Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-07-12
MONEY NOT THE ONLY THING.
English Society Circles Into Which
Vanderbilt Could not Penetrate.

i.rg" aut: There is Il marked diff
| ference between the main body OF
| th1 Americans who annually invade
| London nowadays and those who used
| to be seen years ago. Time was when
the travelling Americans did not care
TO" society, preferring to do the sights
as speedily as possible and hurry oil
to other show places. Now visitors
from the land OF the free consider
themselves quite as much in the social
swim as a'y lord or lady in the peer
age. are up" in all the ways and Gus
toms of society and are regarded by
London swelldom as representative
Americans. In general these are the
sight-seers of the past grown angli-
cized and their sons and daughters.
/ regard Mr.. Astor as fair sample
of the new American in England,
says a correspondent. His money. Of
course. enables him to do anything he
| likes lie might stand on his head on
the top Of the duke of York's column
or play lcap-frog down Pail Mall with
Mr.. Vanderbilt.
1t is doubtful, by the bye if either
Of these performances would make
him Il cause Of more plying smiles
and compassionate shoulder-shrugs
than his forced intrusion into London
Journalism or his ostentatious pur-
chase Of the duke of Westminsters
Thames bank villa. He has too much
money to let the people who find 1t
pleasant to know him show what they
really think OF his desertion Of his
that he knows very few who are great
enough in themselves to be Indifferent
to the money power he Yields.
There is class of mob lemen among
The English aristocracy who are above
any and all outside influences alto
sether-men whom gold DIES not daz
zle. | regard them as the highest type
, Of nobility in every sense, and l con-
slider the duke of Northumberland as
a striking instance Of the sort Of man
| mean. The duke of Rutland Is al
other. The poorest, humblest Amerl
can, were he a gentleman, might
enter the society of these noblemen
and be cordially received by them.
But all the wealth Of the Astors and
Vanderbilts combined could not get
recognition for its possessors from the
same men were there no other recon-
mendation.
And l am morally certain of one
thing: buying and hiring grand houses
in England by foreigners for no rhyme
or reason but the exhibition OF Il bit
OF vulgar swagger would not be in
any sense a credential Of respectable
ity to them. Much the reverse, should
imagine. AS for the duke Of West
Minister. he is a shrewd man of bust
ness, and, like all the Grosvenors, has
as keen an eye to the main chance
as a horse dealer or "A patent medicine
drummer Yet | cannot somehow
think that any very lasting friendship
has sprung up between his Grace and
the American purchaser of Cleveden.
Indeed, the reported controversy con
corning the right of property in the
visitors book would seem to negative
the presumption Of the existence OF
very amicable relations. | often won
der how men like Mr.. Astor can wish
to fiji n fourth or tfth-rate position in
England instead of the first place in
America. He cannot at one moment
rely on the fact that he is an Amerl-
can, and therefore the equal of any
man. and at he next step set up as an
English country squire or Il London
editor, and therefore several pegs be
low the dukes and other nobility lie
must make his choice.