed to, or It's vice. Whether the Republican
| marty Is desirOus OF recruiting itself from the
| Greeubacker in the Democratic party, or the
| men who were dissatisfied because they could
| not employ Tlden barrel Of money, or whether
IL is Intended to seduce these Democrats who
| want q true Democrat aud hard money man in
| the Chief Magstracy. And while on this point,
| allow me TO say 10 the hard-money Democrats
| that they had better be reserved in their action
toward the Republicans until 1t is perfectly plain
whether the administration is TO Wsve Its natural
old 6ag-the GrtenDack...or that of the money Of
| the Constitution, and whether the Republican
| party means Simply TO use the hard-m0ney Dem
| OcTats as party tools.
| But let us come to more important point the
income tax. What is the charge against Mr. Til
| den? II is that instead Of listing under oath
| himself he left the matter to his clerk and the
public officers; now the first question that strikes
my mind is this: Was the law itself sqnarely
| honest enac ment2 If not, then 1t was right to
act towards 1t in the spirit of submission 10 i0rOng
| and 1t was not right to lick the hand JUS raised
| to shed our blood" Alexander Humboldt has
well said: We owe truth only to the honest"
Remember thai we are In 1873 that the Federal
| Government was between 1901 and 1868 not only
ana Chcal, but tyranniCal in all its eXaCtiOns.-
| Who would prosecute now persons that evaded
that meanest Of all recruiting service the drafts
between 1862 and 1865? The meanest reference to
| II is enough to make us hold our noses Fhe Re-
public has admLted that these laws were villain
GUS by repeating them. Next in iniquity were the
tax laws And we are free to say that there are
| not IN all history five years in which an equal
amount Of perfdOus legislation and adminislra
| tiUn was committed Espionage was the mildeSt
crime then committed The whisky, tObaccoand
| beer toxes were but pTOCiamatiOns for partner
| slip, between COngreSsmen and theirfriends and
J the dstillers and brewers, 80 that 1t was more
difficult to be honest in public business than for
| a camel TO pass through the eye of an needle.
The income tax was all arbitrary imposition
both as a general measure and In its details; 1t
| was like the tariff, spOliatOn of one portion of
| the citizens for the benefit of those who JOted III
| the party in power. Proudhon said: Property
| is robbery" but the American people declared
| the income tax TO be Robbery of property, and
| felt relieved VIII, n il was repealed. They liked
to forget the wrongs that were in It's inception as
| the oppression there WAS in It's execution.
We have no heSilancy IN saying that If the Uni
ted States we're willing to constitute impartial
tribunal composed of experts In Jurisprudence
aud finance, and were willing to waive the prin
cple of inter state law that all claims arising out
Oi civil war die with the reinsatOn of IeaCe be.
cause OF the impOSslbiily to redress the wrongs
Inflicted without disintegrating society, a1d were
to submit the question of an obligation to repay
all collected under the income tax to those who
paid IL, we say in such case such tribunal
would decide that It was an honest debt against
the country, Yea, we assert further, that not
single claim paid since or during the war had as
good ground for payment as the return of the in
come tax leVies. And to tnis we must add, that
every dollar paid on claims dfer the war and
suce the peace was an iDvldiOus party partial
ity and, in the absence Of q general rule and
process OF retribuliOn, an outrage upon law and
Justice
To single out Mr., Tilden, under these clrcum.
stances, len Yeas after the repeal of the law to
do 1t Tor partisan spite because he is a Presden-
tlal Candidate is adding present party malignity
TO past par Injustice. IL Is foul partisan blow
of which the country will yet be akhamed, and
then STRIKE as they dekerVe, the aiders and abel.
low our politics must have sunk to allow us 10
tolerate that In our party warfare such under.
handed fighting dihgraces US before the world,
Those of US that lived when Jackson was at.
tempted 10 be killed politically by slRnders upon
his private character have fear OF the final re
suit Uf the calumnies now heaped on Tllden. We
know the people count the strokes and love the
man who receives them the more, the clearer Il
becomes that partisan hate 10 the motive of those
who inflct them. Nothing eau kill Democrat
In the estimation Of true Democrats except de.
parture from principle; and as Tilden is true 10.
day as ever TO honest money, to free trade, TO an
efficient public service, and despises legal te der
notes, protective tariffs aud corrupt political
rings and office and contract huuter., he will yet
overcome the sectional and parry prejudices that
cause the Gibbs to be- thrown at him.
And now, Mr.. Editor a question for you, by
way of conclusion. Whom are you aiding by
your left handed joining into the anti 1ilden
crusader Is II not first aud foremost that portion
Of the Democratic party, that II is evidently de
tcrmined that 10 real Democratic stat sman shall