Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-08
CRINGING AMERICAN TOADYISM.
IL IL Said to DO Developing to an Alarm.
ing Degree I'm the East.

From America
In human nature the most despicable trait d
that Of the Bringing toadyism which prompts
men and women to demean themselves by Z
senseless worship Of inherited rank This spe-
cies Of insanity, for 1t can be called by no other
name when found in America, seems to be in
ereasing in the ratio Of the number of titled
idols presented for worship. In the east the
disease has developed 10 an alarming degree,
and the numbers Of udo-Americans who
tumble over each other in Bringing attempts
to worship at the shrine of some impecunious
or profigste lordling, is assuming disgusting
proportions.
Most prominent among the American turf
hunters is the 'bear-leader." This creature ID
the person who takes it upon himself to show
off the titled wonder to the admiring gaze of an
un-American society. The first care of the
profiigate or pauper who is possessed Of title
and wishes to become a real. roaring American
lion, Is to secure competent "bear-leader."
This is tire easiest done by obtaining letter
Of introduction to some New York society
leader. As the latter are all praying fortune to
send some princeling their way, and will gladly
accept anything from an III. r. h. to q third as
sistantlord Of the back stairs, this is not diff
cult task. Once possessed Of such letter, he has
but to land in New York and present his papers;
the rest is easy enough. Having obtained his
leader, he has only to dance at the formers
call, and he will, if he so desire, receive both
the daughter and the ducats of class whose
wealth weighs more in the social balance than
its self-respect.
When we consider that there is not royal
family in all Europe which is unpolluted by
vice; when we remember that the vast majority
OF the so-caled. mobility are dissolute and lazy,
and that these who are entitled to respect have
won that right because they are men of ability,
and not because they were born to greatness,
we NAV we'll ask Whv Amerirana ahould Get
down and groyel in the slime of humiliating
servility to unearned rank. Hospitality is one
of the greatest of human virtues, but when
that hospitality is instructed it is an evil.
We may receive with respect and considera-
ton Europeans who have made their mark as
men of ability. and reflect credit thereby upon
our national hospitality and discrimination,
themselves by rushing after men whose actions
would justify their social ostracism merely be-
cause the feudal laws of some foreign land have
prefxed titles to their names.
There Is class in American society which
has won wealth by hard and conscientious work.
seek notoriety in social success, and, finding
that our laws confer no rank which is not
earned, they sigh for the titles of Europe as for
the flesh pots of Egypt. 1t is this class
which supplies the "bear-leader." About them
howl and cringe the society pariah dogs, who
feast upon the reflected glory of rank which
occasionally falls to their share.
1t is useless to deny the truth Of this obser-
walton; a careful study Of American upperten-
dom will render its refutation impossible. Be
1t said, however, to the credit Of Chicago, that
there is less tuft-hunting here than elsewhere.
We have our bear-leaders and our pariah dogs,
but both camp on the outskirts of society, and
are compelled from the very virtue of their
position to hunt American tufts as well as for
eign titles