New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-06-10
Who Are the Better Classes7

Who Are the Better Classes7
We hear great deal Of She. s-better
classes. This orator speaks of the
uprising of the better classes, and that
newspaper refers to the candidate who
is supported by the better classes.
One hears something about the better
classes wherever he goes. H is where
the better classes live. what the better
classes are doing, whats the better
classes are saying, and wko.is in favor
with the better classes. The better
classes must be very prominent citl-
1ens.
Now, who are the bethefclasses? 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
tree republic. where, every man is
sovereign, and where, pride, name, and
station do not in any legal manner
affect universal equaltYa' Many glib
talker, If stopped pasemptorily with
the phrase ''better classes" still linger-
ing on his tongue andaSked to whom he
referred would sufferrsome embarrass-
ment. In the vulgar parlance of the
day the "better classes are not ex-
actly what the words would seem to
signify.
Did anybody eyer hear a person re-
Ter to a lot of Woodworking and honest
men as belonging to, the better classesp
Would your downtown snob 60 to the
quiet streets in. various parts of town
where humble. homes stand closely
side by side aud point them out as the
residences of the better classes? Can
it be imagined that any thoughtless
person would designate the thousands
of men who Thong the street cars in
the early mQraing as members of the
better classes, OF 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 tie 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 q way
an idol before whom many light-bsain-
ed people bend the knee, are exclusive
ly the, rich and proud. II matters not
u
they may have earned their money. It
makes no difference whether they rob
and Cypress the poor or not, and if it
was known that their fortunes were
based on fraud, blackmail or down
rig ut 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 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, bookkeeper, mechanic, laborer,
or teamster prating about the better.
classes and taking some glory to him.
self 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 4 million
and who glibly speaks of the better,
classes is thoughtlessly but none the
less certainly making 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 one section of the people against
another section, styling one the "bet-
ter Glass; and the other by inference
the criminal class. is an outrage on
citizenship, a blow at liberty, and
practically u declaration that honest
poverty is crime. The expression
has become too common. Even the
babes and Stockings echo it It is
snobbery pure and simple, and no pro.
per opportunity to rebuke it ought
ever to be permitted to go by uniln-
proved. Chicago Herald. %