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VOLUME XLVII.]
MILLED 6E VILLE, GEORGIA, AUGUST 15, 1876.
If U MB ER 4.
v;.
;T
THE
Union 4" Recorder,
13 PUBLISHED WEEKLY
Id Milledgeville, Ga«,
BY
JSoUGHTON, |?AF\NES ^^tloORE,
Al $2 in Advance, oi $3 al end of Ihe Year.
8. IV. BOUGETOZT, Editor.
The “FEDERAL UNION" ami the “SOUTH
EUN RECORDER’* wore consolidated Au£U*t
Int, 1872, the Union being in it9 Forty-Third
Volume and the Recorder in it’s Fitty-Third
Volume.
ADVERTISING.
Transient.—One* Dollar per square ot t«*u lines lor
fir«t inserttou, ami mvcnty-Uw *vuU for eaeh subsequent
ooutiuuauce.
Liberal (ii»iouut on rute* will in* ulloweu ou
advertiseaieuts ruuuit*£ three moutlm, or longer.
Tributes ol Itesp«*«t, Kraolutioii* by S<m:u tif«, Obitua
ries e»r.eouiu$( bix lines, Nominations Ut and
Coinintmit-utiuua lor iudividual benefit, diargert dt» tiau-
■ieul advertising.
LEGAL ADVERTISING.
Hhoritfs Sales, p*r levy of lea lines, or less,....
“ Mortgage ii fa sale?, p.-r aquare, ° *
Citations lor Loiters oi Administration, £
“ “ “ Guard much ip,• 300
Application for Dismission from Administration, L 00
“ *• “ ** Oourdioiirtliip,.. 3 00
• “ Leave to sell Land •*> <»«
“ for Homesteads, £ 00
Notice to Debtors mid Creditors, *»
Hales of Land, It:., per square, c 00
“ perishable property, 10 days, pur square,.• 1 "5
Estray Notices, 3U days 3 00
Koreclosnre of Mortgage, per square, trut h time 1 (A)
LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS.
Hales of Land, leu., by Administrators, Executors o r
Uusr iians, are required by law to la; held on the first
Tuesday in th« mouth, between the hours oi 10 in the
toreuoou and 3 in the uJWuoou, at the Court House in
iio eouuty iu which the property is situated. Notice of
these sales must be given iu u public gazette Si) Jays
previous to the day of sale.
Notices for the sale of personal property must be
given iu like manner 10 days previous to sale day.
Notice to the debtors and creditors of au estate must
bo published 40 days.
Notice that app'.icati
Ordinary tor leave to
for oue month.
Citatious for letters
m will bo in
ell Laud, Ac
to the Court of
uat he published
oiatration. Guardianship.
Ac., must he publish -d h0 days—lor disuiission from
ruiiiistratiou monthly three mouths—lor dismission I
Guardianship 40 days.
Rules for lorecloaure of Mort?aae must be publi
monthly f »rfo*ir inonthN—for establishing lost p**P*»ri
the full *£#are oi tlirw mouths—for compelling tits*-** Iri
Exc utnr- or Administrators, where le.i.d has be. n gi
of three mouths.
Ad-
lor
s»ii by the deceased, the full spue* <
I'uldieationa will always be eon
(beat) the le^al requirements, unless other
ed
ordins to
ordered.
Book and Job Work of all Kinds
PROMPTLY AND NEATLY EXECUTED
AT THIN OFFICE.
TILDE#.
IIIS LONG LOOKED FOK LET-
TER OF ACCEPTANCE.
A Masterly Iieviow of the Political
Situation—In Favor of Resump
tion, Public Economy, Official Re
trenchment and Wise Finance.
Telegram to t.l»o ConatUutumalidt.
New York, August 4.—The follow
ing in Governor Tilden’s letter of ae-
ceptance.
Albany, N. Y., July 31st, 1876.
Gentlemen:—When I had the lion
or to receive a personal delivery of
your letter in behalf of the Democrat
ic National Convention, hold on the
28th of Juno, at St. Louis, advising
mo of my nomination as tho candid
ate of the constituency represented
l>y that body for tho office of Prosi.,
dent of the Uni tod States, I answered
that at my earliest convenience, and
,'/i conformity with usage, I would
ropare and transmit yon a formal
?ceptanco. I now avail myself of
1 ie iirst interval in unavoidable oc-
jpations to fulfill that engagement,
'lie Convention, befoie making its
ominations, adopted a declaration
f principles which, as a whole, seems
i me a wise exposition of tho nos
essitiep of our country, and of the
reforms needed to bring back the
Government to its trno functions, to
restore purity of administration, and
to renew tho prosperity of the peo
ple; but some of these reforms are so
urgent that they claim more than a
passing approval.
REFORM IX PUBLIC EXPENSE.
The necessity of a reform in the
sealo of public exuf^c, "Si Federal,
State and municipal, and in the
modes of Federal taxation, justifies
all the prominence given to it in the
declaration of tho St- Louis Conven
tion. Tho present depression in all
tho businoss and industries of the
people which is depriving labor of
its employment and carrying want
into so many homes, has its prince*
pal cause in excessive governmental
consumption under the illusions of a
specious prosperity engendered by
tho false policies of tho Federal Gov
ernment A waste of capital has
been going on over since the peace j
of 1865, which conld only end in uni- |
versal disaster. Tho Federal taxes j
of tho last eleven years reach the
gigantic sum of forty five hundred :
millions of dollars. Local taxation
has amounted to two thirds of that
sum, and much more, and the vast
aggregate is not less than seventy-
live hundred millions of dollars. This
enormous taxation followed a civil
conflict that has greatly impaired our
aggregato wealth, and had made a
prompt reduction of expenses indis
pensable. It was aggravated by
most unscientific and illadjusted
methods of taxation, that increased
tho sacrifices of the people far be
yond the receipts of the Treasury.
