The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-02-26
Bonanza Aristocracy.

condition of things like to the eastern
and northern states during and after the
war, when great fortunes fell to the army
contractors and the lucky spectators in
petroleum that, as in the old commu-
mites in the Atlantic states an aristoc-
racy of shoddy and oil was built up, so
now in California there will be a bonan-
"a aristocracy ; that the great fortunes
gathered from stock and mining ven
lures will bring to the social surface the
illiterate and vulgar, and that our we'll
born and blue blood people will be
compelled to endure the sharle and
modification of being out-dressed and
out ew8led by the Vulgar rich. This
danger is not imminent, and the shock
of sudden wealth is less marked in eff
feet in San Francisco than perhaps in
any other city of the world. In the
first place, We are nearly all of us but
Adventures ourselves; so few of us
ever had grandfathers, that we some
how do not feel the loss. We have
some people among US who were most
excellently born, descended from the
creme de la creme of the azure blue of
Beacon Hill, Boston, whose rem ote an
cestors were pirates, their later de-
seendants slave-dealers, and numbers of
their relatives of the present genera
ton are engaged in the bold pursuit
OF Goldfish off the banks of Newfound-
land and the spouting sperm whale of
the Arctic seas. We have some emf
nent citizens descended from those early
PATRONS who cultivated vegetable gar
dens in the vicinity of the city of New
York early planters of early cabbages
upon the island of Manhattan, whose
ancestors titled their own acres till vul-
gar enterprise pushed them from their
dunghills and converted their farms into
town lots. We have a number of mem
bers of the first families of the Old Do
minion, descendants from Pocahontas
and John Smith, or in direct line from
Washington; some whose ancestry may
be traced to the auction block. where
maidens were snapped for tobacco;
others of H1guenot descent, though
originally tailors, shoemakers and vul.
gar artisans, their base mechanics
blood having been purified by persecu-
ton and kept undefled by freedom
from labor ever since. We have, of
course, some most excellent people
whose patents of nobility only run back
to the ownership of negroes at the
however, in the minority; the great
mass CT US are baseborn descendants of
farmers, mechanics, traders and labor
ers--born without spoon of any kind
in our mouths-brought up with the as
sistance of two tined forks. Some of
US are immigrants who came around the
Horn. or via the Isthmus, in the steer
age. We are adventurers, brought to-
gether from all parts Of the United
States and the world. We all came poor,
and in the earlier history of California
we engaged in all sorts of pursuits, all
kinds of labor. Our object was to get
rich, and as there was no "society,"
withits laws, making labor dis
honorable, we worked, we mined, toiled
onfarms, keptpeanut stands. soldvegeta
bles, manufactureda and sold bad whisky,
kept livery stables, kept school, ran
omnibus lines and corner groceries,
were blacksmiths and foundrymen,
sold drugs at retail, and gambled a
little on the sly. We were steamboat
clerks, ginger-pop manufacturers, ped
dlers, superintendent of mines; some
of us worked by the month in saw-mills
and on a broad river craft, or earned an
honest dollar as boatmep, stevedores
and lOngshOremen some of us were
common sailors. who, having come
ashore from men-of-war, neglected to
return, and for a subsistence washed
dishes in restaurants or waited in hotels.
Our wives kept millinery stores and we
carried home the band boxes; our
mothers-in law kept boar ding houses or
furnished rooms, and we staid with the
old lady till we got rich and ashamed,
and then pensioned her off to retire
from the business. Some of us prac-
ticed law, or swapped things, or prac
ticed medicine, or preached, or Turned
stock brokers. We all invested our
earnings in mines, real estate, mercan-
tile ventures, gas, water and railroad
franchises. We have obtained monop-
olies in gold, land, mines, mills, gas,
water, ice, milk, chemicals, grain lum-
Der, steamboats, and express companies
We have cornered mines and meTchan-
disc We have pooled stocks we have
gambled in every venture that offered a
chance of gain. We have loaned
our money at usurious rates of interest
Those who ran the gauntlet success
fully and got rich have organized them
selves into "good society,"" and, while
they have not driven the weIl-born and
highly cultivated from their association,
have put them upon their good. be.
havior, have said to them that they
are only allowed upon sufference,
and will only be tolerated so long
as they comply with the rules
that govern the new organization.
The first and leading article of the con.
stitution of our society is "No refec-
tions upon the past - i" no asking CUES
tions > ''no raking up of ancestors, and
all that antiquated nonsense ;" "no
hints at former employments. Like
the clown in the circus, with all our
spots and spangles, Here we are, Mr..
Merryman how do you like us?" When
new candidates come forward for ad-
mission, all we demand is that they
must be well-to do, of good character,
war good clothes, and be fully up to
the proper standard of department.. If
| they do not wear the reQalia and psy
their dues, they are dropped out. The
real truth is, our people are all standing
upon so nearly the same plane in point
or birth, education, employment and
general respectability-we are all SO
nearly adventures, so new to each other
and so really Indifferent to the exactions
and standards that older communities
heve set up for themselves when
some good, honest gentleman, or some
good, worthy and modest gentlewoman,
withsons and daughters properly reared,
enriched by sudden fortune comes
knocking at the door and asking admis-
sion to our society, it gives them an i'm
mediate welcome. Now and then some
of our people, who had grandfathers.
shrug their shoulders and scowl. Now
and then some of the newlg-enriched
put on airs with their diamonds; but. as
rule, we soon become reconciled to
each other, and go on tremendously to-
gether. GOOD breeding and good Gull
ture are highly respected; GOOD man
ners are fully appreciated. A little
shoddy and little bad grammar are
overlooked among the older members,
while from tue younger gentlemen and
ladies we expect q department. and a
culture that are up to the highest stand
ard of social excellence. So we prom
that if our bonanza aristocIacy of
Today is not quite the genuine thing,
we will present one in the next genera
ton fully up to the average of the de.
GaanHaDtG IF the oIov-o