Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-08-21
WHO ARE THE BETTER CLASSES ?

thing about the Oetter classes
wherever he goes. 1t is where the
better classes live, what the better
classes are doing, what the better
classes are saying, and who is in
favor with the better classes. The
better classes must be very prOmi-
nent citizens.
Now, who are the better classes?
OF what does their patent Of nObili-
ity consist What makes them
better than any other classes, aud
by what right do we speak Of class
es at all in this free republic, where
every man is sovereign, and where
pride, name, and station do not in
any legal manner affect universal
equalityi Many q glib talker, if
stopped peremptOrily with the
phrase " better class" still linger-
ing on his tongue and asked to
whom he referred would suffer some
embarrassment. In the vulgar par
lance of the day the "better class.
es , are not exactly what the words
would seem to signify.
Did anybody ever hear a person
refer to lot of hard.working and
honest men as belonging to the bet
ter classes? Would your down.
town snOb 60 to the quiet streets
in various parts of town where
humble homes stand closely side by
side and point them out as the resi-
dences Of the better classes Can
it be imagined that any thoughtless
person would designate the thou
sands of men who thrOng the street
cars in the early morning as men,
bers of the better classes, or would
it be customary for him to invade
the small homes where one tired
woman is wife, mother, and servant,
and point her out as a member OF
the better classes No, to all of
these. These are not the better
classes of whom we hear so much.
The better classes, who assume
to speak as one having authority,
and who constitute in a vague sort
of a way an idol before whom many
light Drained people bend the knee,
are exclusively the rich and proud.
1t matters not what their charac.
ters may be, or how they may have
earned their money. 1t makes no
difference whether they rob and Op-
press the poor or not, and if it were
known that their fortunes were
based on fraud, blacknail, or down
right theft the fact would not be
laid up against them. The " better
classes' are they who wear fine
clothes, have clean and jeweled fin
gers, ride in carriages, live in choice
neighborhOOds, and occupy large
houses, enjoy retinue Of servants,
and generally maintain an attitude
Of exclusiveness and of halfway
contempt toward such of their fell
low beingsa as work hard for a living.
Since wealth and pride cOnsti-
tute the chief requisites for MEM
bership of the better classes, what
an abominable thing it IS to hearan
ordinary clerk, bOOkkeeper, me-
chanic, laborer, or teamster prating
about the better classes and taking
some glory to himself because he is
acting with them. If the people
who have been described are the
better classes, then hundreds OF
thousands of honest and hardy peo'
pie who pay taxes and make good
soldiers are inferior in some way,
and the man who does not own a
million and who glibly speaks Of
the better classes is thoughtlessly,
but none the less certainly, making
an ass of himself.
There are no classes in this cOun-
try, better or otherwise. Every
good citizen, whether rich or poor,
proud or humble, stands on an
equality with all the others, has
equal rights and is in every way
entitled to as much respect as any,
: body else. The attempt to array
one section Of the people against
another section, styling one the
"better class and the other by
inference the criminal class, is an
outrage on citizenship, blow al
liberty, and practically a declara
ton that honest poverty is a crime
The expression has become toe
common. Even the babes and
, sucklings echo it. 1t is snObbery
pure and simple, and no proper
. opportunity to rebuke it ought evel
to be permitted to 20 by unim
proved. Chicago Herald.
Now, then, said the captain OF
police to the jaDitOr of the station
house, give the prisoner bath