Oregon City enterprise., August 11, 1876, Image 2

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HE ENTERPRISE.
OREGON ( if V, OREUOS, AL CI ST I I, 187C.
The Letters of Acceptance.
Although so high authority as the
New York Tribune speaks in terms of
praise, of Governor Tilden's accept
ance document, we cannot in this
instance attach ourself to its senti
ment. In the first place the letter is
too heavy, showing too evidently
deep stndy and particular care in
phraseology in order that its sen
tences may bo interpreted like the
prophesies of the Delphic Oracle, or
the diplomatic speeches of Tally
rand either and any way.
uncie bammy announces a great
many hackneyed plaitudes with all
the gusto of an Archimedes crying
"Eureka," such, for instance, as
lire within your income" and other
similarly ancient pieces of advice,
but so far as we see bhows no great
amount of originality or says any
thing worth the recollection. Un
doubtedly Sir. Tilden is in favor of
hard money at some future day;
and Olebillallen could have said as
much. The greater part of the letter
is taken up with showing his cloven
foot and insincerity, and wish to
make a backward step in his advocacy
of the way to defeat honest money
through the repeal of the resumption
act. Tilden, the boasted hard-money
reformer, is for defeating the re
sumption act! the boldest step ever
niade by an American Congress, and
to the consummation of which all
honestly disposed people are anx
iously looking. We do not pretend
to tho penetration of suulight, and
are free tt admit that many passages
of .Mr. Tilden's long looked for war
whoop are to us untranslatable Greek
fault, however, we are charitable
onougli
to lau at tho doors of the
telegraph office.
The consummate vanity manifested
by Gov. Tilden i.s actually disgust
ing. Like another Atlas he carries a
world of ore-lit on his shoulders and
in un "anmud-the-bush" way an
nounces himself as the great reform
er, the gnat "I am." The composi
tion teems with what "I said to the
.Secretary of the Treasury in 18G5;"
"what I said in my speech in Sep
tember, 18ti8," and "what I announc
ed to the New York Legislature in
Janriary, 1875, and in my message of
January 1870," and then caps the
climax with the following piece of
downright conceit:
Educated in the belief that it is the
first duty of a citizen of the Republic
to take his fair allotment, care and
trouble in public affairs, I have for
f?ty years, as a private citizen, ful
filled that duty, and though occupied
cin an unusual degree, during all that
1eriod with concerns of government
'. have never acquired the habit of
official life. When a year and a half
ago I entered apon my present trust,
it was in order to consummate re
forms to which I had already devoted
several years of my life. Knowing
as I do, therefore, from fresh experi
ence how much the difference is be
tween going through an oflicial rou
tine and working out reforms of sys
tems and policies, it is impossible for
me to contemplate what needs to be
dono in tho Federal administration
without an acute sense of tho diffi
culties of the. task.
Feoplo who can stomach such bal
derdash in a man from whom they
nave a right to expect all the sim
plicity mid modesty of the truly
great from a man who aspires to the
greatest gift in the world, are indeed
no less bereft of their judgment than
this autobiographical aspirant.
Hendricks' letter is much shorter
than his "senior officer's," and, if
for no other reason, an abler produc
tion. Bui the Vice President is little
better that? a figure head in the cam
paign, a mere tag on the President's
coat-tail ns Nast so suggestively
drew Gratz Brown so we think com
Gment on his letter unnecessary. Suf
fice it to say ho was driven into Hing
ing his inflation ideas out of the win
dow to let iu the dictates of the party
leaders, aud his letter ha3 been so
trimmed and groomed that it makes
a very respectable running mate for
Tilden's jockeying document in tho
Presidential race.
Politics and Appropriations.
As an editor in a new State, of
course we favor appropriations from
Congress for ourself, but are incon
sistent enough to object to them else
where. The report the other day
that the Senate had prepared a pleas
ant surprise for the country by re
ducing the whole amount appropri
ated by th River and Harbor bill as
passed by the Representatives, proves
by a dispatch rt reived last week
from Senator Mitchell to have been
ft -ry much worse than premature.