It was aggravated more by a financial
policy which tended to disminish the
energy, skill and economy of produc
tion and tho frugality of private con
sumption, and induced miscalcula
tion in business and an unremunora-
tivo use of capital and labor. Even
in prosperous times tho daily wants
of industrious communities press
closely upon their daily earnings; the
margin of possible national savings
is at best a small percentage of na
tional earnings, yet now for these
oloven yoars governmental consump
tion has been a larger portion of the
national earnings than the'whole peo
ple can possibly save oven in pros*,
porous tiuios for all new investments
Tho consequences of these errors are
now a prosent public calamity, but
they were never doubtful, never in
visible; they were necessary and ines
viiSbte, and were foreseen and depic
ted when tho waves of that fictitious
prosperity ran highest. In a speech
made l>y myeolf on tho 21th of Sep.,
tembor, 18G8, it was said of these
taxes: “They boar heavily upon
every man’s income, upon every in-
dustiy and npon every business in
the country, and year by year they
aro destined to pross still more
heavily unloss we arrost the system
that gives rise to them. It was com
parativoly easy when values were
doubling under repeated issues of
legal tender paper money to pay out
the froth of our growing and appar
ent wealth these taxes; but when val-
naa F ecodo and sink towards their
natural scale tho tax-gatherer bikes
from ua not only our income, not
only our profits, but also a i*ortion
of our capital I do not wish to ex
aggerate or alarm. I simply say
jk.i ff 0 cannot afford tho costly and
juiooua policy of the Radical majori
ty of Congress. We cannot afford
that policy toward the Sonth. Wo
cannot afford tho magnificent and
oppressive centralism into which our
Government is boing converted. Wo
cannot afford tho present magnificont
scale of taxation. “To the Secretary of
tho Treasury," I said early in 1865,
“there is no royal road for a Govern
ment moro than for an individual or
a corporation. What you want to do
now is to cut down your expenses
and live within your income. I would
give all the legerdemain of finance
and financiering—I would give tho
wholo of it—for the old homely max
im, “Live within your income.” This
reform will bo resisted at every step,
but it must be pressed persistently.
We see to-day the immediate repre
sentatives of the people in one branch
of Congress, while struggling to re
duce expenditures, compelled to con
front the menace of the Senate and
tho Executive, that unless the objec
tionable appropriation be consented
to the operations of tho Government
thereunder shall suffer detriment or
cease. In my judgment, an amend
ment of the Constitution ought to bo
devised separating into distinct bills
the 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
way alone, can every power of each
of the two Houses, and of the Execu
tive, be preserved and exempted from
the moral duress which often compels
assent to objectional appropriations
rather than stop the wheels of Gov
ernment.
THE SOUTH.
An accessory cause, enhancing the
distress in business, is to be found
in tho insupportable mlsgovernmcnt
imposed on the States of tho South.
Besides the ordinary effect of ignoi
ant and dishonest administration it
lms inflicted upon them, enormous
issues of fraudulent bonds, the scanty
avails of which were wasted or stolen,
and the existence of which is a pub
lic discredit tending to bankruptcy
or repudiation. Taxes, generally op
pressive, in some instances have con
fiscated tho entire income of proper
ty, and totally destroyed its market
value. It is impossible that these
evils should not react upon tho pros
perity of the whole country. Tho
nobler motivos of humanity concur
with tho material interests of all in
requiring that every obstacle be ro
moved to a complete and durablo re
conciliation between kindred people
onco unnaturally estranged, on tho
basis recognized by the St. Louis
platform, of tho Constitution of the
United States, with its amendments,
universally accepted as a final settle-
ment of the controversies which on*»
gendered civil war. Bnt in aid of a
result so beneficent, tho moral in-
llucnce of ovory citizen, as well as
every governmental authority, ought
to ho exerted, not alono to maintain
their just equality bofore the law,
but likewiso to establish cordial, fra
tcrnal good will among citizens,
whatever their race or color, who aro
now united in the one destiny of
a common self-government. If the
duty shall be assigned to me, I
should not fail to exercise tho pow
er with which the laws and tho Con*
stitution of our country clothe its
chief magistrate, to protect all its
citizens, whatever their former condi
tion. in every political and porsonnl
right.
CURRENCY REFORM.
Reform is neccessary. declares the
St. Louis Convention, to establish a
sound currency, restoro tho public
credit and maintain tho national hon
or; and it goes on to demand a judi
cious system of preparation by pub
lic economies, by official retrench
ments, and by a wiso finance, which
shall enable tho nation soon to assure
the whole world of its perfect ability
and perfect readiness to meet any
of its promises at tho call of the
creditors entitled to payment Tho
objects demanded by the Convention
is a resumption of specie payments
on the legal tender notes of the
United States. That would not only
restoro tho public credit and main**
tain the national honor, but it would
establish a sound currency for the
people. The methods by which this
object is to bo pursued, and the
means by which it is to be attained,
are disclosed by what the Convention
demanded for the future, and by what
it denounced in the past Tho
resumption of specie payments by
the government of the United States
on its legal tender notes would es
tablish specie payment by all the
banks on all their notes. Official
statements on the ,12th day! of May
show the amounts of the bank notes
was $300,000,000, less $20,000,000,
held by themselves. Against tho
$280,000,000 of notes the banks held
$141,000,000 of legal tender notes,
or a little more than 50 per cent of
the amount, but they also held on
deposit in the Federal Treasury as
security for these notes, bonds of tho
United States worth in gold about
$300,000,000 available and current
in all tho foreign money markets.
