The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1873-10-24
WHAT THE NATION HAS Lost.

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sulting from the war He thinks
an aristocracy sustained by singh
sense of honor" an element Of great
/ Importance to a nation and laments
the fact that instead of this we have
a shoddy affair without any pretcn-
sions to honor and founded solely
upon money. This suggests to him
a great loss we have sustained and
he says:
at is hard thing to say or believe,
but an honest mind must believe it
true, that this "bourgeoisie" regime
only came into power at the sup
preston ofthat Southern aristocracy
which we so theoretically denounced
when i. existed in the full strength
of its influence. Scarcely anything
was or could be more distasteful or
even hateful to us than the carriage,
sentiment and self-arrogated pos
sition Of that proud and pretentious
aristocracy which adopted the spirit
and department ofthe English nobili-
ty and gentry. But one who looks
back over the history of the country
from its birth as n nation must now
see and own that the influence of
this Southern aristocracy was an
element of immense value in shaping
the character of our public men and
political life. The existence of
many things is only realized by their
temporary absence. For nearly ten
years the South, as a political power,
has been Withdrawn from the Union.
1t has been ruled, rcpressed and
stiAed in its old character and in
auence b. he worst kind Of carpet
bagging bo,ngeoisie. During this
demoralizihg regime it has been
shorn of all the locks of its powers
on the National Government and
public men of the country. 1t has
not sent to Washington single
representative Of its old historical
families, no Calhoun, nor Clay, nor
Benton, nor Berrien. None of its
old names have answered roll-call in
either House at the Capitol. None
of its old chivalry, its high sense of
honor, has been represented by the
newly imported men who have
pretended to answer for the South
The spirit which she boosted, and
which we denounced, has ceased to.
act on the political morality Of the
nation. Perhaps the whole North
ern mind rejoices at this emancipa-
ton. We are now showing the
world, and proving to ourselves,
what we are doing and can do
without the influence Of Southern
aristocracy, as we called it. Yes
we have shown to the world and to
ourselves what we can do as a nation
without the old influence Of the
Southern mind without the preten-
tious "chiyalry" and "high sense Of
honor" and contempt Of small and
crooked ways which the ''first
families of Virginia" and other
Southern States boasted of. We
have shown what the trade-spirit,
unchecked by the influence of such
chiyalry, can do when it pervades
the entire nation, dominating national
and State legislation, and touching
with its golden wand the highest
court of jurisdiction in the land.
We have Seen how this great rcpub-
lie has been transmitted into ring
public, while the South has been
reduced to political nonentity ;
what concentric series of rings,
what "wheels within wheel" as in.
the prophets vision, have been
produced from the center to the
circumference of the Union.
Look at the succession of these
rings first, the primary meeting
ring, or the village caucus OF half q
dozen politicians making up their
"sIate" around a grocer's cask Of
onions or dried apples. Follow the
series of political rings from that
primary meeting offree and indepen-
dent citizens up through State
conventions . the Congressional
caucus and libby at Washington. -
Then take the corporation rings, and
follow them from the centre to the
circumference Of their power DO
the same with land rings, gold rings,
wheat rings, traffic and transpor-
tation rings, and tariff rings. Look
at the great railway rings, that
touch with their perimeters either
ocean, at the Credit Mebiliers they
organize, the Legislation they control,
and the legislators they demoTallze
and smirch with the pitch of dis
honest transactions. See how men
is the highest places Of trust have
sold and soiIed the characters the
4public had given them, by Fastening
TO be rich by treachcry or fraud. =
See how the fine gold Of political
and commercial probity has been
dimmed by these transactions, end
the suspicious they engender. What
the French mean by boaygeoisie, we
express by shoddy; and no word in
our language has a more uniformly
accepted meaning than this ofrecent
coinage. We all know what shoddy
/ - .a..;Ia fahrics. Rnt never