The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-19
THE REAL VULGARITY.

There is a certain order of mind that en-
joys the ridicule and abuse of prosperous
persons without any regard to the matter
OF desert, and yet that is the vital test oil
right. We may condone the caricaturing
of politicians and applaud the flashing OF
offensive or dangerous persons; but
such attacks upon inoffensive men and
women, who choose their own harmless
customs, forms and pleasures, who are in
nobody's way and who bring harm to
none, are antagonistic to every conception
of dignity and manliness.
What is known as 'society''-that aggre-
CATION of persons who follow what they
term the fashions" and who have "social
functions" including cotillons, receptions
and the like-are regarded by many as silly,
idle, vacuous and possibly vulgar; as devo-
tees of frivolity, gossip and dress; as being
fond of parading their wealth, their names,
their money and their Jewels; as being par
venues and upstairs, lacking sympathy for
those not their kind, scorning the lowly
and lofily patronizing the poor and aspir-
ing geniuses who are willing to crouch at
their feet; as being deficient in the true re-
finement which carries kindness and in
the wisdom which knowledge and under
standing impart; as being insolent, Of
fensive, altogether ridiculous, and fit sub
jects for satire, raillery and abuse.
Some of these victims cannot claim COM
plete exemption, but those among them
who display bad taste are exceedingly rare.
That all are made to suffer for the sins OF
the few, is a matter that reflects far more
seriously upon their accusers and Judges
than upon themselves, and that needless
persons applaud the vulgar critics shows
far less genuine manliness than what the
reporters facetiously call the s'haut tom
are accustomed to display. Many newspa-
pers are singularly perverse in their under
standing and treatment of this subject
Any clown who pretends to have been Sin
society and then starts out to expose
its shortcomings, may be sure of eager
attention and columns of disgusting non
sense, which degrades not only those who
publish it but those who read it. No mat
ter how vulgar, how clearly untrue or how
cowardly these assaults may be, there is
sure to be a newspaper near at hand that
viii eagerly publish his SANDERS.
Society" in every city of America is
complex, infinitely subdivided, and en-
VI ihCh anu NOIneu III all decent Occu-
pations and of all degrees OF wealth. Its
men are not idlers, but generally the bone
and sinew OF the country, embracing much
OF its wealth, energy and refinement. They
stand for conservatism, for the mainte-
nance of order and respect for the law.
They are not liars nor blackmailers nor
/ slanderers. They believe in decency OF
conduct and the value of gentlemanly dig
nifty. Thay are busy, earnest men, with
the marrow of world builders in their
bones. Ii they choose to make life bright
and pleasant for their wives and daughters
they have right to do SO; and he who
would deny that right, ridicule its whole
some exercise In the creation of an institu-
ton which happens to go under the name
OF society" and vantonly and maliciously
iampoon its members, places himself on a
plane of intelligence and self-respect far
below that occupied by society" itself.