Instead of a reduction the Senate has
made, In various amendments, a
largo addition to the amount. The
o House bilf Appropriated $5,800,000.
t ho Senate cm mnit tee struck out some
items and lrerU'd others which tp-
ducoj tho amount to a few thousand
do'lars. Tin5 Senate, however, re
jected those amendments of the com
mittee which diminished the sum
and left those standing which in
leased it, so that the appropriation
as it now stands has been enlarged
to about 37,000,000. The Houso bill
was absurd. The Senate bill is mon
strous. Some of the most sagacious
Senators saw that they were going
too far, and Mr. Edmunds moved to
abandon tho work of amendment and
to appropriate a gros3 sum of $4,
000,000 to be distributed by the Sec
retary of War. This would effect a
saving upon the House bill of 1,
800,000. The saving is a good thing;
but the temptation to distribute the
tooney with an eye to political ad
vantage is something from which the
sensitive sonl of Mr. Cameron would
shrink, and in his behalf we trust
that the Secretary of War will not be
exposed to it.
Politics of the smallest kind affect
the River and Harbor bill probably
more than any other of the appropri
ation bills. Some ingenious person
of a speculative turn dwelling in the
village of Sandy Flats, a thousand
miles from tide-water, detects "a
good thing" in the improvement of
Mud Creek. He goes to Washington
glowing with patriotism and highly
"unanimous" in favor of "the old
flag and appropriation." Ho gives
the member for the district through
which Mud Creek meanders, or rath
er oozes its way, and the Senator
from the State of which Sandy Flats
is a constituent part to understand
that with tho appropriation re-election
is certain, and that without it
re-election is doubtful, if not impos
sible. Of course the item is added
as an amendment to the bill.
Those Senators who are unwilling
to consider the River and Harbor
bill upon its merits as measured by
the general interest of the country,
but who insist upon regarding it in
its political aspects, would do well
to remember that politics nowadays
go beyond the narrow bounds of
mere party, and involve something
more than tho mere appointing of
Senators. Among tho things in re
spect to which the people are resolv
ed if possible to better their condition
is the useless expenditure of public
money. There are few less justifiable
disbursements than some of those
authorized by" the River and Harbor
bill. As the measure came from the
Democratic House of Representatives
it was an outrage upon the treasury,
and the Republican Senate has made
it more outrageous. It will go hard
with that party which the voters be
lieve to be more extravagant than
the other. Recklessness of this kind
is usually pretty evenly divided be
tween the two parties, but the Senate
seems determined that the Republi
cans shall have something more than
their share, as they certainly will
have if the Senate insists upon its
amendments. There are views of
politics and appropriations which
the careful politicians will not over
look. Tilden's Letter of Acceptance.
Albany, July 31, 187G.
Gentlemen: When I had the honor
to receive the personal delivery of
your letter on behalf of the J)emo
cratic National Convention, held on
the 2Sth of June, at St. Louis, advis
ing me of my nomination as candi
date for tho constituency represented
by that body for tho office of Presi
dent of the United States, I answered
that at my earliest convenience and
in conformity with usage, I would
prepare and transmit to you my ac
ceptance. I now avail myself of tho
first interval in my occupations to
fulfill that engagement. The con
vention, before making its nomina
tions, adopted a declaration of prin
ciples which, as a whole, seems to
me a wise exposition of the necessities
of our country and of the reforms
needed to bring back the government
to its true functions, and to restore
the purity of its administration, and
to renew the prosperity of tho people;
but some of these reforms are so
urgent mat tney claim more tnan a
passing approval. The necessity of
reform in the public expenses, feder- 1
al state and municipal, and modes of
1-oderal taxation justified all the
prominence given to it in the decla
ration of the St. Louis convention.
The present depression in all busi
ness and industries of the people,
which is depriving labor of its em
ployment and carrying want to so
many, has its principal cause in the
excessive government consumption,
under illusions of specious property,
engendered by facts. The policy of
the federal government wasting cap
ital has been going on ever since
1805, which could only end in uni
versal disaster. The ' federal taxes
for the last eleven years reach the
gigantic sum of four thousand five
hundred millions of dollars; local
taxation has amounted to one third
as much more; the vast aggregate
being not less than seven thousand
five hundred millions. This enor
mous taxation followed the civil con
flict that had greatly impaired our
aygregaiu weaim, ana naa made a
prompt reduction of expenses impos
sible. It was aggravated by each
unscientific and ill-adjusted methods
of taxation that the increased sacri
fices of the people are beyond the
receipts. It was an aggravated finan
cial policy which tended to diminish
the energy, skill, and economy of
production aud frugality of private
consumption, and induced miscalcu
lations in business and an funre
munerative use of capital and labor.
Even in prosperous times the daily
wants of industrious communities
press close upon their daily earnings.
The margin of possible national sav
ings is at best a small percentage of
the national earnings; yet for These
eleven years the government con
sumption has been a larger portion
of the national earnings than tho
whole people can possibly save even
in prosperous times. For all new
investments theconsequencesof these
errors are now a present public ca
lamity; out iney were never doubtful
never invisible; they were necessary
and inevitable, and were foreseen
and depicted when the waves of that
fictitious prosperity ran highest.
