UNITED STATES. 



787 



Mr. Tiklen accepted the nomination, in a 

 letter addressed to the committee on July 

 81st, as follows: 



ALBANY, July 81, 18T& 



To General JOHN A. MOCLERNAND, Chairman. Gtn- 

 ral W. 11. FKANILIN, Hon. J. J. ABBOTT, lion. 11. 

 J. SPANNHOKST, Hun. II. .1. KEDFIELU, Hon. F. S. 

 I. VON, and other*, Committee, etc. 



GENTLEMEN: When I had the honor to receive a 

 personal delivery of your letter on behalf of the 

 Democratic National Convention, held on the 28th 

 of June at St. Louis, advising me of my nomination 

 IIB the candidate of the constituency represented by 

 that body for the office of President of the United 

 Mutes, I answered that, at my earliest convenience, 

 and in conformity with usage, I would prepare and 

 transmit to you a formal acceptance. 1 now avail 

 niNsrlf of the first interval in unavoidable occupa- 

 tions to fulfill that engagement. 



The convention, before making its nominations, 

 adopted a declaration of principles, which, as a 

 whole, seems to me a wise exposition of the neces- 

 sities of our country, and of the reforms needed to 

 bring back the Government to its true functions, to 

 restore purity ot' administration, and to renew the 

 prosperity of the people. But some of these reforms 

 are so urgent, that they claim more than a passing 

 approval. 



BEFORH IN PUBLIC EXPENSE. 



The necessity of a reform "in the scale of public 

 expense Federal, State, and municipal" and "in 

 the modes of Federal taxation," justifies all the 

 prominence given to it in the declaration of the St. 

 Louis Convention. 



The present depression in all the business and in- 

 dustries of the people, which is depriving labor of 

 its employment, and carrying want into so many 

 homes, has its principal cause in excessive govern- 

 mental consumption. Under the illusions of a spe- 

 cious prosperity engendered by the false policies of 

 tin; Federal Government, a waste of capital lias been 

 going on ever since the peace of 1865, which could 

 onlv end in universal disaster. 



The Federal taxes of the last eleven years reach 

 the gigantic sum of $4j500,000,000. Local taxation 

 has amounted to two-thirds as much more. The vast 

 siL'irri-.irate is not less than $7,500,000,000. 



This enormous taxation followed a civil conflict 

 that lind greatly impaired our aggregate wealth, and 

 had made a prompt reduction of expenses indis- 

 pensable. 



It was aggravated by most unscientific and ill- 

 adjusted methods of taxation, that increased the 

 sacrifices of the people far beyond the receipts of 

 the Treasury. 



It was aggravated, moreover, by a financial pol- 

 icy which tended to diminish the energy, skill, and 

 economy of production and the frugality of private 

 consumption, and induced miscalculation in busi- 

 ness ana an unremunerative use of capital and labor. 



Even in prosperous times, the daily wnnts of in- 

 dustrious communities press closely upon their daily 

 earnings. The margin of possible notional savir.irs 

 is at best a small percentage of national earnings. 

 Yet now, for these eleven years, governmental con- 

 sumption has been a larger portion of the national 

 earnings than the whole people can possibly save 

 even in prosperous times for all now investments. 



The consequences of these errors are now a pres- 

 ent public calamity. But they were never doubtful, 

 never invisible. They were necessary and inevi- 

 table, and were foreseen and depicted when the 

 waves of that fictitious prosperity ran highest. In a 

 speech made bv me on the 24th of September, 1868, 

 it was said of these taxes : 



They tear heavily upon every man's Income, upon every 

 industry and every business In the country, and year by year 

 they are destined to press still more heavily, unless we 'arrest 



the lyitem that gives rlM to them. It wu comparatively 

 easy, when valued went doubling under repealed IMUM of 

 legal-tender |,U|H-I -JMOIII-V. to pay out of UK- troth of oar 

 growing ,! ,,|,|, lllv ,,t wealth these taxes ; but when value* 

 recede and sink toward their natural scale, the tax-gatherer 

 takes I'rmii us not only our Income, not only our profits, but 

 aleo a portion of our capital. ... I do not wish to exagger- 

 ate or ulurui ; I dimply say that we cannot afford the cortly 

 and ruinous policy of the radical majority of Congreas. We 

 cannot afford that policy toward the south. We cannot afford 

 the magnificent and oppressive centralism into which our 

 Government in being converted. We cannot afford the prea- 

 ent tnagnillcent scale of taxation. 



To the Secretary of the Treasury I Raid, early in 



1865: 



There Is no royal road for a government more than for an 

 Individual or a corporation. \N bat you want to do now Is, to 

 cut down your expenses and live within your Income. I 

 would givu all the legerdemain of finance and financiering I 

 would give the whole of it tor the old, hoiuely maxim, " 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 

 brunch of Congress, while struggling to reduce ex- 

 penditures, compelled to confront the menace of the 

 Senate and the Executive, that, unless the objection- 

 able appropriations be consented to, the operations 

 of the Government thereunder shall suffer detriment, 

 or cease. In my judgment, an amendment of the 

 Constitution ought to be devised separating ii.to 

 distinct bills the appropriations for the various de- 

 partments of the public service, and excluding ficm 

 each bill all appropriations for other objects, nd all 

 independent legislation. In that way alone can the 

 revisory power of each of the two Houses, and of 

 the Executive, be preserved and exempted from the 

 moral duress whicn often compels assent to objec- 

 tionable appropriations, rather than stop the wheels 

 of the Government. 



THE SOUTH. 



An accessory cause enhancing the distress in busi- 

 ness is to be found in the systematic nnd insupport- 

 able mispovernment imposed en the States of the 

 South. Besides the ordinary effects of ignorant and 

 dishonest administration, it has inflicted upon them 

 enormous issues of fraudulent bonds, the scanty 

 avails of which were wasted or stoleii, and the ex- 

 istence of which is a public discredit, tending to 

 bankruptcy or repudiation. Taxes, generally oppres- 

 sive, in some instances have confiscated the entire 

 income of property, and totally destroyed its mar- 

 ketable value. It is impossible that these evils 

 should not react upon the prosperity of the whole 

 country. 



The nobler motives of humanity concur with the 

 material interests of all in requiring that every ob- 

 stacle be removed to a complete and durable recon- 

 ciliation between kindrc-d populations once unnatu- 

 rally estranged, on the, basis recognized by the St. 

 Louis platform, of the "Constitution of the United 

 States, with its amendments universally accepted as 

 a final settlement of the controversies which engen- 

 dered civil war." 



But, in aid of a result so beneficent, the moral in- 

 fluence of every good citizen, as well as every gov- 

 ernmental authority, ought to be exerted, not alone 

 to maintain their just equality before the law, but 

 likewise to establish a cordial fraternity and good- 

 will among citizens } whatever their race or color, 

 who are now united in the one destinv of a common 

 self-government. If the duty shall oe assigned to 

 me, I ihall not fail to exercise the powers with 

 which the laws and the Constitution of our country 

 clothe its Chief Magistrate, to protect all its citizens. 

 whati-ver their former condition, in every political 

 and personal right. 



CURRENCY REFORM. 



"Reform is necessary," declares the St. Louis 

 Convention, " to establish a sound currency, restore 



