[Footnote 1525: It was claimed that in 1862 Tilden had a net income of
$89,000. He made oath to $7,118, and afterward acknowledged receiving
$20,000 in the Terre Haute Railroad case. He alleged that this covered
the work of several years. Moreover, that his income-producing
property was largely in railroad stocks, bonds, and other securities
on which the tax was deducted by the companies before the interest and
dividends were paid.--Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 2, p. 232; see
also, _Nation_, September 22, 1876.]

[Footnote 1526: _Harper's Weekly_, 1876, pp. 828, 885, 906, 907.]

Tilden displayed a stoical indifference to these personal attacks. He
made no speeches, he rarely exhibited himself to the public, and he
kept his own counsels. His adroit, mysterious movements recalled the
methods but not the conceit of Aaron Burr. Although Abram S. Hewitt,
chairman of the Democratic National Committee, managed the campaign
with skill, Tilden relied largely upon his own shrewdness, displacing
old leaders for new ones, and making it clear to the country that he
ranked with Martin Van Buren as a great political manager. As he swept
onward like a conquering Marlborough, inspiring his party with
confidence and his opponents with fear, events favoured his designs.
The Belknap exposures, the Whiskey ring suits, the Babcock trial,
alarming and disgusting the country, inclined public opinion toward a
change which was expressed in the word "reform." A combination of
propitious circumstances within the State, in nowise indebted to his
sagacity or assistance, also increased his strength. The collapse of
the Tweed and Canal rings justly gave him great prestige, but no
reason existed why the extinguishment of the State war debt and the
limitations of canal expenditures to canal revenues should add to his
laurels, for the canal amendment to the Constitution was passed and
the payment of the war debt practically accomplished before he took
office. Nevertheless, the resulting decrease of the State budget by
nearly one-half, being coincident with his term of office, added
prodigiously to his fame.[1527] Indeed, he seemed to be the darling of
Fortune, and on November 7, exactly according to his calculation, he
carried New York,[1528] New Jersey, Connecticut, and Indiana. But
Republicans claimed South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana.

[Footnote 1527: "The amount of the State tax for 1876 was
$8,529,174.32, against $14,206,680.61 in 1875, an