A Popular Veto Message

The word of Mr. Tilden have alwayn comtnanded the undivided attentiun oi the soholarly. J Lis comprehensivo arguuients in support of whatever position hu might take upon any subject, alwaya received attention and won respoot. His reasoning is so clear that it Gonvinces ; his argumenta so sound that they are unrefutable. In the folio wing extract froni a message vetoing the Convict Labor Bill (passed by the New York Legislature in 1875), the reader can see with what consuminate akill he handles the most difiicult problema of political economy. The bill was fatherod by the Uniou League Club, and was for the purpose of turning the Penitentiary into a manufactory. Mr. Tilden, on roturning the bill to the Legislature without his signature, among othor thiugs said : " It íb desirable to make the prisons and alinshouses of the city of New York contribute as much to their own support as thtiy ean, oousistently with their objüctn, and with the welfare of all ulasBes of our oitizens ; and no doubt the occupation of their inmates in work tends to discipline, to healtb, and to reformation. The probletu is, how to attaiu these salutary ends without inj uring the interest or wounding thu just self-esteem or the honorable gnntiments of the skilled artisans and workingmen who are the strength of a State ; who have made American labor on the whole more efficiënt thun any other in the processes of produotion, and oonferred on our country the renown of its achie vemen ts." ♦ " If government may maintain an organied systein of relief for paupers, it may at lenst exercise forbearanco, in a period of business disaster, toward those who aro struggling with difficulties that tend to swell the clasg to which such relief is given. It oan abstain, not only from actual injury, but frora holding up to thoir imagination the specter of a new governmehtal oompetition ; from rash or experimental changos in the system and lawa to which the people are acuustomed ; from iuoonsiderato or imperfect measures, the effocts of which cannot be foreseon or completely understood. lu the meantime, a real and vast reduction of the burdeu of taxation can be seour ed in other methods, for the support of which all classes and interests may be expected to oo opérate."