New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-11-19
THE OPPRESSED POOR DINE.

1t was very lovely dinner. One Of those
dinners that tho guests enjoy every morSci ah'
every moment Of from start q finish; from
half-shcl to demi-tasSc; from appetizer u
nichtcap. One If the sort that memory loves
70 lingcr on: where the host gets his money :
worth and the guests 90 away wondering how
much il cost per plate One OF Shcrry'S best
green turtle. terIapin (S4s a dozcn). canvas
backs (S3 or - apiece, wines in great variety
served in glasses Of all the colors Of the rain
bow, flowers all kinds except R0Swell--cvtry-
thing. in short, TO delight the eye, appcase
hunger, qucnch thirst, and crafty the ycarn-
ing aspirations Of the immortal mind For}y
guests. Forty Of cur very best thinkers not
one Of whom was guilty Of tucking his napkin
under his chin or eating with his knife.
1t was given by Mr.. Henry Willard to ccle-
bratc the recent victory OF the oppressed poor
over the "plutocIats,' who have been walking
all over them ever since the passage of the
Mckinley bill Mr.. Willard sat at ono end of
the table and the Hon. Don VI. Dickinson at
the other. On Mr.. Wizards right sat the
gentleman who has lately been chosen 10 lead
the oppressed poor ont Of bondage; on his left
sat that wcll-knOwn champion Of the oppressed
poor who has been so long engaged in the
warfare against putocracy, Mr. William G..
Whitney. BY the side Of Mr. Dickinson sat
that other foe of plwocIacy and defender of
the oppressed poor Mr. Calvin ). Brice Then
there were Mr.. Stcinway, Oswald OttcndOrfcr
Horace White, William r. Grace, f. Elcry
Anderson, and othors-forty in all, sitting
along the tablc-all gay and happy in the feel
ing that the heel Of the OppreSsOr was about
to be lifted off their ncckS For under the
reign of McKinlcyiSm'' they had been so
utterly downtloddcn and oppressed that there
were times when the finest Johannisbcrgcr or
the richest Burgundy failed to reach the spot
and get their dropping spirits up anywhere -
concert pitch. They had been living. as Mr..
Anderson beautifully put it in recent inter
view, under laws which "permit the rich to
place their hands in our pockets and steal what
little we have while no benefit at all is con-
ferred upon the man who by the sweat of his
brow, makes the rich richer" And now the
end of all this was in sight. No more toll and
sweat to make the rich richer
No one could look over that gathering of the
oppressed poor without feeling that this was
the most fitting and appropriate celebration of
their dolivcrancc that could have been devised.
And yet the emotion Of gratitude would not
be unmixcd with a rising feeling of indigna-
ton at the thought that the barrels upon bar
rcls Of pcrspration which have been shed by
Mr.. Willard and Mr.. Whitney and Mr.. Brice
and the rest of them to make the rich richer
might under a Democratic Administration,
have been turned to the useful purposes of
irrigation and gladdcned many waste places
Many thousand voters who contributed 10 the
great result, and whose families could have
been supplied with two or three months pro-
visions for tho price of single plate at this
festivity, would have been delighted-uot Il