In a speech made by me on the
24th of September, 18G8, it was said
of these taxes that they bear heavily
on every man's income, upon every
industry, and upon every business
j are destined to press still more heav
in tne country, and year by vear they
ily unless they arrest the system that
gives rise to them. It was compara
tively easy when values were doub
ling under the repeating issue of
legal tender paper money to pay out
of"tho froth of our growing and an- i
parent wealth these taxes, but when
values recede and sink toward their
natural scale the tax-gatherer takes
from us not only our income, not
only our profits, but also a portion
of our capital. I do not wish to ex
aggerate or alarm, I simply say that
we cannot afford the costly policy of
the Radical majority of Congress; we
cannot afford that policj' toward the
South, we cannot afford magnificent
and oppressive centralism into which
our government is being converted;
we cannot afford the present magnifi
cent scale of taxation. To the Sec
retary of the Treasury I said early in
18G5, ''there is not a royal road for
the government more than for an in
dividual or corporation; what you
want to do now is to cut down your
expenses and live within yonr in
come; I would give all the legerde
main of finance and financiering I
would give the whole of it for the old
home-made maxim of "live within
your income." This reform will be
resisted at every step, but it must be
pressed persistently. We see to-day
the immediate representatives of the
people in one branch of Congress
while struggling to reduce expendi
tures, compelled to confront the men
ace of the Senate and Executive, that
unless objectionable appropriations
be consented to tho operations of
government thereunder shall suffer
detriment or cease. In my judgment
an amendment to the constitution
ought to be devised, separating into
distinct bills appropriations for the
various departments of the public
service, and excluding from each bill
all appropriations for other objects
and all independent legislation. In
that wa3' alone can the revisory pow
er of each of the two houses and of
the Executive be preserved and ex
empted from the moral distress which
often compels assent to objectionable
appropriations rather than stoj the
wheels of government. An accessory
cause, enhancing distress in business,
is to be found in the systematic and
insupportable misgovernment impos
ed upon the States of the South.
Besides tho ordinary effects of an ig
norant and dishonest administration,
it has inflicted upon them enormous
issues of fraudulent bonds, the scanty
avails of which were wasted or stolen,
and the existence of which is a public
discredit, tending to bankruptcy or
repudiation. Taxes generally 'op
pressive, in some instances have con
fiscated the entire income of property
and totally destroyed its market val
ue. It is impossible that these evils
should not react on the prosperity of
the whole country. Nobler motives
of humanity concur with the materi
al interests of all in requiring every
obstacle to be removed to complete a
durable reconciliation between a kin
dred population, once unnaturally
estranged on the basis recognized
by the St. Louis platform. The
Constitution of the United States
with its amendments is universally
accepted as a final settlement of tlie
controversies which engendered the
civil war. But in aid of a result so
beuifieent, the moral influence of
good citizens, as well as every gov
ernment authority, ought to lent not
alone to maintain their iust ennalitv
before the law, but likewise to estab
lish a cordial fraternity and good
will among citizens, whatever their
race or color, who are now united in
the one destiny of common selff gov
ernment. If the duty shall be as
signed to me, I should not fail to
exercise the powers with which the
laws and constitution of our country
clothe its chief magistrate and to
protect all its citizens, whatever their
former condition, iu every political
and personal right.
Reform is necessary, declares the
St. Louis convention, to establish a
sound currency; to restoro public
credit and maintain national honor;
and it goes on to demand a judicious
system of preparation by public
economics, by official retrenchment,
and by wiso finances, which shall
enable tho nation to assure tho whole
world of its readiness to meet any of
its promises at the call of the credit
or entitled to payment. The object
lemanded by the convention is the
resumption of specie payments on
legal tender notes of tlie United
States that would not only restore
public credit and maintain the na
tional honor, but establish sound
currency for the people. The meth
ods by which this object is to be
pursued and means by which this
object is to be attained are disclosed
by what tho con ven tion'demands for
the future and by what it denounces
in the past. Thrvresumption of spe
cie payments by the government of
the United States on its legal tender
notes would establish specie pay
ments by all banks on all their notes.
The official statement made on the
12th of May shows tho amount of
bank notes to be 30,000,000, less 82,
000,000 held by themselves. Against
these 828,000,000 of notes, the banks
held. 141,000,000 legal tender notes
or u little more than five per cent, of
their amount, but they also held on
deposit in tho Federal Treasury as
security for these notes, bonds of
tho United States, worth in gold
about $3G,000,000. available and cur
rent in all foreign money markets.
