Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1881-02-10
SNOBOCRACY.
The Folly Which Saps the Very
Foundation OF Our National Life.


The National View.
The retrogression of this country,
from anything like Il true democracy
is too patent to bedenied in its political
point of view. But that phase is no
more glaring, and should arouse no
more indignation than the same thing
in social matters.
The American people are becoming,
they have become, a nation Of snObs-
aperS of foreign customs, and worse, in
their ignorance of what real aristocracy
abroad is, they adopt the most vulgar
attempts of mOneyed arrogance, believ-
ing themselves in the wake of high
breeding. They do violence to their
own sense of the fitness of things, by
their own vulgarity, and yet cling to it,
because it is what they see abroad.
And with very few exceptions, this
phase of snobocracy is all that Ameri-
cans do come in contact with, in their
very frequent sorties to Europe. In
the first place, not that it is matter of
any importance, but that it is true, the
English aristOcracy, whom we as aSpr-
ing snObS most seek to resemble, is the
most exclusive aristocracy in the world.
They are more than Brahminical in
the matter of opening their doors or
receiving ut their lrcsides even the
best accredited strangers, and it is alb
solutcly true that the American minis
ter, no matter what his culture,is never
more than tolerated in that well guard
ed circle. That the circle is not worth
the trouble of even seeking is true, but
Americans do seek it, and every Amer
lean who has crossed from Washington
to st. james as Il diplomat, has invaria-
bly, developed into Il full-blOwn snOb
with all the aggravated symptoms.
The political interests of the country
which he is supposed to represent, are
made second to his endeaSors, or used
as levers to hoist him and his family
into British society, And yet he is
never allowed to do more than look
over the palings. For just this reason
our ministers are despised, and right
cOusly, for Il man who is in himself
despicable enough to cringe to any So
scicty is unworthy the association of
those in it.
But it is not abroad and in con-
nection with foreigners that the
worst or most vulgar effects of this
abasement are seen; it is right here, at
home.
In the first place, at the White
IIouse-and we do not intend any in
vidious personalities. But at the
White House, at that mansion which
belongs to the people, which the Presi-
dent occupies by courtesy of the people,
and at which not an individual of the
people may visit unless he can steal,
beg or borrow claw.hammer coat,
dress kids, and his wife obtain by
pawning the family linen, or selling
the family honor, costly dress and the
ctccteras of an indecOrous evening toll
ct. What sort of Il welcome would Il
mechanic, with his ordinary dress, and
his calico drapcd wife and babies re.
cciyc at Il White House reception, were
he as honest as Brutus and she us
chaste us COrnclia?
BY what political alchemy is it that
the wife Of Il president, whether he has
been elected by popular voice or has
bought his Office, becomes the first
lady in the land" Why should the
presidents wife be socially more dis
tinguished than the wife of Il voter
who elected him? 1t is or should be
by the sovereign will and courtesy OF
the voter that the president holds his
place, and that because the man to
whom it is awarded seems best fitted
for Il public servant, and not because
he in any respect is worthy to be called
master. Whoever knew the w0uld-be
president, who made speeches to the
people. and shook hands with vulgal
labor before an election, to invite vul.
gar labor to a state dinner after elec
ton? And yet vulgar labor pays fol
the food the president eats, the clothes
he wears, and the bread the family
of vulgar labor should consume is
meagre because he pays for the vulgar
apings of foreign customs indulged in
by the presidents wife. Why should
the wife of man, elected to even the
highest Office, take precedence of any
other woman, be she the seamstress ir
the galret Or the rag picker in the
street, because of her husbands office
The wives of our presidents have Sc
far been virtuOus and kindly womeI
enough. Virtue and kindlness are the
duty Of every woman, and should bt
demanded of her as something which
the world has Il right TO claim, as the
sole reason why she should exist
There should be no laudation of any
man or woman for doing their duty, anC
their duty is nothing less than all they
have power to do for man, and in doin.
for mankind they do for themselves
and for the God who created them.
If the presidents wife should talk
rank by her husbands election to office
why not his children? There is II,
reason for one if not for the other
And to this complexion we are mos
rapidly coming. And at the door O
the so.called free press of this countr,
lies the heaviest responsibility in thi
matter, The press dispatches hav
become the toadying means by whicl
the personal details of such pretension
are given to the country instead of th
important facts which would teach tn
people that their country was beinI
destroyed. OF what Importance is /
that Mrs, Garfield dined at seven o
that Mrs. Hayes gave u lunch at twelv
o'clock? The people will have to pa,
the bills all the same, and they ar
more interested in knowing if the
themselves shall dine at all, or have
lunch left after paying for white hous
dinners.
1t may be said that the Presiden
pays for it out of his salary. We agail
ask what is his salaryP 1t is a gift o
$4,000 per year wrung from the treas
ury of the nation, by political alche
my, which has changed the cry of th
fatherless, the blistering tears of th
widow, the sweat of hopeless toll, int
money for one mans display, and on