In resuming, the banks, even if it
were possible for all their notes to
be presented for payment would
havo five hundred millions of specie
funds to pay two hundred and eighty
millions of notes, without contrac
ting their loans to their customers or
calling on any private debtor for pay
ment. Suspended banks undertaking
to resume have usually been obliged
to collect from needy borrowers tho
moans to redeem excessivo issues and
provide reserves. A vague idea of
distress is therefore often associated
with tho process of resumption, but
the conditions which could distress
ia those former instances do not now
exist. Tho Government has only to
make good its promises and the
banks can take care of themselves
without distressing anybody. The
Government is therefore the sole de
linquent.
LEGAL TENDER RESUMPTION.
The amount of the legal tender
notes of tho Unitod States now out
standing. *is less than $370,000,000,
Ijesulos $34,000,000 of fractional cur
rency. How shall the Government
make those notos atjall times, as good
as spocie? It has to provide in re*»
ferenco to the mass, which would
l>e kept in uso by the wants of bnsi
ness, a central reservoir of coin,
adequate to the adjustment of the
temporary fluctuations of interna
tional balances and as a guaranty
against transient drains artificially
created by panic or by speculation.
It has also to provide for the pay
ment of such fractional currency as
may bo presented for redemption and
such inconsiderable portions of tho
legal tenders as individuals, from
time to time, as they may desire to
convert for special use, or in order
to lay by, in coin, their little stores
of money. Resumption is not diffi
cult. To make the coin in tho Treas
ury available for this reserve, to grad
ually strengthen and enlarge that
reserve, and to provide for such other
exceptional demands for coin as
may arise, dees not seem to me to
be a work of difficulty. If wisely
planned and discreetly pursued, it
ought not to cost any sacrifice to the
business of the country. It should
tend on the contrary to a revival of
hope and confidence.
The coin in the Treasury on tho
30th of June, including what is held
against coin certificates, amounted
to nearly seventy-four millions. Tho
current of precious metals which has
flowed out of our country for eleven
years, from July 1st, 1SG5, to June
30, 1876, averaging nearly $76,000,-
000 a year, was $832,000,000, in the
whole period of which $617,000,000
wore the product of our own mines.
To amass the requisite quantities by
intercepting from the current flowing
out of the country, and by acquiring
from the stocks which exist abroad,
without disturbing tho equilibrium
of foreign money markets is a result
to bo easily worked out by practical
knowledge and judgment. With
respect to whatever surplus of legal
tenders tho wants of business may
fail to keep in use, and which, in or
der to save interest, will be returned
for redemption, they can bo either
paid or they can be funded. Whether
they continue as currency or be ab
sorbed into the vast mass of securi
ties held as investments, is merely a
question of the rate of interest they
draw. Even if they wore to remain
in their present form and the govern
ment were to agree to pay on them
a rato of interest making them de^
sirablo as investments, they would
ceaso to circulate and take their place
with Government, State, municipal
and other corporate and private
bonds, of which thousands of millions
exist among us. In the perfect easo
with which they can be changed from
currency into investments lies the
only danger to bo guarded against
in the adoption of general measures
to remove a clearly ascertained sur
plus, that is, tho withdrawal of any
which aro not a permanent excess be
yond the wants of business. Even
more mischievous would bo any
measure which cffocts the public im
agination, with tho fear of an appre
hended scarcity. In a community
where credit is so much used, fluctu
ation of values and vicisitudes in
business aro largely caused by the
temporary belief of men evon before
thoso beliefs conform to ascertained
realities.
AMOUNT or NECESSARY CURRENCY.
The amount of necessary currency
at a given time cannot be determin
ed arbitrarily and should not bo as
sumed upon tho conjecture. That
amount is subjected to both perma
nent and temporary changes. An on
Iargomont of it, which seemed to be
desirable, happened at the beginning
of tho civil war by a substituted uso
of currency in tho place of individual
credits. It varies with certain states
of business; it fluctuates with con
siderable regularity at different sca.-
sons of the year. In autu i.n, for in
stance, when buyers of grain and
other agricultural products begin
their operations, they usually uesd
to borrow capital or circulating cred
its wtih which to make their pur
chases, and want these funds in a cur
rency capable of being distributed
in small sums among numerous
sellers. The additional need of curren
cy at such times is five or more per
cent, of the whole volume, and if a
surplus beyond what is required for
ordinary uses, does not happen to
have been on hand at the money
centres, a scarcity of currency en
sues, and also a stringency in the
loan market. It was in reference to
such expenses, that in a discussion
of this subject in my annual message
to the Now York Legislature, of
January 5, 1875, tho suggestion was
made that the Federal Government
is bound to redeem every portion of
its issues which the public does not
wish to use. Having assumed to mo
nopolize the supply of currency and
enacted exclusions against every
body else, it is bound to furnish all
which the wants of business require.
The system should passively al
low the volume of circulating cred
its to ebb and flow according to the
evor-ebanging wonts of business. It
should emulate as closely as possic
bio the natural laws of trade which
it has superseded by artificial con
trivances. And in a similar discus
sion in my message of January 4,
1876, it was said that resumption
should be effected by such means as
would keep the aggregate amount
of the currency selfsadjusting dur
ing all tho process, without creating
at any time an artificial scarcity, and
without exciting tho public imagina
tion with alarms which impair con
fidence, and distract the whole
machinery of credit and disturb the
natural operations of business.