In resuming, the banks, even if it
were possible for their notes to be
presented for payment, would have
five hundred millions of specie funds
to pay 280 millions of notes, without
contracting their loans to their cus
tomers or calling on any private di
rector for payment. Suspended banks
udertaking to resume have usually
been obliged to collect from needy
borrowers means to redeem their ex
cessive issue and to provide reserves.
A vague idea of distress is there
fore often associated with the pro
cess of resumption, but the condi
tions which caused distress in form
er iustances do not exist. The gov
ernment has only to make good its
own promises and the banks qan
take care of themselves without dis
tressing anybody. The government
is therefore the sole delinquent. The
amount of legal tender notes of the
United States now outstanding is
less than 300 million of dollars be
sides 34 million of fractional curren
How shall the government make
there notes at all times as good as
specie? It has to provide in refer
ence to the mass which would be
kept in use by the wants of business
a central reserve of coin adequate to
the adjustment of temporary fluctua
tions of international balances and
t
as a guarantee against transient
loans artificially created by panic or
by speculation. It has also to pro
vide for the payment in coin, of such
fractional currency as may oe pre-
sented for redemption, and such in-
frnh"lpmllf nortions of legal ten
ders as individuals may from time to
time desire to convert for specie use
or in order to lay by in coin their
little stores of money. To make the
coin now in tho treasury available
for the object of this reserve, to
gradually strengthen and enlarge
that reserve and to provide for such
other exceptional demand for coin as
may arise, does not seem to oe a
work of difficulty if wisely planned
and pursued. It not to cost any
sacrifice to the business of the coun
trv; it should, on the contrary, re
vive hope and confidence. The coin
in tho treasury on the 30th June, in
cluding what is held against coin
certificates, amounted to nearly 874,
000,000. The current of precious
metals, which has flown out of our
country for 11 rears, from July 1st,
1SG3, to June" 30, 1S7G, averaging
nearly 87G,000,000 a ye-ir, was 812,
000 000 in the whole period, of which
6017,000,000 were the product of our
own mines. To match the requisite
quantity by intercepting from the
current flowing out of the country,
and by acquiring from stocks which
exist abroad without disturbing the
equilbrium of the money market is a
result to be easily worked by practi
cal knowledge and judgment. With
respect to whatever surplus of legal
tenders the wants of business may
failtokeep in the United, States and
which, in order to save interest, will
be retained for redemption, thejTcan
either be paid or they can be funded.
Whether they continue as currency
or be absorbed into a vast mass of
securities held as investments, is
merely a question of the rate
of interest they draw. Even
if they were to remain in
their present form and tho govern
ment agreed to pay on them a rate
of interest, making them desirable
investment, they would cease to cir
culate, and take their place with gov
ernment, state, municipal and other
corporate and private bonds, of
which a thousand millions exist
among us. In the perfect ease with
which they can bo changed from cur
rency into investments lies the only
danger to be guarded against in the
adoption of general measures intend
ed to remove a clearly ascertained
surplus that is withdrawn from any
which are not 'a permanent excess
beyond the wants of business.
Even more mischief would result
from any measures which affected
tho public imagination with the fear
of an apprehended scarcity. In a
community where credit is so much
used to fluctuations of values the
vicissitudes in business are largely
caused ) the temporary beliefs of
men, even before tlieir beliefs can bo
confirmed to ascertained realities.
The amount of currency necessary at
a given time cannot be determined
arbitrarily, and should be assumed
on conjecture that its amount is
subject to both iermanent and tem
porary changes. An enlargement of
it, which seemed to be durable, hap
pened at the beginning of tlie civil
war by a substituted use of currency
in the place of individual credits; it
varies with certain states of business.
I it fluctuates with regularity at diff
erent seasons; for instance, when
Infers of grain and other agricultu
ral prod nets begin their operations
they usually need to borrow capital
or circulating credits by which to
make purchases and want . these
funds in currency capable of being
distributed in small sums among nu
merous Hellers; an additional need of
currency at such times as live or
more percent, of the whole volume,
and if a surplus beyond what is re
quired for ordinary use docs not
happen to bo on hand at the monej'
centres a scarcity ensues aud also
stringency in the loan market. It
was iu reference to such expediences
that in the discussion of this subject
in my annual message to tho New
York legislature, in January, 1875, a
suggestion was made that the federal
government was bound to redeem
every portion of its issues which tho
puplic does not wih to use. Having
assumed to monopolize the supply of
currency and enacted exclusions
against everybody else, it is bound
to furnish all which the wants of
business require; tho system should
allow the volume of circulating-credits
to ebb and flow according to every
changing want of business; it should
imitate as closely as possible the
"natural laws of trade which it. h:l
superseded by artificial contrivances.
In a simlar discussion in my message
of January, 187G, it was said that re
sumption should be effected by such
measures as would keep the aggregate
amount of currency self-adjusting
during all process, without creating
at any time an artifical scarcity, and
without exciting public imagination
with alarms, which impair confidence
and contract the whole large machi
nery of credit and disturb the natu
ral operations of business. Public
economy, official retrenchment and
wise finance are means which the St.
Louis Convention indicates as a pro
vision for rosorces and redemption.
The best resouce is a reduction of
expense of the government below its
income, for that imposes no new
change on the people. If, however,
improvidence aud waste which have
conducted it to a period of falling
revenues, oblige us to supplement
the results of economies and re
trenchments by some resorts to loans,
we should not hesitate. The govern
ment ought not to speculate on its
own dishonor in order to save inter
est on its broken promises, which
it still compels private individuals
to accept at a fictitious par. The
highest national honor is not only
right, but would prove profitable.
The public dept of nine hundred and
eighty-five millions bears interest at
G per cent, in gold and seven hun
dred and twelve millions at 5 per
cent, in gold, the average interest is
5.58 per cent. A financial policy
which should secure the highest
credit, and wisely availed of, ought
gradually to obtain a reduction of 1
per cent interest on most of the loans.
A saving of 1 per cent on the average
would bo one hundred and seventy
seven millions a year in gold; that
saving regularly invested at 4J per
cent, would in less than 38 years ex
tinguish the principal, and the whole
one thousand seven hundred millions
of funded debt might be paid by
this saving alone, without cost to
the people. It is best even when
preparations shall have been matur
ed on the exact debt, that it would
have to be chosen with reference" to
the existing state of trade and credit
operations in our own country, and
the course of foreign commerce and
condition of exchange with other na
tionsT The specific measures and actual
dates are matters of detail having re
ference to ever changing conditions.
They belong to the domain of practi
cal, administrative statesmanship.
The captain of a steamer about start
ing from New York to Liverpool
does not assemble a council over his
ocean chart; a human intelligence
must be at helm to place the shifting
forces of waters and winds, to feel
the elements day by day, and guide
to mstory over them; such pre
parations are nothing without them.
A legislative committee fixing a day
and official promises are sharaa.
Among thoughtful men, whose judg
ment will, at least, sway public opin
ion, an attempt to act on such a
command, or such promises, with
out preparation, would end in a new
suspension; it would be a fresh cal
amity prolific of confusion, distrust
and distress. The act of Congress
of July 14, 1875, enacted that on and
after the 1st of July, 1870, the Secre
tary of the Treasury shall redeem, in
coin legal tender notes of the United
States, on presentation at the office
of the assistant treasurer in New
York. It authorizes the Secretcry
to prepare and provide for such re
sumption of specie payments by use
of any surplus revenues not other
wise appropriated, and by issning in
his discretion certain classes of
bonds. -More than one and a half of
four years have passed and Congress
and the President have continued
ever since to unite in acts which
have legislated out of existence every
possible surplus applicable to this
purpose. Tlie coin in the treasury
claimed to belong to the government,
had, on the 30th cf July, fallen to
less than forty-five millions of dol
lars against fifty-nine millions on
the 1st of July, 1875, and the avail
ability af part of the sum is said to bo
questionable. Tiro revenues are fall
ing faster than appropriations and
expenditures are reduced, leaving
the treasury with diminishing re
sources. The Secretary has done
nothing under his power to issue
bonds; the legislative command sind
the official promises fixing a day of
resumption have been made, but
there has been no economy in the
operations of the government. The
homely maxims of every day life are
tlie best standard of its conduct. A
debtor who should promise to pay a
loan out of a surplus income, yet be
seen every day spending all he could
lay his hands on in riotous living,
would lose all character for honesty,
and his offer of a new promise, or his
profession as to the value of old pro
mises, would alike provoke derision.
The St. Louis platform denounces
the failure for eleven years to make
good the promises of the legal tender
notes; it denounces the ommission
to accumulate any reserve for their
redemption ; it denounces the con
duct which, during eleven years of
peace, has made no advance toward
resumption, no preparation for re
sumption; but instead, has obstruct
ed resumption by wasting our re
sources and exhausting all our sur
plus income, and while professing to
intend speedily to resume specie
payments, has annually enacted
fresh hindrance thereto, and having
first denounced the baseness of a
promise of a day of resumption, it
next denounces that barren promise
as a hindrance to resumption; it then
demands establishment of a judicious
svstem of preparation for resump
tion. It cannot be doubted that the
substitution rf a system of prepara
tion without promise of a day, for
the worthless promise of a day, with
out a system of preparation, would
be the grain of the substance of re
sumption, in exchange for its shad
ow. Nor is denunciation unmerited
of that improvidence which in the
eleven years since peace which has
consumed forty-five thousand million
dollars and yet could not afford to
give tho people a sound and stable
currency. Two and a half per cent,
of the expenditure of these eleven
years or less would have provided
all the additional coin needful to re
sumption. The distress now felt by
the people in all their business in
dustries, though it has its principal
cause in the enormous "waste of capi
tal occasioned by the false policies
of our government, has been greatly
aggravated by mismanagement of the
currency. Uncertainty is the prolific
parent of mischief in all business.
Never were its evils more felt than
now. Men do nothing, because they
are unable to make any calculations,
on which they can safely rely; they
undertake nothing, because the3' are
at a loss in everything they would
attempt; they stop and wish; the
merchant dares not buy for tho fu
ture consumption of his customers;
the manufacturer dares not make fab
rics which may not refund his out
lay; he shuts his factory and dischar
ges his workmen; capitalists cannot
lend on security they do not consid
er safe, and their funds lie almost
withontinterest ; men with enterprise,
who have creditors to pledge will not
borrow; consumption has fallen be
low the natural limits of reasonable
economy ; prices of many things are
under the range of the frugal specie
payment times before the civil war.
Vast masses of currency lie in hands
unused. A year and a half ago legal
tenders were at their largest volume
and 812,000,000 since retired have
been replaced bv fresh issues of
8100.000,000 of bank notes. In the
meantime, banks have been surren
dering about four millions
per month because they can
not find profitable use for so
many of their notes. Tho public
mind will no longer accept shams; it
has suffered enough from illusions
in an insincere policy which increas
es distrust, and an unstable policy
which increases uncertainty. The
people need to know that thegovern
ment is moving in a direction of ul
timate safety and prosperity, aud
that is doing so through prudent and
safe conservative methods, which
will be sure to inflict no new distress
on the business of the country. Then
the inspiration of new hope and well
founded confidence will hasten, re
storing the prices of nature, and
prosperity will begin to return. The
St. Louis convention concluded its
expression in regard to the currency
bill by the declaration of its convic
tions as to the practical results of
the system of preparations. We be
lieve such a system, well devised,
and above all, intrusted to compe
tent hands for execution, creating at
no time an artificial scarcity of cur
rency, and at no time alarming the
public mind into a withdrawal of
that vast machinery of credit by
which 05 per cent, of all business
transactions are performed a sys
tem open to the public and inspiring
general confidence would, from the
day of its adoption, bring healing
on its wings to all our harassed in
dustries, set in motion the wheels of
commerce, manufactories and me
chanical arts, restore employment to
labor, and renew in all its material
sources the prosperity of the people.
The governmentof theUnited States,
iu my opinion, can advance to the
resumption of specie payment on its
legal notes in gradual .and safe pro
. -. - i -I- t ... i.
cesses, tending to relieve tne present
business distress. If charged by the
people with administration of the
Executive office, 1 should deem it
my duty to no exercise the powers
wi th which it has been or may be in
vested by Congress so as best and
soonest to conduct the country to
that beneficial result.
The convention justly affirms that
reform is necessary in the civil ser
vice, necessary to its purification,
necessary to its economy and effi
ciency, necessary in order that the
ordinary employment of the public
business may not be the prize fought
for at the ballot box, brief reward of
party zeal instead of posts of honor
assigned for proved competency and
held for fidelity iu public employ.
The convention wisely allowed that
reform is necessary even more in the
higher grades of public service. The
President, Vice President, Judges,
Senators, Representatives, Cabinet
officers and all others in authority
are not a private perquisite they
are public trusts. Two evils infest
the official service of the federal gov
ernment: One is the prevalent and
demoralizing notion that the public
service exists, not for the business
and benefit of the whole people, but
for the interest of officeholders, who,
in truth, are but the servants of the
people; under the influence of this
pernicious error, public employ
ments have been multiplied, and the
number of those gathered into the
ranks of the officeholders have been
already increased beyond any possi
ble requirement of the public busi
ness; while inefficiency, speculation,
fraud and maladministiation in pub
lic business, from the highest to the
lowest places of power, have over
spread the whole service like a
leprosy. The other evil is the or
ganization of the official class into a
body of political mercenaries, gov
erning caucuses and directing the
nominations of their own party, and
attempting to carry the elections of
the people. by undue influence and,
by an immense corrupting fund, sys
tematically collected from the sala
ries and fees of officeholders. The
official class in other countries,
sometimes by its own weight and
sometimes in alliance with the army,
has been able to rule unorganized
masses, even .under universal suf
frage; here it has already grown into
a gigantic power, capable of stifling
i sound public opinion, of resisting
an easy change of administration,
until misgovernment becomes intol
erable and public spirit has been
stung to the pitch of civil revolu
tion. The first step in reform is an
elevation of the standard by which
tlie appointing rower selects agents
to execute oflicial trust. Not less in
importance is a conscientious fideli
ty in the exercise of the authority to
hold to account and displace subor
dinates. The public interests in an
honest and skillful performance of
official trust must not be sacrilieed
to the usufruct of fnenmlo::f s. After
these immediate steps, which will in
sure the exhibition of bitter exam
ples, we may wisely go on to the
abolition of unnecessary offices, and
finally, by a patient and careful or
ganization of a bettor civil service
system, under test, wherever practi
cable, of proved competency and
fidelity. While much may bo ac
complished by these methods it.
might encourage delusive expecta
tions if I were to withhold here an
expression of my conviction that no
reform of civil service in this coun
try will be complete and permanent,
until its chief mag strate is constitu
tionally disqualified for re-election;
experience having repeatedly ex
posed the futility of self-imposed re
strictions by candidates or incum
bents, no matter what may be their
solemnity. In this way the Presi
dent can be effectually delivered
from his great temptation to
misuse that power and patron
age with which the Executive
is necessarily charged. Educated
in the belief that it is the first daty
of a citizen of the Republic to take
his fair allotment, care and trouble
in public affairs, I have for forty
years, as a private citizen, fulfilled
that duty, and though occupied in
an unusual degree, during all that
period with concerns of government,
I have never acquired the habit of
official life. When a year and a half
ago I entered on my ptesent trust, it
was in order to consummate reforms
to which I had already devoted
several years of my life. Knowing
as I do, therefore, from experience,
how much tho difference is between
going through au official routine and
working out reforms of systems and
policies, it is impossible for me to
contemplate what needs to be done
in the Federal administration with
out an acute sense of the difficulties
of the undertaking. If summoned
by the suffrages of my conntrj-men
to attempt this work, I shall endeavor
with God's help, to be the efficient
instrument of their will.
SAMUEL J. TILDEN.
To J. McClernand, chairman; Geo.
WT. R. Franklin, Hon. J. J. Ab
bott. Hon. J. H. Spannhorst, Hon.
J. Rod field, Hon. F. S. Lyon and
others of the committee, etc.
The N ew Orleans liepublicctn and
the State Jteyister of the same city,
says that the Mississippi jetties are
not a success, as has been reported,
and that Capt. Eads is trying to
dredge out the channel in order to
get the first installment on the jetty
work from the government. Several
vessels are named which have recent
ly grounded in attempting to cross
the bar at the south pass.
The Astoria telegraph line is in
perfect working order. Offices have
been opened at Freeport, Oak Point,
West port and Clifton.
TCLEGHAPIIIC MVs.
Eastern.
Nevt York, Aug. 4. The 7V,7 ,
Washington special savs Pr
Knott has made the Wst coSp 7
sentatives dnrinrr tlm . re"
- ... - jiii sn r . I '
Xlt.
",v- resent sess bn
of Congress Soon after he bean
it is reported at the Capitol 1-V,
went over to his
feat and beo-li
him not to make it necessarv f,,..T
(Frye) to reply, but to alloVthe r?
port to be adopted without debato"
Knott paid no heed to this
but continued his speech foran honi
and a half, the indignation of
tho
Representatives -increasing with
most every word be ntteif-.:.
though Knott attempted to V
bravado by asserting his intti.1.
standing by everything he sai,;
al-
oveunrow was so complete that
scen.e at length became a rati.,
able one. The recommittal wasVar
ried by a two-thirds vote, the major
ity of the Democrats voting with tho
Republicans, and only ninemenihers
of that party representing districts
in Northern States voting in the neg
ative. Ly his performance to-dav
Knott has probably lost what little
respect he still retained among the
majority of the members of tho
House. He certainly will have
hereafter, very little influence, even
among members of his own party
Hen. Benj. Harrison has heen
nominated by the Republicans for
Governor of Indiana.
