The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-04-12
MHIrnEn AnE w pRIFTINa2
Rank snobbery Displayed in these Days of
sJctHorSonInn SIMPLICITY

Rank Snobbery Displayed in these Days OF
"JctKorsoainn simplicity"
Washington OA
The Post has been greatly impressed
by the telegraphic reports OF Mr., Cleye'
lands visit to Wilmington, the homo OF
Mr.. Bayard. OF course it was quite in
order that the advent in that sleepy old
town OF a President OF the United States,
a secretary OF state and an illustrious
senator should create more or less ex'
element. 1t does not take much to stir
up village, and, even il 1t did, such an
occurrence as we refer to would do the
trick. But the upheaval was legti-
mate. The sudden appearance within
its gates of Messrs. Cleveland, Gresham
and White would have agltated tho
great metropolis itself, Events OF that
magnitude are rare,
1t was not 10 this aspect OF the cpl
sode, however, that we intended to
refer. People in Washington are used
to raptures, What struck us with Pc
culiar force was the manner in which
the press reports handled Mr.. Bayard,
They SCARED upon q turnkey wing.
They reveled in his new title, He was
"Ambassador Bayard" all the way
through the narrative, Nothing less
than the full, resembling appellation
would content them, They would not
compromise, even upon Ex-senator" or
'ex.secretary." 1t was Ambassador"
Bayard in every ten or fifteen words.
The press agents rolled that magnificent
prefix under their delighted tongues,
They were full OF ecstacy. They reveled
in gaudy and iiielodious desCriptIves.
With Secretary Gresham, Senator
White, President Cleveland, and Am
bNssador Bayard to play upon they foil
upon VeritRbls rhapsody. And the
greatest OF theso-the one they EN-.
ployod with most lingering ehect-was
the Ambassador"
Sometimes We wonder what the
country is coming to in its morbid APP
petite for titles, This is republic,
where all men arc supposed TO be equal,
aud where tho underlying idea is,
theoretically, 4 wholesome sCorn OF
artificial rank. We are fond OF explain.
ing, on patriotic anniversaries, the i'm
measurable superiority OF plain Ameri-
can citizenship over the very proudest
eminence inherited or purchased under
tho decaying institutions Of Europe.
But, all the same, our newspapers reek
with snobbery that even tho most
ridiculous OF German municipalities
would never dream OF countenancing.
We are told what Assistant Commits.
sioner of Stationery Jones was doing
yesterday; what Mr.. Fourth Deputy
Auditor had for lunch the day before;
and what the mother.in-law Of tho chief
OF the bug division expects TO do next
Friday. The hotel registers, the society
columns, the ebullitions OF tho press
reporters fairly slop over with poly.
syllable appellations that signify moth
ing and that illustrate only tho depths
OF funkyism into which we have de-
scended
1t may have been IA evil moment
after all in which our statesmen con-
ceived the idea OF creating ambassadors.
Tho new title adds nothing to the i'm.
portance OF the country, nothing to our
national dignity and greatness. 1t
simply furnishes large peg for snobs
to hang their toNdy offerings upon-a
new and juicier sound for chronicles OF
small beer.