Means of resumption—public econo
mies, official retrenchment and wise
finance aro tho means which the St.
Louis Convention indicates as the
provision for reserves and redemp
tions. Tho best rosourcos is a re^
duction of the expenses of tho Gov
ernment below its income, for that
imposes no new charge on tho poo-
plo. If, howover, the improvidence
and waste which have conducted us
to a period of falling revenues obligo
us to supplement the results of ccon
omios and retrenchments by some re
sort to loans we should not hesitate.
Tho Government ought not to spec
ulate on its own dishonor in order
to savo interest on its broken prom
ises which it still compels private
dealers to accept at a fictitious par.
The highest national honor is not
only right, but would provo profita
ble.
Of tho public debt nine hundred
and eighty-five millions bear interest
at 6 per cent, in gold, and seventy-
two millions at 5 per cent in gold.
Tho average interest is 5 58 per cent.
A financial policy which should se
cure tho highest credit wisely avail
ed of ought gradually to obtain a re
duction of one per cent on the in
terest on most of tho loans A sav
ing of one per cent on tho average
would be seventeen millions a year
in gold. That saving regularly in
vested at 4£ per cent would, in less
than thirlyxeight years, extinguish
the principal. The whole seventeen
hundred millions of fanded debt
might be paid by this saving, alone,
without cost to tho people.
PROrER TIME FOR RESUMPTION.
Tho proper time for resumption is
the lime when wise preparations
shall have ravened into a perfect abil
ity to accomplish tho object with cer
tainty and easo that will inspire con
fidence, and encourage the reviving
of business. The earliest time in
which such a result can be brought
about is the best, even when the pre
parations shall have been matured.
The exact date would have to be
chosen with reference to the then ex
isting state of* trade and credit oper
ations in our own country. Tho
course of foreign commerce and the
condition of tho exchanges with oth
er nations, the specie measures and
tho actual date, are matters of detail
having reference to ever changing
the conditions that belong to the
domain of practical administration
and statesmanship. The captain of
a steamer, about starting from New
York to Liverpool, dees not assem
ble a counsel over his ocean chart
and fix an angle by which to lash
the rudder for the whole voyage ; a
human intelligence must be at the
helm to discern tho shifting force of
tho waters and the winds; a human
hand must be on the helm to feel tho
elements day by day and guide to a
mastery over them.
PREPARATION FOR RESUMPTION.
Such preparations are everything,
without them a legislative command
fixing a day, an official promise, fix
ing a day, aro shows. They are
worse. They are a snare and delus
ion to all who trust them. They de
stroy all confidence among thought
ful men, whose judgment will at
ioasfc sway public opinion. An at*,
tempt to act on such a command, or |
such a promise, without preparation,
would end iu new suspensions. It
would be a fresh Calamity, produc
tive of confusion, distrust and dis
tress. The act of January 14th,
1875, enacted that on and after the
1st of July, 1879, the Secretary of
tho Treasury shall redeem in coin
tho legal tender notes of the United
States on presentation at the office
of tho Assistant Treasurer in the city
of Now York. It authorized the
Secretary to prepare and provido
for such resumption of specio pay
ments by tho uso of any surplus rev
enues not otherwise appropriated,
and by issuing in his discretion,
certain classes of bonds. More than
ono and a half of the yoars havo pass-
od. Congress and tho President has
continued ever since to unito in acts
which havo legislated out of exist
ence every possible surplus applica
ble to this purpose. The coin in the
Treasury claimed to bolong to the
Government had, on tho 30th of
Juno, fallen to less than fortyslivo
millions, as against fifty.nino mil
lions on tho 1st of January, 1875,
and tho availibility of a part of that
sum is said to bo questirtlnble. Tho
revenues aro falling faster than ap
propriations, and expenditures aro
reducing, leaving the Treasury with
diminishing revenues. The Secre
tary has done nothing under his pow
or to issue bonds. Legislative Com
mittee, and the official promise fix
ing a day for resumption have thus
far been barren. No practical prep
arations toward resumption have been
made. There has been no progress.
There have been steps backward.
There is no economy in the opera
tions of government. The homely
maxims of every day life arc the best
standards of its conduct. A debtor
who should promise to pay a loan
out of a surplus income, yet bo seen
every day spending all he could lay
his hands on in riotous living, would
lose all character for honesty and ve
racity. This oiler of a new promise
on his profession as to the value of
an old promise would alike provoke
derision. The resumption plank of
the St. Louis platform denounces
tho failure for eleven years to make
good the promise of legal tender
notes, denounces the omission to ao
cumulate aDy reserve for their re
demption. It denounces the con
duct which, during eleven years of
peace, Las made no advance towards
resumption—no preparations for re
sumption; but, instead of, has ob
structed resumption, by wasting our
resources and exhausting ail our
surplus income; and, while profess
ing to intend a speedy return to spe
cie payments, has annually enacted
fresh hindrances thereto; and, hav
ing first denounced the barrenness
of the promise of a day of resump
tion, it next denounces that barren
promiso as a hindrance to resump
tion. It next demands its repeal and
also demands the establishment of a
judicious system of preparation for
resumption- It cannot be doubted
that the substitution of a system of
perparation without the promise of
a day, would be the gain of the sub
stance of resumption in exchange
for its shadow, nor is the denuncia
tion unmerited of that imprudence
which the eleven years since the
peaco has consumed $485,000,000,
and yet could not afford to give tho
people a sound and stable curreucy.
