atally to wound the Ring, he would have
shrunk from defying Tweed.

In the presence of such a record it was ludicrous to deny that Tilden,
although resembling a reformer, was simply an adroit politician, who
had cultivated some queer political associates and had countenanced
some very shady transactions. Nevertheless, Tilden would not be
diverted from the singleness of his purpose. To make the issue a
personal one he took the stump and traversed the State from one end to
the other, always addressing immense crowds. At Utica the contemporary
press estimated the throng at twenty-five thousand persons. With
directness and business brevity he sought to arouse the people to the
importance and gravity of the issues at stake. "To-day about one-half
of the tax contributed by the farmer," he said, "goes to the State to
carry on public affairs.... It is in the power of the Legislature and
the Executive at Albany to reduce this State tax one-half if you send
the right men.... We began this work last winter. It made great
conflict and turmoil, the attempt to remove the fungus-growths which
had sprung up all over our State institutions, and which were
smothering their vitality.... It is not alone the saving of dollars
and cents, for you cannot preserve your present system of government
unless you purify administration and purify legislation."[1478]

[Footnote 1478: Address at Utica Fair, September 30, 1875.--Tilden's
_Public Writings and Speeches_, Vol. 2, pp. 229-233.]

During the anti-slavery struggle Tilden's incapacity to measure the
moral force of public sentiment had undoubtedly kept him in error. He
failed entirely to appreciate the close connection between rebellion
and slavery, and in finally yielding to the war-failure resolution at
Chicago in 1864 he did not realise how completely abolition and a
restoration of the Union were associated in the hearts of the people.
But with the advent of the business period, although his bodily
presence was weak and the external elements of popularity were
wanting, his subtle, strong mind and great administrative capacity
brought him irresistibly to the front, and his shrewd, homely appeals,
without mixed metaphors or partisan allusions, reduced the issue of
the campaign to the attractive one of saving dollars and cents by
protecting the treasury against the raid of canal spoilers.

Conkling did not attend the Saratoga convention.[1479] But he did not
remain silent during the campaign