"NEW YORK, _July 10, '76_.
"MY DEAR SIR,--Gov. Hayes leaves to you a clear field.
Since reading his letter I am the more confirmed in the views which
I hurriedly expressed on Saturday. You now have a great opportunity
to do two things: first, to make the country see that the resumption
of specie payments means _measures_, and not _barren promises_; that
the attitude of the Republicans in regard to specie payments is like
the attitude of the government in regard to its notes--the holder
asks for payment, and he gets another paper promise; the country
asks to have specie payments restored, and it gets the law wh. says
it shall be done in 1879, but takes no step towards a fulfilment
of the pledge. Secondly, you now have a grand opportunity to show
the inflationists of our own party that they indulge a false alarm
about contraction; that the very gist of the problem is to avoid
contraction that will hurt anybody by putting the finances of the
govt. into a condition to supply a circulating medium that will
appreciate in value from the moment of the enactment of the very
first measure, and will go on appreciating until it becomes at par
with gold in the market and in the purchasing and paying power.
"Let the people see that you are not, as your rival certainly
is, a mere puppet in the hands of others. Speak, speak as if
_ex-cathedra_; for your position is now one that will cause anything
you say, that appears to come from _conscious power to handle the
subject_, to sink deep in the public mind. Your opponent not only
shows no such conscious power, but he shows that he possesses no
more of it than a child; in which respect, indeed, he is a good
average representative of his party. Now is your time to strike a
blow that will be felt.
"Yours very truly,
"_Gov. Tilden._