Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-05-26
THE DR.. sAMpEW ELECTRIC BELT

rocracy itself only survives with It's feudal
titles and its incongruous symbols because
it has become democratized It is recruited
from the ranks of the common people and
has come to lave little of the character of
a class separated from the mass of the COM
munity by an aristoeratic lineage. The
majority of tue aristocratic titles of Eng
land are borne by families scarcely older
thar this republic, and in many of them the
blood of democratic America flows.
The young man who vas SO fortunate as
to lead from the altar an American bride
yesterday is of the more ancient aristoc-
racy. dating back to the time of the Nor
man conquest, but that longer lineage
gives him only a certain precedence over
more recent recruits. and without money to
support even that superficial distinction he
would be of little account The first essen
tial of an aristOcratic state is the possession
Of money, and the accumulation of money
is an opportunity within reach of the de-
mocracy, which thus has the chance of at
tanning the distinction necessary to the
other. With money come the means of &C.
Quiring social accomplishments. Money
also is Il magnet which attracts the in
stinct Of self preservation in the aristocracy
to matrimonial alliances with the democ-
racy that obliterate the line of social sep
aration between the two.
This process of mingling the aristocracy
with the democracy is going OF in England
all the time and increasingly, and very nat
urally it is extended to this country of great
fortunes by the marriage Of Englishmen Of
aristocratic titles to American girls richly
lowered. The titles these young women
receive in England have no Importance
here, and even there their consequence is
only social and, with the progress of Eng
lish democracy, transitory. The substance
is the money which supports the social
state, and money here can do the same. 1t
does not need an anachronistic feudal title,
homogeneous with modern conditions, to OBJ
tain consequence. Its consequence is in
trinsic, and its power is inherent.
A coronet is a mere gewgaw, more es-
pecially on the head of one who wears it
merely by the right of marriage and not rs
the symbol of the individuals historic line
age. Even as such n symbol it typifies past
rather than present power. In the old days
of fcudalism earls We're actual officers of
the kingdom, each having supreme author
ity in his WI earldom or County under
the crown A coronet meant something
substantial then. 1t was IL badge of author
ity. Now the title Of earl is really worth
only about as much AS the title Of Mr., X
cept that it includes the possessor in the
peerage and admits him to the house Of
lords, where actually he is subject to the
democratic house of commons-the real
source of all political power in England.
His wife is called a countess, is styled my
LADY, and is fright honorable" but these
are mere decorations. If she be an Amer
lean woman. she has stepped down from the
first place, which she occupied here, and de-
seconded to tho level of the third rank in the
British pcerage.
An American lady who marries a British
earl exercises u right of choice which is in
alienable and for whose use she is not open
to criticism, but she does not advance her
self in the social scale. a British earl is of
consequence i'll this republic only so far as
the distinction is intrinsic in him as a man.
Even in England his Fictitious consequence
because of his title is passing away and