Two and a half per cent, on the ex
penditures of these eleven years, or
even less, would have provided all
the additional coin needful to re
sumption; to relieve business dis
tress. The distress now felt by the
people in all their business and in
dustries, though it has its principal
cause in tho enormous waste of capi
tal, occasioned by tho falso policies
of our government, has been greatly
aggravated by tho mismanagement
of tho currency. Uncertainty is
tho prolific point of mischiof in all
business. Novcr were its qyils more
felt than now; men do nothing, bo-
cause they are unable to make any
calculations on which thoy can safe
ly rely. Thoy undertake nothing,
because they fear a loss in every
thing they would attempt. They
stop and wait; the merchant dares not
bny for tho future consumption of
his customers; the manafactarer
dares not make fabrics which may not
refund his outlay; ho shuts his fac
tory and discharges his workmon;
capitalists cannot lend on seenrity
thoy consider safe, and their funds
Iio almost without interest; men of
enterprise who have credit or se
curities to pledge will not borrow;
consumption bas fallen below the
natural limits of a reasonable econo
my. Prices of many things are un
der their range in frugal specie pay
ing times. Bofore tho civil war vast
masses of currency lay in the banks
untouched. A year and a half ago
the legal tenders.were at their largest
volume, and the twelve millions since
retired have been replaced by fresh
issues of fifteen millions of bank
notes. In tho meantime the banks
have been surrendering about four
millions a month, because they can
not find a profitable use for so ma
ny of these notes. The public mind
will no longer accept shams. It
has suffered enough from illusions.
An insincere policy increases dis
trust, an unstable policy increases un
certainty. The people need to know
that the Government is moving in
the direction of ultimate safety
and prosperity, and that it is doing
so through prudent, safe and conser
vative methods which will be sure to
inflict no new sacrifice on the busi
ness of tho country. Then the in
spiration of a new hope and well
founded confidence will hasten the
restoring processes of naturo and
prosperity will begin to return. The
St. Louis Convention concludes its
expression in regard to the currency
by a declaration of its convictions as
to the practical results of tho system
of preparations it demands. It says:
“Wc believe such a system well de
vised and above all entrusted to
competent hands for execution, cre
ating at no time an artificial scarci
ty of currency and at no time alarm
ing the public mind into a withdraw
al of that vaster machine, credit,
by which 95 per cent, of all busi
ness transactions are performed. A
system open, public and inspiring
general confidence will from the
day of its adoption bring healin;
ou its wings to all our harrassed in
dustries; set in motion the wheels j
of commerce, manufactures and me- j
chanic arts; restore employment to j
labor, and renew in all its natural '
sources tho prosperity of the people " j
The Government of the United |
States, in my opinion, can advance
to a resumption of specie payment ]
on its legal tender notes by gradual |
and safo processes tending to relieve
the present business distress. If
charged by the people with the ad
ministration of tho Executive office,
I should deem it a duty so to exer
cise the powers with which it has
boon, or may be invested by Con
gress, as best and soonest to cons
duct tho country to that beneficient
result.
fresh experience how great the dif
ference between gliding through an
official routine and working out a
reform of systems and policies, it is
impossible for me to contemplate
what noods to be done in the Feder
al administration without an anxious
sense of the difficulties of the un
dertaking. If summoned by the suf
frages of my countrymen to attempt
this work, I shall endeavor with
God’s help, to be the efficient instru
ment of their will.
(Signed ) Samuel J. Tilden.
To Gen. John A. MeClernard,
Chairman; Gen. W. B. Franklin.
Hon. J. J. Abbott, Hon, H. J.
Spannhorst, Hon. H. J. Redfield,
Hon. F. S. Lyon and others, Com
mittee, etc.
HENDRICKS.
Utterances of Another Statesman.—
Splendid Letter of tho Vico Presi
dential Candidate.
civil service reform.
Tho convention justly affirms that
reform is necessary in tho civil ser
vice, necessary to its purification,
necessary to its economy and its ef
ficiency, necessary in order that tho
ordinary employmont of tho public
business may not bo a prizo fought
for at the ballot-box, a brief to
ward of party zoal instoad of posts of
honor assignod for proved compe
tency and hold for fidelity in the
public employ.
Tho convention wisely added that
reform is necessary, even moro in tho
higher grades of the public service,
President, Vice-Prosident, Judges,
Senators, Representatives, Cabinet
officers; those and all others in au
thority are the people's servants.
Thoso offices arc not a private per
quisite, they are a public trust. Two
evils infest the official service of tho
Federal Government, one is the pre
valent and demoralizing notion that
the public service exists not for the
business and benefit of tho whole
people, but for the interests of the
office holders who arc in truth but
the servants of the people. Under
the influence of this pernicious error
public employments have been multi
plied. The numbers of those gath
ered into the ranks of office-holders
have been steadily increased beyond
any possible requirement of the pub
lic business, while inefficiency, pec
ulation, fraud and malversation of
the public funds from the high plac
es of power to the lowest have over
spread the whole service like leprosy.
