The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-06-26
A Sensible Fashion.

been voice to the time-worn complaint
of snobbish people about American SO.
ciety: "It is quite impossible, you know,
to have high-toned society where there
is no aristocracy."
"What do you mean by aristocracy q
a lady asked.
"Why-aw-you-know l mean ten
thousand people who live anywhere and
have nothing to do
GAS for that" replied the lady,. eve
have such class too, but we call them
tramps"
The answer was something more than
polite chatting. There is a world of
difference, on the score of comfort and
cleanliness, between living anywhere
with nothing to do, backed by IA fortune
sufficient to make life pastime, and
doing the same with beggars wallet;
still, in spite of the superficial contrast,
the moral difference is not so very great.
The man whose only claim to considera
ton rests upon the circumstances that
the chance of Inheritance has made him
able to crafty his selfish desires without
personally making any return to the
world for what he enjoys, is not intrin-
sically nobler, nor does he really play Il
much nobler part in life, than he who
r1azily sponges II precarious existence
from those who have enough to provide
for themselves The world owes neither
q living, and the fortune Of the richer
IL T., ~. ,,,n,n1 ct,1,,,, u, 10
something useful with the superior
means at his command.
The idea that mans merit is in pro
portion to the cost of his keeping and
the unproductlveness of his life has
never thriven in this country; and it
has always been common for young men
of inherited wealth to take an active
part in the worlds real work. In the
industrial, as well as. the pro
fessional world, honorable success has
been won through manly eXertion by
many young man who might have
squandered his time and fortune in
idleness or worse. And if the tendency
of flush times had been to cultivate Il
different spirit among the sons of the
suddenly rich, the financial overturnings
of the pas. five years have shown far
too plainly the risk attending youth of
dainty idlencss to give the vicious
tendencies much encouragement. Indeed
the popular current seems rather to he
strongly setting in the opposite direction
and it is quite the fashion now for young
men of wealth to strike out for them
selves, particularly in new and non-pro-
fessional fields.
From Maine to Oregon, from Michl-
gan to Texas, young men of wealth and
culture, men who might be idlers-mere
society men and nothing more-are to
be found among the ranks of the doors,
using their fortunes only to help them to
larger and more productive labors than
the empty handed could undertake. A
Newport correspondent names a number
of the sons of the wealthy residents and
Summer visitors of that fashionable
watering place, who are thus employed.
Agricultural pursuits attracts the most
of them. Several are managing farms.
Two have gone into the market garden
Ing and milk business, and are making
it pay Two are devouting their time
to the raising of poultry on large scale.
Such undertakings i'll the vicinity of
the centers of population, wealth, and
culture. aie more likely to result salts
factory and proftably than sheep Or
cattle breeding in the South or West,
hitherto the more popular occupations of
adventurous and active young men OF
wealth, since they do not necessitate the
abandonment of the enjoyments and adj
vantages of society and friends The
East is full of opportunities for men of
energy and means to make money by
outdoor operations, and, at the same
time, to improve immensely the CON
dition and character of country life. The
drift of young men of spirit and educa-
ton has too long been toward the cities.
1t lies in the power of the leaders of the
new fashion to set the current in the
opposite direction, vastly to the benefit
of both city and country.