The mirror., 1895-03-14

forcible manner possible, when we add
ed to our constitution that great amend
ment. which embodies the noblest
thought ever born in the brain OF man
the emancipation proclamation; but,
are we not. unconsciously almost, drift
ing outside our boasted tenets? