San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1880-06-26
Mr.. TiIden's Letter

i tue DcickhIeS iv" s"s -"
York 10 the Democratic National Con-
yentiop /:
Your first assembling IL an occasion
on which 1t IL proper for me to state
to you my relation to tho nomination
for the presidency which YOU and your
associates are commissioned TO make In
behalf Of the Democratic party Of the
United States.
Having passed my early years In an
atmosphere filed with traditions Of tho
war which secured our national indie.
pendsuce. and Of the struggles which
made our continental system . govern
mens for the people, by the people, ]
learned to idolize the institutions OF
my country, and was educated to be-
lieve il the duty Of citizen Of the re.
public to take his fair allotment Of care
and trouble 10 public affairs. l fulfill
cd that duty to the best Of my ability
for forty years as q private citizen.
Although during all my life, giving at
least a. much thought and effort to
public affairs as to all other objects,
have never accepted Official service ex.
cept fora special purpose, and only
when tho occasion seemed to require
Of mo that sacrifice of private preferen-
COS to public interests. My life has
been substantially that Of . private
citizen.
It was, I presume, the success OF
efforts 10 which, as q private citizen. l
had shared to overthrow Q corrupt
combination then holding domination
in our metropolis. and to purify the
judiciary which had become its tool,
that induced the Democracy OF the
state 10 1874 to nominate me for cover.
nor. This was done in spite OF the
protests Of Q minority that the part l
had borne in those reforms had GREAT.
ed antagonisms fatal to mo IS caDdi-
date. felt constrained to accept the
nomination Is the most certain means
of putting the powers Of the guberna.
torial Office on the side of reform. and
Of removing the impression, wherever
it prevailed. that the faithful discharge
Of ones duty as citizen is fatal to his
usefulness as public servant. The
breaking up Of the canal ring, the bet
ter management of our public works
the large reduction Of taxes and other
reforms accomplished during my ad'
ministration doubtless occasioned my
nomination for the presidency by the
Democracy Of the Union in the hope
that similar processes would DO applied
TO the federal government, From the
ofsuch an undertaking,
as it seemed to me, did not
eel at liberty to shrink. In the can.
7ass which ensued the Democratic
party represented reform 10 the admin
Of the federal government and
q restoration Of our federal complex,
political system to the pure ideas OF
its founders.
Upon these issues the people of the
United States, by majority Of more
than a quarter of a million, chose a
majority Of the electors to cast their
votes for the Democratic candidates
for president and vice president. 1t
is my right and privilege here to say.
that I was nominated and elected to
the presidency absolutely free from
any engagement in respect to the exer-
else Of its powers or the disposal Of
its patronage. Through the whole
period Of my relation to the presidency
l did everything in my power to ele
vate and nothing to lower the moral
standards in the competition Of parties.
By what nefarlous means the basis for
for false count was laid in several of
the states I need not recite. These
are now matters of history about
which, whatever diversity of opinion
may have existed in either Of the great
parties OF the country at the time OF
their eonsummstion has since practical.
ly disappeared. l refused to ransom
from the returning boards of the South
ern states the documentary evidence.
by the suppression Of which, and by
the substitution Of fraudulent and for.
ged papers, a pretext was made for the
preparation Of q false count. The
constitutional duty Of the two houses
Of congress to count the electoral votes
ss cast and to give effect to the will Of
the people IS expressed by their suf-
irsges. was never fulfilled. An electo.
raj commission, for the existence of
which have no responsibility, was
formed, and to It the two houses of
congress abdicated their duty to make
the count by law enacting that the
count Of the commission should stand
as fiual unless overruled by the concur