The other evil is the organization of
the official class into a body of po
litical mercenaries, governing the
caucuses and dictating the nomina
tions of their own party and attemp
ting to carry the elections of the
people by undue influence and by
immense corruption funds, syste
matically collected from the salaries
or fees of office holders. The official
class in other countries, some times
by its own weight and some times in
alliance with tho army, has been
a bio t? rule the unorganized masses
oven under universal suffrage. Here
it hus already grown into gigantic
power capable of stiiliDg the iuspira
tions of a sound, public opinion, and
of resisting an easy change of admin
istration until misgovernment bo
comes intolerable and the public spir-
has been stung to the pitch of a civ
ic revolution. The first step in re
form is the elevation of the standard
by which the appointing power se
lects the agents to execute official
trusts. Next in importance is a con
scientious fidelity in tho exeercise
of authority to bold to account
and displace untrustworthy or inca-
pablo subordinates. The public ’in
terest iu an honest, skillful perfor
mance of official trust must not be
sacrificed to the uso of the inenms
bent. After theso immediate steps
which will insure the exhibition of
better examples we may surely go
on to the abolition of unnecessary
offices, and finally to the patient,
careful organization of a bettor civil
service system under tests wher-
ovor practicable, or approved com
petency and fidelity. VVhilo much
may be accomplished by these moth-
ods, it might encourage delusive exs
pectations if I withheld here, tho ex
pression of my conviction that no
reform of the civil service in this
country will be complete and perma
nent, until its Chief Magistrate is
constitutionally disqualified for ro-
election, experience having repeated
ly exposed the futility of solf-impos-
ed restrictions by candidates or in
cumbents. Through this solemnity
only can he be effectually delivered
from the great temptation to misuse
the power and patronogo with which
the Executive is necessarily charg
ed.
conclusion.
Educated in the belief that it is
the first duty of a citizen of the Re
public to take his fair allowance of
care and trouble, in public affairs,
I havo for 40 yoars ns a private citizen
fulfilled that duty though occupied
in an unusual degree during all
that period with the concerns of
Government, I have never acquired
tile habit of official life. When a
year and a half ago I entered upon
my prosent trust, it was in order to
consummate reforms, to which I
havo already devoted- several of the
best years of my life.
Knowing as I do, therefore, from
Saratoga, N. Y., August 4.—The
following is Gov. Hendricks’ letter
of acceptance, which was furnished
for publication to-day:
Indianapolis, July 24, 1876.
To the Hon. John A. McClcrnand,
Chairman, and others, of the Com
mittee of the National Democratic
Convention:
Gentlemen :—I have the honor to
to acknowledge the receipt of your
communication in which you have
I formally notified me of my nomina-
1 tion by the National Democratic
Convention at St Louis, as their
candidate for the office of Vice Pres
ident of tho United States. It is a
nomination which i had neither ex
pected nor desired, and yet I recog
nize and appreciate the high honor
done me by the convention. The
choice of such a body, pronounced
with such unusual unanimity, and ac
companied with so generous an ex
pression of esteem and confidence,
ought to outweigh all merely person
al desires and preferences of my own.
It is with theso feelings, I tru ;t also
from a doop sense of public duty,
that I now accept the nomination
and shall abide tho judgment of my
countrymen.
It would havo been impossible for
mo to accept the nomination if I
could not heartily endorse the plat
form of tho convention. I am grati
fied, therefore, to be able unequivo
cally to declaro that I agree in tho
principles, approve tho policies, and
sympathize with tho purposes enun
ciated in tho platform. Tho institu**
tions of our country have been sore
ly triod by tho exigencies of civil
war, and since tho peaco by selfish
and corrupt management of public
affairs, which has shamed us before
civilized mankind. By unwise and par
tial legislation every industry and in
terest of the people have boon made to
suffer, and in the Executive Depart
ments of tho Government dishonesty,
rapacity and venality have debauch
ed the public service. Men kuown
to bo unworthy have been promoted,
while others have boon degraded for
fidelity to official duty. Public office
has been made the means of private
profit, and the country has boen of*»
fended to see a class of men, who
boast the friendship of the sworn
protectors of State, amassing for
tunes by defrauding the public treas
ury and by corrupting the servants
of the people.
In such a crisis of the history of
the country, I rejoice that the Con
vention at St. Louis has so nobly
raised the standard of reform. Noth
ing can be well with ub or with our
affairs until the public conscience,
shocked by the enormous evils and
abuses which prevail, shall have de
manded and compelled an unspar**
ing reformation of national adminis
tration in its head and in its mem
bers. In such a reformation the re
moval of a single officer, even the
President, is comparatively a trifling
matter, if the system which be repre
sents and which ha6 fostered him, as
he has fostered it, is suffered to res
main. The President alone must
not be made the scape goat for the
enormities of the system which in*
feats the public service and threatens
the destruction of our institutions.
In some respects I hold that the pres
ent Executive has been the victim
rather than the author of that vicious
system. Congressional and party
leaders have been stronger than the
President. No one man could have
created it, and the removal of no one
man can amend it. It is thoroughly
corrupt, and must be swept re
morselessly away by the selection of
a government composed of elements
entirely new and pledged to radical
reforms.
Tho first work of reform mast evi«
dently be tho restoration of the nor
mal operation of the Constitution of
the United States, with all its amend
ments. The necessities of war can
not be pleaded in a time of peace.
The right of local self-government
os guaranteed by tho Constitution
of the Union, must bo everywhere
restored, and tho centralized, almost
personal imperialism, which has
been practiced must be done away,
or the principles of tho Republic
will be lost.
Out financial system of expedients
must bo reformed. Gold and silver
are the real standards of value, and
our national currency will not be a
perfect medium of exchange until it
shall be convertible at the pleasure of
tho holder. As I have heretofore
said, no one desires a return to specio
payments more earnestly than I do,
bnt I do not believe that it will or
can bo reached in harmony with the
interests of the people by artificial
measures or the contraction of the
currency, any more than I believe
that wealth or permanent prosperity
can be created by inflation of the cur
rency. The laws of finance cannot
be disregarded with impunity. The
financial policy of the Government,
if indeed it desorves the name of pol
icy at all has been in disregard of
these laws, and therefore has disturb
ed commercial and badness confi
dence, as well as hindered a return
to spoeic payments.
