The bee., 1884-07-26

ed outside of their set, or outside
their section of the District, ex-
cept two or three cases where the
appoIntees were tax n from the
States; and even these appOintees
made haste to cOnciliste the oligar-
chy by establishing a domicile
at the West end, and by ex-
pending an undue proportion OF
the money for street improve
ments on the streets and avenues
of that aristocratic neighbOrhOOd.
Take a ride over the elegant
streets and avenues of the West
End and see.
The purpose of the oligarchy,
at first disguised under the pre-
tense of allowing the "better class
es' to govern, is getting to be
more generally understood. These
self-styled "better classes" appear
to be very much like Bob
by Burns "Holy Willie" or the
Pharisees who ''thanked God that
they were not as other men," or
the ten percenters whom Christ
drove out of the temple. They are
evidently bad lot, and their man.
agement of District affairs appears
to have been selfish and sectional
even for Pharisees and ten per-
centers.
But it is PLAIN that the pur-
pose of this oligarchy is to perpet-
uate the present form of govern
ment for the District and hold on
to all the offices; and ultimately,
no doubt, they expect to bloom
out into a recognized American
aristocracy.
1t has come to pass that the
common people and the taxpay-
ers in the humber walks of life,
by disregard of their petitions and
requests OH the part of the Com
missioners, have been made to feel
that they have no rights which
need be taken notice of at District
headquarters. Their very presence
there seems to disturb the official
quiet. They are supposed to have
learned by this time that the road
to Distri, hOnOrs and offices does
not extend east of Seventh street,
n. W., and is badly out of repair
between Seventh and Thirteenth.
But west of Thirteenth it is In ex-
cellent order.
No wonder the select circles of
delighted with the present orders
OF things, and declare it to be lust
too lovely for anything; and no
doubt they would throw up their
arms in scream of dramatic bor-
or at the bare mention of a return
to a government by the people.
Nevertheless, that mention is Iia-
BILE to be made almost any day; and
the question whether it is better
to be governed by an oiigarchy
or by the whole people is liable
to be considered almost any day.
This question raises the same
old issue about which King GEORGE
got into trouble with the fathers of
the republic a good many years
ago. In that scrimmage, the
fathers took the side of the peo-
pie, and did battle for the right Of
the people to govern themselves
and to choose their own rulers
They thought they had downed |
old King George and his Oligar-
chy for all time, and they died i'm
the belief that their children were |
safe from the clutch of aristocratic
power.
BUTT seems they were mistaken
The snake was scotched, not kill
ed. And now, after the lapse ofI
/ century, the reptile is produced
rom the bosom of a pampered
'ligarchy, and warmed into life at
he hearthstone of a Metropolitan
Jiuo, and with rattling tail and
lea lily fangs aud glaring eyes is
lulled Kissing among a disfran-
hised people.
What are they to do? Thus
ar they seem to have been terror
zed and stampeded. Isn't it .