The Daily Argus

IS SAMUEL J. TILDEN A REFORMER?

TESTIMONY OF THE "NEW YORK TIMES"

(Concluded.)

CHAPTER II.

MR. TILDEN NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR—
HE IS A HIGHLY RESPECTABLE CANDIDATE,

[From the New York Times, Sept. 18, 1874.]

"THE NEW YORK DEMOCRATIC
CONVENTION MADE AN END OF
ITS WORK YESTERDAY. BY NOMI-
NATING MR. TILDEN FOR GOVER-
NOR, MR. TILDEN IS A HIGHLY
RESPECTABLE CANDIDATE, AND
NO MAN IN THE STATE
WHO
WISHES TO SEE THE RETURN OF
THE
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
TO
POWER NEED BE ASHAMED FOR
HIM."

MR. TILDEN STILL A VERY NICE MAN, BUT
CAN'T BEAT DIX, OH! NO!

The Republican State Convention met
at Utica on September 23, 1874, and re-
nominated Gov. John A. Dix as its candi-
date for Governor. The following morn-
ing the Times commented on the circum-
stance as follows:

[From the N. Y. Times, Sept. 24, 1874.]

"Here, then, our readers have before
them the Republican ticket and platform
for the present year in New York State, and
we make no rash prediction when we say
that it will prove to be the winning ticket.
Mr. Tilden is a very respectable man, but
who would dream of electing him Gover-
nor in preference to General Dix?"

A SLIGHT
CHANGE
PERCEPTIBLE—THE
Times BEGINS TO WEAKEN,

[From the N. Y. Times, October 5, 1874.]

"The Democrats of New York State have
so seldom presented a candidate of good
personal character to the community that
we need not feel surprised at the pride
which they now take in exhibiting Mr.
TILDEN.
There is every motive
for working energetically
against the
Democrats in New York State.
It is not Mr. Tilden, but the men behind
Mr. Tilden whom the public have to fear."

From this time until the day of election,
the Times attacked Mr. Tilden in pretty
much the same fashion that it is doing
now, with what results is well known.
The article that follows is almost a fac-
simile of what it will publish on the day
after the next Presidential election, and as
such is deserving of careful study:

[From the Times, Nov. 4, 1871.]

THE DEMOCRATIC VICTORY,

"The result of the elections yesterday.
in this and other Eastern States, will not
be a surprise to anybody, except perhaps
to a few persons in Washington, and it
certainly will not surprise any of our read-
ers, who have been kept tolerably well in-
formed as to the causes which inevitably
tended to produce the present over-
throw of the Republican party. All that
could be done honorably to avert this de-
feat has been done by us, but since the
last Presidential election many of the party
leaders have been deaf alike to advice or
remonstrance. They have apparently be-
lieved that the people would quietly sub-
mit to anything and everything, and that
the party which they represented was in-
destructible. Nothing short of the events
which we record this morning could have
opened their eyes to the truth. If a news-
paper warned them in a friendly but firm
spirit against the policy of blundering
which they were pursuing, it was treated
with a mixture of the insolence and arro-
gance which they exhibited toward all op-
position. The immediate friends of the
Administration possessed themselves of an
'organ' at Washington, and filled it with
disgusting slanders and with besotted ar-
guments in favor of Gen. Grant for a
'third term.' It will be the lot of the
President to discover, in common with
many great men who have gone before
him, that foolish flatterers and venal news-
papers cannot turn aside the current of
public opinion. The truths which he and
his immediate supporters refused to hear
from the lips of friends, they must now
listen to to-day from the people at the
polls.

"The great and signal defeats of yester-
day virtually began last year. The panic
did much to injure the Republican party.
but the effects of that disaster might have
been greatly lessened HAD A WISE COURSE
BEEN ADOPTED BY CONGRESS IN RELATION
TO THE FINANCES.

"The MISMANAGEMENT AT The TREAS-
URY, THE SANBORN FRAUDS, and the gen-
eral series of blunders in nearly all the
public departments, were in the mean
time causing incalculable mischief. THE
FIRST TWO NOMINATIONS FOR CHIEF Jus-
TICE WERE SHOCKING BLUNDERS, AND
DISGUSTED THE WHOLE PEOPLE.

"For the sake of the country it is to be
hoped that the Democrats will use their
victory in a spirit of moderation and pru-
dent statesmanship. We doubtless see,
to-day, the Democratic Presidential candi-
date for 1876, and if the Republican party
is not conducted with greater wisdom and
good fortune during the next two years
than it has been during the last two, Mr.
Tilden is the most probable successor of
Gen. Grant.

CHAPTER IV.

MR. TILDEN AS GOVERNOR.

The career of Mr. Tilden as Governor
of New York is too fresh in the minds of
all to require much comment. The ex-
tracts subjoined attest the good opinion
which the Times entertains of our Gov-
ernor, whenever he is a candidate for
office:

[From the N. Y. Times, January 1, 1875.]

"The Democrats come into power to-
day, and we wish them nothing worse than
that they give the people a thoroughly
good and honest government.
We have not the slightest doubt that he
(Gov. TILDEN) means to do his duty."

SOMETHING FOR GOV. DIX AND HIS "BOYS
IN BLUE" TO READ.

The following address was delivered by
Gov. Dix when he surrendered the execu-
tive power to Mr. TILDEN, on Jan. 1, 1875.
As Gen. Dix threatens in a recent letter to
have something to say why Mr. TILDEN
should not be elected President of the
United States, it would not be remiss for
him to recall the sentiments he uttered on
that memorable occasion. Although Gen.
Dix may possibly not remember the fifty
odd thousand majority against him and in
favor of Mr. TILDEN in 1874, because that
was the work of others, he will not so
easily forget the address that follows, since
that was his own work.

[N. Y. Times, January 2, 1875.]

"Mr. TILDEN: The people of the state
have called you to preside over the admin-
istration of their government BY A MA-
JORITY, which manifests the highest con-
fidence in your ability, integrity and firm-
ness. I need not say to you, who have
had so long and familiar acquaintance with
public affairs, that in a state of such
magnitude as ours, with interests so vast
and diversified, there is a constant demand
on the chief magistrate for the essential
attributes of statesmanship. It is gratify-
ing to know that the amendments to the
Constitution, approved and ratified by the
people at the late general election, by
limiting the powers of the legislature in
regard to local and special laws, will in
some degree lighten the burden of your
arduous and responsible duties. While a
material progress has been made during
the last two years in the correction of
abuses, much remains to be done, and the
distinguished part you have borne in the
work of municipal reform in the city of
New York gives assurance that under your
auspices the great interests of the State will
be vigilantly guarded. I tender you my
sincere wish that your labors in the cause
of good government may be as successful
here as they have been elsewhere, and that
your administration may redound to your
own honor, and to the lasting prosperity of
the people of the whole State."

GOV. TILDEN'S FIRST MESSAGE, AND WHAT
THE TIMES THOUGHT OF IT.

Next comes the opinion of the Times on
Gov. Tilden's first annual message to the
Legislature.

[N. Y. Times, January 6, 1875.]

"It is full of suggestions upon which
every man would do well to ponder, and
there are special subjects which are treat-
ed with that wisdom which only comes of
practical experience.
We refer particu-
larly to that part of the message relating
to breaches of trust committed by respon-
sible officials. In the Tweed prosecution,
Mr. Tilden had the opportunity of making
himself thoroughly acquainted with the
practical working of the present laws.
The Governor had ample means of de-
tecting the loopholes through which dis-
honest officials contrive to escape, and few
men are better fitted to devise expedients by
which these loopholes may be stopped.
Upon the whole, we may
congratulate Mr. TILDEN on having sent
in a very fair, sensible and business-like
message; and we have only to hope that
his acts and those of his party will do no
violence to his promises."

GOV. TILDEN WILL NOT DO A WRONG TO
GRATIFY POLITICIANS.

[N. Y. Times, February 20, 1875.]

* * * * "He has so far shown that he
will not abate one jot of his honest con-
victions, or consent to any act which he be-
lieves to be morally wrong, to gratify any
set of politicians whatever.

CHAPTER V.

GOV. TILDEN'S WAR ON THE CANAL PLUN-
DERERS.

Towards the middle of March, 1875, it
became generally accepted as a fact in
political circles that Gov. Tilden was pre-
paring to begin a vigorous and effective
campaign against the Canal Ring, and
that he would shortly address a message
to the Legislature on the subject. The
Times thus anticipates the Governor's ac-
tion:

[N. Y. Times, March 17, 1875.]

"The Governor's message on the canals
is said to be nearly ready, and it is repor-
ted to be a document calculated to spread
dismay through the ranks of the Canal
Ring.

"As a political power in the State, the
Canal Ring has been steadfastly opposed
to him in the past, and he has certainly
nothing but hostility to expect from it in
future. His (TILDEN'S) natural antipathy
to administrative corruption will therefore
be strengthened on this occasion," etc.,
etc.,

Gov. TILDEN'S message was transmitted
on March 19.

(Continued on next page)
TILDEN REFORMER?
(Concluded.)
The Albany correspondent of the Times thus describes the effect of Governor Tilden's famous message to the Legislature on the Canal frauds,
From the N. Y. Times, March 20, 1875]
"ALBANY, March 19, 1875.
"The campaign against the Canal Ring is fairly begun, and the first advance upon that stronghold of fraud and corruption was made by Gov. TILDEN, who sent his anxiously looked for message on this subject to both Houses of the Legislature to-day.
The document is a strong one, but is not to be deemed inexhaustive on the subject.
A perfect state of panic exists among all those who have been and are involved in the matter. Since the contents of the message have become known, it is everywhere admitted that no such assault had ever before been made on this Ring, and that its momentum was too great and too direct to be either resisted or averted."
And on the same day the following editorial comments appeared:
GOV. TILDEN AND THE CANAL RING.
[From the N. Y. Times, March, 20 1875.]
"The brevity of the Governor's message in regard to the canals may be a surprise to the public. Its ability, pungency and comprehensive grasp of a somewhat intricate subject, will surprise nobody-unless, perhaps, the corrupt gang against whose system of plunder it is mainly directed.
*As a searching analysis of one of the most long-lived systems of official peculation in the State, the message has an interest for the general tax-payer far beyond the subject to which it immediately refers.
To those directly interested, as merchants, boatmen, or forwarders, in the lowering of canal tolls and the making of canal expenditures more productive of solid results, the Governor appeals as one who has made a long and careful study of the subject of internal water results, and who is thoroughly competent to reveal the very source and center of the abuses which have helped to divert the legitimate commerce of the State into other channels."
On March 25, when there was some doubt that the Legislature would appoint a proper committee to investigate the rascalities of the canal thieves, the Times again reiterates its confidence in Governor
"Gov. TILDEN is not likely to disappoint the popular expectation that, committee or no committee, he will track the canal frauds home to their authors, and bring those who have profited by them to justice."
THE TIMES PROPHET FOR ONCE RIGHT.
We end this collection of extracts with the following.
It strikes some people right between the eyes:
(New York Times, March 26, 1875.)
"For a time he will be praised, but after that he will be abused all around.
A man who attempts to break down an abuse of long standing creates many bitter foes. and attracts few supporters; and lucky will it be for him if in the end the rogues whom he has brought to grief do not contrive to make out his character blacker than their own.
That was a very wise warning of COLERIDGE, 'Truth is a good dog; but beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.' Mr. Tilden is barking too close at the heels of a great fraud, and he will get much encouragement just now; plenty of people will spur him on; but when we are told that he looks for public gratitude after his work is done, we must dismiss it as an idle tale, for Mr. Tilden is a shrewd man, and knows perfectly well what sort of a world we are living in.
We have no inclination to indulge in comments upon the foregoing. This is strictly the work of the New York Times, a leading Republican newspaper, and regarded as reliable authority upon political matters.
We have thus culled the Times' editorial views of Mr. TILDEN from the beginning of his service against the Tammany Ring down to his destruction of its counterpart, the Canal Ring, one year ago. Gov. TILDEN's latest exploit is reducing the State taxes from FIFTEEN MILLIONS TO EIGHT MILLIONS,