One feature of that policy was the
resumption clause of the act of 1875,
which has embarrassed the country
by tho anticipation of a compulsory
resumption for which no preparation
has been made, and without any as
surance that it would be practicable.
The repeal of that clanse is necessa
ry that the natural operation of fix
nancial laws may be restored, that
the business of the country may be
relieied from its disturbing and op
^{rarfrarnt.
MANURE
For tho Uniou «k iioeoritar.
AND CROPS.—Concluded.
presdng influence, and that a return f
to specio payment may be facilitated
by the substitution of wiser anJ
more prudent legislation which shall
mainly rely on a judiciary system of
public economies and official re
trenchments, and above all, on the . , ,
promotion of prosperity in all tho j \ ^ ,Ari ? s Rave some woods and
industries of all tire people. 1 ,. { no , nni *“ 1 culture. Many
I do not understand the repeal of I ^ \ tar ^\^e\d
the resumption clause of the act of ; 1 ijl!, niO1 „ 0 J au two barrels of
1875 to be a backward step in our re- ' ' ’ l<> pounds of seed
step
turn to specie payment, but the re
oovery of a false step; and although
repeal may for a time be prevented,
yet the determination of the Demo
cratic party on this subject has been
distinctly declared. There should
be no hindrance put in the way of a
return to specio payments. As such
hindrance, says the platform of the
Si Louis Convention, we denounce
the resumption clause of 1875, and
demand its repeal.
I thoroughly believe that by pub
lic economy, by official retrenchment,
and by wise finance, enabling ns to
accumulate tho precious motels, re
sumption at an early period is pos
sible, without producing an artificial
scarcity of currency or disturbing
public or commercial credit, and that
these reforms, together with the
restoration of pure government, will
restore general confidence, encour
age the useful investment of capital,
furnish employment to labor, and re
lieve the country from the paralysis
of bard times.
With the industries of the people
there have been frequent interfer
ence Our platform tiuly says that
many industries have been impover
ished; our commerce has been de
graded to an inferior position on the
high seas; our manufactures have
been diminished; our agriculture has
been embarrass' <i, and the distress of
the industrial classes demands that
these things shall be reformed.
The burdens of the people must
also be lightened by a great change
in our 1 system of public expenses.
The profligate expenditures which
increased taxation from $5 per capita
in 1860 to $18 in 1870, tells its own
story of our need of fiscal reform.
Our treaties with foreign powers
should also bo revised and amonded
in so far as they leavo citizens of
foreign birth in any particular less
secure in any country on earth than
they would bo if they had been bom
npon our own soil; and tho iniqaiti-
oas coolie system, which, through
the agency of wealthy companies,
imports Chineso bondmen and es*>
tablishes a species of slavery and in
terferes with tho just rewards of la
bor on our Pacific coast, should be
abandoned.
In the reform of tho civil eervico I
most heartily endorse that section
of the platform which declares that
the civil servico ought not to bo sub
ject to change at every election, and
that it ought not to be mode the
brief reward of party zeal, bnt
ought to be awarded for proved
competency and held for fidelity in
public employ.
I hope never again to see cruel
and remorseless proscription for po
litical opinions which has disgraced
the administration for ihe last eight
years. Bad as the civil service now
is, all know that it has some men of
tried integrity and proved ability,
and such men should be retained in
office; bat no man should be retained
on any consideration who has pros
titnted bis office to purposes of par
tisan intimidation or compulsion, or
has famished money to corrupt elec
tions. This is done and has been
done in almost every county of the
land. It is a blight upon the morals
of the country and ought to be re
formed.
Of sectarian controversies in re
spect to common schools I have on
ly this to say, that in my judgment
the man or party that would involvo
our schools in a political or secta
rian controversy is an enemy to
schools. Common schools are safe
under control of no party or sect.
They must be neither sectarian nor
partisan, and there must be neither
division or misappropriation of
funds for tbeii support.
Likewise I regard the man who
would arouse or foster sectional an-*
imosities and antagonism among his
countrymen as a dangerous enemy
to his country. All the people must
be made to feel and know that once
more there is established a purpose
and policy under which all citizens
of every condition, race and color,
will be secure in the enjoyment of
whatever rights the Constitution
and laws declare or recognize, and
that in controversies that may arise,
the Government is not partisan, but
within its constitutional authority,
the just and powerful Guardian of
. Right and safety of all. The
strife between the sections and be
tween the races will cease a3 soon
as the power for evil is taken away
from the party that makes political
game out of scenes of violence and
bloodshed, and constitutional au
thority ia placed in tho hands of
men whose political welfare requires
that peace and good order shall be
preserved everywhere.
It will be seen, gentlemen, that I
am in entire accord with tho plat
form of the convention by which I
have been nominated ns a candidate
for the office of Vice President of the
United States.
