The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-05-07


escape the insults and vexations that .
"poor lord" everywhere encountered.
When Byron achieved fame nobody in
England, even Of his day. cared whether
he was born "lord" any moro than they
care today to remember that Gladstone
was not born . lord. while Salisbury not
only was born . lord but his lineage runs
back to Lord Burleigh, the great minister
Of Queen Elizabeth. The English people
know that Gladstone and Salisbury BY
virtue of superior native endowments
both belong to natures nobility. and they
do not think less Of Lord Salisbury that
when he was . poor. younger son he
earned his living by writing for the news
papers.
The vast majority Of people Of social con.
sequence in America today date back 70
ancestors who two generations ago were
people in very moderate circumstances
and engaged in humble employments -
small traders or artisans. The winners Of
our American Independence and the
trainers Of our American constitution were,
with few exceptions. people of humble
stock Washington came Of wealthy
farmer stock; Jefferson was IN compare
lively easy circumstances and married .
rich woman; Gouverneur Morris came Of
q rich family; but these were exceptions.
Greene. our best general, was . black
smith; franklin was the son Of tallow
chandler and was . printer: Roger Sher.
man was shoemaker. With the exception
of Schuyler. who was . large land holder.
all our Revolutionary generals were Of
humble origin. OF Hamilton's parentage
little 10 known. The aristocracy OF intel
lect both in New England and Virginia
was represented by poor lawyers and still
poorer ministers. The Knickerbockers. or
old families Of New York city, were all
tradesmen. The leaders Of New York's
fashionable society today nearly all date
back to people who were small artisans or
traders, and some Of them were in far in
ferior positions Of usefulness and respec-
liability.
Mrs. Paran Stevens, who, like Mrs.
Mackay, is rich woman of social ambi-
ton, which she has gratified in London.
in Paris, and Of late years 1t Newport, was
Lowell factory girl whose pretty face
won her rich husband, successful hotel.
keeper. who was gracious enough to die
early and leave her his millions. The
Vanderbilts, the Astors, the Lorillards,
the Goulds, in short nearly all the wealthy
families in America date back to ancestors
Of plebeian stock, who within this century
were all humble folk, working hard to
rise from respectable poverty to wealth.
and it il to the credit Of most of their
present representatives that they do not
attempt to deny their origin. but are proud
Of the talent of their strong and honest
working stock which lifted them to wealth
and social elevation. In England several
Irish actresses of very humble origin have
married into aristocratic families, to tho
vast improvement of the blood and i'm.
poverished brains of the nobility Of their
day.
OF course in America nobody Of sense
seeks to be measured by the standards OF
the English aristocracy, for that 10 impos-
sible. In . country where the poor man
of today 10 tho rich man Of tomorrow and
vice versa, and where an aristocracy of
mere wealth Il largely in the ascendant.
intelligence, intellect, mental and moral
refinement do not always 60 for what they
are worth; yet with all their passion for
money making the American people rate
genuine Intellectual power higher than
anything else. Nobody remembers that
Statesman Louis Oass, of Michigan. died
very rich or that Statesman Daniel
Webster. Of Massachusetts,, died COM
paratively poor. Chauncey Depew stands
on . level of popular admiration and
esteem in the social circles of New York
city which the possession and welding of
millions never yet placed Vanderbilt, a
Gould. an Aston or Stanford. Mr.. Blaine
was easily the greatest man in Harrison's
cabinet, and yet who ever cared to inquire
whether his wealth was equal to or in.
ferior to that Of Wanamaker7 The people
respected Wanamaker as an able man of
business; but they idolized Blaine; they
knew he was statesman, and they did
not care any more whether he was an able
financier in his private affairs than the
Massachusetts, merchants and farmers did
when they sent thrittless Daniel Webster
over and over again to the United States
senate.
When Stanford, Sawyer, Hearst, a
Joe Brown or Payne has in recent years
addressed the senate nobody has listened
in the senate. nobody has read the printed
speech; but when an Edmunds or a Sher-
man has spoken all men of all parties have
listened to their words or read them in
print. Is there Vanderbilt living TODAY
who will be remembered as long or as CRATE
fully as Ericsson or Edison. or Holmes or
Whittier Is Roscoe Conkling remem.
bered chiefly for the fact that he made
500 600 in seven years after he left the
United States senate? Is Grant chiefly re.
membered because he wrote . book In a
few months that brought his wife nearly
$4,000? Let cynics sheer as they will.
the only aristocracy possible in America
is one resting on solid intellectual achieve
ment, moral and mental refinement ex.
hibited in efforts for purer manners. noblsr
laws.
Even in England the ruling class never
fail to recognize and give the hand Ia
those who prove themselves the I'M.
crowned kings of men, and no mere vulrar
money bag ever gets the same personal
consideration at the handa of M E,cl;.A