West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1891-08-27
PLUT0CRACY AND sNOBBERY IN
NEW YORK CITY.

II ~''"S Nv" WSoN upon NCW
York Society" in manner call
culated to make goose flesh" all
along the spinal columns OF Ward
McAllister and his 400 snobs and
snobbesses. Says Mr.. Fawcctt
You may, il man have the man.
ners of Chesterfield and the WIT of
n Balzac; you may, II woman. bc
beautiful as Mary Stuart and bril-.
liant rs DeStacl, anb yet, powcrless
to "entertain," you can ill no
lofty pedestal. position" i'm New
York means corpulent purse
whose strings work ms flcxibiy as
the dorsal muscles of professional
toady. And this kind Of toady has
an exquisite .fair for your greatness
and dignity the moment he becomes
quite sure of your pecuniary willing.
ness to back both. New York is
ut present the paradise of parvonus,
and these occasionally commit
grotesque mistakes in the distribu.
ton of civilitics. Because YOU
chose to "stay in" for season or
two, they will take for granted, il
suddenly brought in contact with
you, that you have never "been ont'
and could not go If you tried. OF
course, to feel hurt by such cheap
hauteur proves that you are i'm n
manner worthy of it; but even
though you arc not in the least
hurt, you cannot refrain from a
thrill of annoyance that country
which has boasted in so loud
moutae q way TO Europe of having
begun its natural life by n whole
somo scorn Of all class distinction.
should contain citizens cursed by n
spirit of such tawdry pride. At
least the aristocrncIes OF other lands,
vicious and roprehensiblc as they
have always been, are yet an evil
with certain malign consistency
for their support. Like those mon
archies of which they have formed
pitosus adjunct, they have always
been the outsrowths of perfectly
natural ignorance. They are toler-
ated by progress for the simple rea-
sen that progress is not yet ready
to destroy them. Hence are all
imitation of their permitted and
perpctuatcd folly in wofully bad
taste. They are more they are an
insult. when practised IN such a
land rs ours, to republican energies
motives, and ideals. Heaven
knows, We arc a country with sorry
enough substantially behind her
vaunts. We call ourselves freemcn,
and our mines and our fact ories are
swarming with haggard slaves. We
declare that TO be President of the
United States is tho most honor
able Office mai can hold, and our
elected canlidatcs Except when
they have the splendid seIf.abnega-
ting courage Of Cleveland y wade
to Washington through perfect
bog OF ycral promises. We prate
Of our democratic institutions, and
forget that free trade is one Of the
first proofs of free people, and
that protected industries are the
feudalism of manufacture. We
sncer at the corruption of q Jeffreys
or Marlborough in the past, and
conccde that bribery riots in our
capital, ard that the internal grist-
mill IN New York has to .day al
most as much nefarious grinding to
get through with annually as it had
when Tweed and Sweeney stood the
boss millcrs that fed its yoracious
NAV. And after all, the abomm-
atiOns Of New York's politics are
only few degrees moro ropellent
than the cruelties and pusillani-
mites Of her self-styled patrician
horde.
How can VIC expect that beings
who busy themselves with affairs of
such poignant importance as wheth-
or they shall give Jones full nod
or Brown a quarter of nod when
they next meet him rs whether the
Moncypennys are really quite Ia1ccs
enough Tor them TO encounter the
great 0iltedges or no, at a prospec-
tive dinner party as whether the
latest Partisan tidings about bon
nets arc really authentic or tho CON
trary as whether Ills Royal High.
ness has or lfas not actually ap.
pcarcd at ono Of his imperial mann
mas drawing-rooms in New mar
kct cutaway how, it Is asked. can
we expect that beings Of this bent
may properly heed those gbastly
and incessant wants which are for-
ever making Of humanity the for
Torn tragi- comedy it is?
OF marriage among thUge snobs
Mr.. Fawcett says
Marriage, among the New York
mots and plutocrats, ordinarily
treats human affection rs though II
wcro n tfifing optic malady TO be
cured by a few drops Of corrective
lotion. Daughters are trained by
their mothers IN leave no efforts
untricd, short Of those absolutely
immoral, IN winning wealthy bus.
bands. Usually the daughters are
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