Permit me, in conclusion, to ex
press my satisfaction at being asso
ciated with a candidate for Presi
dent who is first among his equals as
a representative of the spirit and of
the achievement of reform in his
official carreer as Executive of the
grand State of New York, lie has,
in a comparatively short period, re
formed tho public service and reduc
ed the public expense so as to have
earned at once the gratitude of bis
State and the admiration of the
country. The people know him to
be thorough!^ in earnest. Ho bas
shown himself to bo possessed of
the powers and qualities which fit
him in am eminent degree for the
great work of reform which his conn
try now needs, and if he shall be
choaen by the pooplc to tho high
office of President of tho Unitod
States, I believe that the day of bis
inauguration will be tho beginning
of a new ora of peace, parity and
prosperity in all departments of our
Government
I am, gentlemen, your ob’t serv’t
Tuomas A. Hendricks.
cotton per acre. Crops may be
doubled on such land by laying off
wide and docp furrows filling them
with leaves in the fall or early winter,
covering them with a light farrow
and planting the corn at the appro
priate seasons. By that time tho
leaves will be well on in the process
of decay. This in part is natures
process. But it may bo made more
complete and effective. Swamp
muck may bo collected in any quan
tities. I do not refer to the black
stuff that is often seen in swampy
places in open fields whero there are
no trees. That has no value. It
must be collected from a swamp cov*
ered with trees whoso leaves havo
been falling and rotting for years.
From theso may be collected any
quantity of muck, consisting of de
cayed leaves mud and sand. To
may be added cotton seed, stable or
cow manure, or both, lime, or aahes
and salt, and if tho means are at com
mand small portions of any good
guano, or pure ground bones. Tho
above mixture is a good fertilizer
without the addition of the guano, or,
bones, bnt it is’better with them. If
it should not Be convenient to get
the muck rich mould will answer. It
can bo obtained from low places, or,
bottoms, or iu the woods by raking
uli tho coarser leuves and getting tho
mould and eiulh to the depth of
several inches. Tho nbovo stated
compost contains nil the essential
elements of plant food for corn,
cotton and the vegetable garden. If
the soil is too stiff it will lighten it;
if already light and sandy, it will
enrich it without injury. The growth
of plants will be stimulated without
a groat tendency to bo fired as in
the use of the commercial com
pounds.
Ashes attract moisture. This is
caused by tho vegetable alkali they
contain which is a substance that
neutralizes acids. Cotton seod furn
ish an abundant supply of ammonia
which is a volatilo alkali. Bolt dis
solved in water, and poured upon
manure, converts its ammonia into
fixed salts, retains it in the mass and
prevents its escape. Another result
is tho formation of the carbonate of
soda, which is a powerful agent in
increasing tho growth, of plants.
Experience, I believe, has shown
that it is best not to permit tbe
guanoes and seed to be iu immediate
contact but to have them separated
by a little soil. However that may
be, tho above compound or compost
can be placed in immediate contact
with them. Manures, flora Bio of-
fects of rains, tend to descend into
the earth, and while the roots of
plants are growing down to the gu
anoes, their fertilizing properties aro
extending downward at the samo
time. Hence it is a favorable cir-
eunn.tancG to havo a manure that
can be used in contact with tho seed.
It and tho roots will then travel to
gether.
Some may object to the labor that
is requisite to prepare this manure.
The muck or the mould has to bo
dug and hauled; ashes have to be
saved or made, and when all the ma
terials are collected they have to be
intimately mixed and sheltered un
til needed for use. Yes, thore is
trouble in the preparation. But
there is often much trouble in meet
ing guano bills. The latter requires
all cosh, the other labor and bat lit
tle cash. What is saved is made.
On all plantations there are times
when this home preparation can bo
made without essentially interfering
with the gathering of crops.
On the score of economy the homo
made is ranch tho cheaper of tho
two ; but this is not all, the home
made supplies the earth with an es
sential material, vegetable fibre, while
the other does not. There are times
during the whole year when farmers
can collect materials for manure and
the result oi systematic efforts will
be immense accumulations. It would
requir e much labor to haul it over
large fields, but large quantities can
Ire put on fewer acres near tho barn
yard, which would yield treble tho
bushels of corn, or pounds of cot
ton. J.
Report ot Commissioner Jaaes.
Atlanta, August 8.—The report
of the Georgia 8tate Commissioner of
Agriculture of the condition of
crops in this State for July shows
the average condition of corn to be
109, which is 23 per cent, better than
at this time last year; cotton is 104,
also 23 per cent, better than last
year; rice 97; sngnr cane 103; field
peas 192;groiiml peas 102;swcet'pota
lons 106; sorghum 102, and pastures
102. The yield of melons, compared
to last year in average is reported 91;
Irish potatoes 99; millet 102: corn
forage 102 and hay 102. Crops in
bottom lands have been in jured by
overflow in many counties, ami some
rust is reported m-eotton.
“I shall follow her soon,’’ said a
sad-eyed man at the grave of his wife.
Within a mouth lie was following
another woman. ^
Deception one cannot see through
— A glass eye.
The babvY little game—Bawl.—
X. Y. Com. A.lv.
A place for reflection—Tin* mirror.
—New York Commercial Advertiser.
A Summer measure.—Tho tlier-
mometer.-*—New York Commercial
Advertiser.
Why may a tipsy man fall into the
river with impunity? Because he
won’t drown as long as his head
How cool and nice it would be to
fall down a well!—Detroit Free
Press. Provided you did not kick
the bucket.—Philadelphia Bulletin.
Charles Lamb, when speaking of
one of his rides on horseback, re
marked that “all at once his Iiorso
stopped, but he kept right on.”
Tho nation that produces tho most
marriages is fascination.—Ex. And
perhaps the nation that produces the
most divorces’is alienation.—Norris
town Herald. ‘ »
An impecunious individual was
heard to mutter, as Ire finished read
ing a railroad hand-hill headed
“Through w IflWTVt change,” “That’s _
the road I shall take; no fault to find
with them terms.”