Lane on the 5th introduced a hill
to reimburse A. P. Jones and others
for money deposited in the Portland
government depository for survevs
iu Oregon.
The bill passed through the House
13' Representative Lane to reimburse
Oregon and California for Modoc
war expenditures, is still pending in
the Senate. It appropriates 870,000
for Oregon, and not the merelv 'in
significant sum of $7,000, as trans
formed by telegraphic error.
The New York Times says Tilden
has made concession to Hendricks'
soft money views, and compares Lis
letter with that of Hayes unfavorably
to Tilden.
The New York Evening Post speals
of Governor Tilden's letter as verv
able, showing patient stndy anil
large experience, and of II end rick's
views of civil service as just.
The World claims that the Tilden
Hend ricks letters dissipate any fears
as to the temper in w hich these
leaders go into the contest; that
though they differ in form, as their
spirits differ in substance and spirit,
they are one.
The Chicago Tribune fays of Til
den's letter.at times it profes-ses can
dor and assumes to be explicit, hv.i
dexterously avoids all definiteuess.
Beyond a general declaration of
favoring a resumption of specie pay
ment the letter gives no stronger or
clearer interpretation of Mr. Tilden's
viaws and purposes than tlie St.
Louis platform. The whole letter
on finances may be expressed in that
part relating to specie payment,
wherein he agreed with the St. Louis
convention, and that the object de
manded by the convention is i re
resnmptiou of specie payments on
the legal tender notes of the United
States. Tlie rest is a jumble of reas
oning, out of which he roaches no
conclusion. There is not a new or
original thought in it.
The X. Y. Ilombl, thinks
are able and discreet documents.
The country will regret though that
they had no condemnation of the
Hamburg outrages.
The small pox is rngincf on board
II. M. S. Repulse at Victoria r 1
several officers and men Lave already
died.
Booth still opposes Mitchell and
Sargent in the ratification of tho
Hawaiian treaty.
The bill introduced by Boutwell
on the 5th. provides for the creation
of a commission, to consist of
three Senators and three members
of the House of Representatives, and
three person.- appointed by the Pres
ident of the United States, to con
sider the expediency of issuing a sil
ver dollar, and making the same a
legal tender. Their conclusion are
to be reported to Congress at tho
next session. The bill proposes to
appropriate the sum of 810.000 to
defray their personal expense while
engaged in the investigation.
A scout from Gen. Crook arrived at
Bismarck on the 2d inst. in a desti
tute condition. Crook was 75 miles
away from there and Indians were
harassing him as he tried to reach
Terry. The Indians picked off men,
stole his stock and kept his march
down to about six miles a day. Tho
men in both commands are reported
as much disheartened.
Washington. Aug. 7.An official
call has been issued for proposals
for five per cent, bonds of lSl,
amounting to 82,100,000 to er.ablo
the Secretary of the Treasury to pay
the Alabama claims.
Tlie Herald's Washington special
of the 8th says charges brought
against Hendricks in a Western pa
per of being concerned ns attorney
or agent in lobbying a war claim
through the War Department, and
when unsuccessful there, in the Sen
ate while he was a Senator, attracts
attention here, as it is founded on
his letters and on evidence in the
department and Senate. It is be
lieved by some persons so serious as,
perhaps, to cause the withdrawal of
Hendricks from the Democratic
ticket, as Orth was recently with
drawn from the Republican ticket,
and curiously enough, for a sinmar
reason. There are Democrats here
w ho would not regard it as a great
misfortune if Hendricks should he
compelled to withdraw.
Washington, Aug. 8. Attention
has been directed to the declaration
in Tilden's letter of acceptance that
interest on the public debt is PaT"
able in gold. Statutes have bee
carefully examined by Senators ana
representatives and no authority 1
found bv them for any loan, tlie
principal or interest of which is pay
able exclusively in gold. Com i3
the term used on all occasions.
Sherman, chairman of the com
mittee, who has been consulted say
no law has ever been passed bint,lD
the United States to pay in gold; oQ
the contrary, both principal and in
terest of all bonded indebtedness was
originally made payable in oi
Tho funding act of July, I870,iint
which the new bonds have been i&sn
ed, makes them payable in coin o
the standard value.
Swamp land contests, says the
Jacksonville Times, are numerous
before the Linkville Land Ofiicc
o
o
o
1
1 1 ..-
r
P.nTfPTY riTr RAKfiROFT T.T&PARY.