The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-03-09
Shoddy.
BY e. P. wHIPPLE.

Those who watched the surface of our
"socety" during the progress of the late
civil war, were won't to make themselves
mad or merry over the sudden rush into
social eminence of new millionaires. The
old aristocracy of wealth tried to distin-
guish itself from these pdrpenus Of Plutus,
these mushrooms of Mammon, by fixing
on them the nickname of the aristocracy
of shoddy, refusing to be softened by the
CLINT of its satin or the dazzle of its dia-
monds. Fashion, as the supercilious Gus
todian of manners and civilization, lifted
it, eye.glass to survey these bold intruders
from unknown depths in the social scale,
and pronounced them barbaric, though in
broadclotb, and savage, though in silks.
1t, is well, perhaps, to receive with caution
this verdict of dandyism for of all adopts
in i'm pertinence the most accomplished are
the nominal professors of politeuess. We
all originally came from the woods it is
hard to eradicate from any of us the old
taste for the tattoo or the war-paint
and the moment money gets into our pock-
cts, it somehow or another breaks out in
ornaments on our persons, without always
giving refinement to our manners. Hence
the prodigies Of vulgar ostentation which
accompanied and followed the horrors of
our battle fields, and the fierce scramble
for wealth which threw into stronger con-
trast, the sacrifices of our patriotism. The
larger portion of this new wealth, how
ever, has been the production of individual
genius and enterprise and has not only
more than offset the waste of war, but it
supplied war with one of her two main
sinews of 'iron and gold" The true
shoddy wealth is that which has been ac-
quired by dishonest practices and reckless
speculations, and which, though it has
transferred money from one individual to
another, and generally from the honest
man to the trickster, has not added dol
lar to the wealth of the nation. The
actors in some of these so-called center
prises" bring to mind the anecdote of the
man who protested his intention to 90
West and open jewellers shop. "What
il your capital p he was asked. "a crow
bar was his reply; "can't open a
jewellers shop with that p
But great many of the sudden for
tunes made by the war were the results of
the development of new sources Of national
wealth. Petroleum, for instance, in spite
of all the rascalities connected with it, has
grown, since the war began, from COM
paratively nothing to an annual product
of some thirty millions and to the future
historian Of our society no story will be
more significant than that told of the
young woman, who, being reproved by a
despairing lover for rejecting him three
days after she had pledged to him her
heart and hand answered loftily, "Why,
since accepted you, dads struck lie p
Now the "dads" that strike "ile" are in
fiutely of mere importance to the country
than the handles who set fashions There
is wretched cant current in certain cir
Giles, which processes kind of sentimental
horror of the material advancement of the
nation at the expense of its intellectual
progress; but it will be generally found
that this genteel contempt of wealth is one
of the Injuries of the rich, and is drawled
out by blases 10 purple, not by workers in
homespun. Seneca, with two millions out
at usury, can afford to chant the praises
Of poverty; but for our own part, we pre-
fer the fine extravaganza of that philoso-
pher, who declared "that no man was as
rich as all men ought to be-" For what
does competency, in the long run, mean
1t means, to all reasonable beings, clcanli-
ness of person, decency of Dress courtesy
OF manners, opportunities for education,
the delights of leisure, and the bless of
giving.