Excerpt of a speech Tilden made to the Farmers regarding high taxes and needed tax reform, which still rings true to this day:
"Fellow-citizens, if I were to talk to you about the culture in which you are engaged, no doubt I could point out what and who your enemies are. I could point out what agency it is that destroys your crops. I could allude in particular to the potato bug, with which the farmers of this county are particularly familiar. But I have to say to you that there is a bug far worse than the potato bug; a bug that consumes not merely your potato crop, but that consumes every one of your crops, consumes them partly before they are gathered and consumes more after they are gathered — and that is the tax-collector. This little animal appears every year. You may have straggled and toiled, you may have worked in your field and in your workshop, but he eats up your substance at the end of the year.
In this country far too much of the net earnings of society, far too much of the fruits of labor, are consumed in carrying on the government: and there ought to be a stricter economy in our affairs, both in the town, in the county, in the State, and in the Union. Within the last ten years there has been taken from" the fruits of industry in the American Union $7,000,000,000 to carry on the government — $700,000,000 in each year. Think what a monstrous and appalling amount! Think, fellow-citizens; whatever may be your party affiliations or party opinions, say to me whether there is not a great evil and a great wrong here which every good citizen ought to join hands with all other good citizens to rectify. I am quite aware that a state of things has existed in our country that would naturally create these evils. In the exigencies of war, issues of paper money were supposed to be necessary, and habits and tendencies the reverse of frugality and economy were engendered among the public officers. This is a condition of affairs that requires the considerate, patriotic, firm action of all citizens of all parties, of all classes. There are none more deeply interested in this reform than the farmer.
Today about half of the tax contributed by the farmer goes to the State of New York to carry on public affairs. If, therefore, that amount can be reduced one-half, it will reduce one-quarter what the tax-gatherer claims. If you do not reduce town and county taxes, that is your own fault, because the thing is perfectly within your control.
When it comes to State taxes, that is within the power of the Legislature and the executive at Albany. In regard to that, you will have no difficulty whatever if you send there the right men. There will be no difficulty in reducing the State tax one-half within two years, if the farmers only say they desire it and are determined to have it.
"Fellow-citizens, if I were to talk to you about the culture in which you are engaged, no doubt I could point out what and who your enemies are. I could point out what agency it is that destroys your crops. I could allude in particular to the potato bug, with which the farmers of this county are particularly familiar. But I have to say to you that there is a bug far worse than the potato bug; a bug that consumes not merely your potato crop, but that consumes every one of your crops, consumes them partly before they are gathered and consumes more after they are gathered — and that is the tax-collector. This little animal appears every year. You may have straggled and toiled, you may have worked in your field and in your workshop, but he eats up your substance at the end of the year.
In this country far too much of the net earnings of society, far too much of the fruits of labor, are consumed in carrying on the government: and there ought to be a stricter economy in our affairs, both in the town, in the county, in the State, and in the Union. Within the last ten years there has been taken from" the fruits of industry in the American Union $7,000,000,000 to carry on the government — $700,000,000 in each year. Think what a monstrous and appalling amount! Think, fellow-citizens; whatever may be your party affiliations or party opinions, say to me whether there is not a great evil and a great wrong here which every good citizen ought to join hands with all other good citizens to rectify. I am quite aware that a state of things has existed in our country that would naturally create these evils. In the exigencies of war, issues of paper money were supposed to be necessary, and habits and tendencies the reverse of frugality and economy were engendered among the public officers. This is a condition of affairs that requires the considerate, patriotic, firm action of all citizens of all parties, of all classes. There are none more deeply interested in this reform than the farmer.
Today about half of the tax contributed by the farmer goes to the State of New York to carry on public affairs. If, therefore, that amount can be reduced one-half, it will reduce one-quarter what the tax-gatherer claims. If you do not reduce town and county taxes, that is your own fault, because the thing is perfectly within your control.
When it comes to State taxes, that is within the power of the Legislature and the executive at Albany. In regard to that, you will have no difficulty whatever if you send there the right men. There will be no difficulty in reducing the State tax one-half within two years, if the farmers only say they desire it and are determined to have it.
"Fellow-citizens, you have the most beautiful climate ever vouchsafed to anybody. You have here a soil capable of producing everything that the human mind can desire. You have a government framed by our wise ancestors to secure to you every blessing possible in human society.
It is necessary only for you to see how that government is administered, and to see that when the fruits of industry are gathered for the use of the toilers, that they are not wasted by the prodigality, fraud, or peculation of your public agents. I am sure, without reference to any question which may excite difference among you upon this great duty of enforcing economy and frugality, and of preserving purity in the government everywhere, you will be united as one man. It is not merely a question of what you shall lose or what you shall save. Republican government cannot exist unless the public agents and servants are pure and honest. It is, then, the very institutions won by our immortal ancestors that are at stake. To reestablish these upon a firm foundation, to hand them down to your children after you, and when you depart from the world to carry with you a sense that you have performed every obligation and every duty — these great objects should fill your mind with a sense of what you owe to the community, to mankind, and to future generations."
It is necessary only for you to see how that government is administered, and to see that when the fruits of industry are gathered for the use of the toilers, that they are not wasted by the prodigality, fraud, or peculation of your public agents. I am sure, without reference to any question which may excite difference among you upon this great duty of enforcing economy and frugality, and of preserving purity in the government everywhere, you will be united as one man. It is not merely a question of what you shall lose or what you shall save. Republican government cannot exist unless the public agents and servants are pure and honest. It is, then, the very institutions won by our immortal ancestors that are at stake. To reestablish these upon a firm foundation, to hand them down to your children after you, and when you depart from the world to carry with you a sense that you have performed every obligation and every duty — these great objects should fill your mind with a sense of what you owe to the community, to mankind, and to future generations."
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