The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-06-05
Who Are the Better Classes,

l PEI
We hear a great deal of the sbette,
classes. This orator speaks of tn,
uprising of the better classes, and tina
newspaper refers TO the candidate who
Is supported by the better classes.
One hears something about the better
classes wherever he goes. 1t is where
the better classes i've, what the better
classes are doing, what the better
classes are saying, and who is in favor
with the oetter classes. The better
classes must be very prominent citl.
zens.
Now. who r the better classesp OF
what does their patent of nobility con
sist? What makes them better than
any other classes, and by what right
do we speak of classes at all in this
free republic, where every man is a
sovereign, and where pride, name, and
station do not in any legal manner
affect universal equality? Many a gill
talker, if stopped peremptoriiy with
the phrase ''better classes" still linger.
ing on his tongue and asked to whom he
referred would suffer some embarrass.
ment. In the vulgar parlance of the
day the ''better classes" are not ex-
actly what the words would seem tc
signify.
Did anybody ever hear a person re.
Ter to a lot of Woodworking and houest
men rs belonging to the better classesi
Would your downtown snob 90 to the
quiet streets in various parts of towr
where humble homes stand closely
side. by side and point them out as the
residences Of the better classesp Car
it be imagined that any thoughtless
person would designate the thousands
of men who throng the street cars in
the early morning as members of the
better classes, or would it be custom
airy for him to invade the small homes
where one tired women is wife, mother
and servant and point her out as :
member of the better classes? No, tt
all of these. These are not the better
classes of whom we hear SO much.
The better classes, who assume tc
speak as one having authority, and
who constitute in a vague sort of a way
an idol before whom many light-brain.
ed people bend the knee, are exclusive.
ly the rich and proud. II matters not
what their characters may be or how
they may have earned their money. 1t
makes no difference whether they rob
and Cypress the poor OF not, and if it
was known that their fortunes were
based on fraud, blackmail 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 fingers, ride in car
riages, live in choice neighborhoods,
and occupy large houses, enjoy a re-
tinue of servants and generally main
tam an attitude of exclusiveness and
of halfway contempt toward such OF
their fellow beings as work hard for
a living.
Since wealth and pride constitute
the chief requisites for membership OF
the better classes, what an abomina-
BILE thing it is to hear an ordinary
clerk, hookkeeper, mechanic, laborel
or teamster prating about the better
classes and taking some glory to him
self because he is acting with them. II
the people Vino have been described
are the better classes, then hundreds
of thousands of honest and hardy PEG.
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 country,
better Or otherwise. Every good citi-
zen, 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 anybody else. The attempt to ar.
ray n section of the people against
another section, styling one the ..bet.
ter class" and tho other by inference
the criminal class. is an outrage on
citizenship, a blow at liberty, and
practically a declaration that honest
poverty is a crime. The expression
has become too common. Even the
babes and sucklings echo it. 1t is
snobbery pure and simple, and no pro.
per opportunity to rebuke it ought
ever to be permitted to go by unim.
proved.-CAicago Herald.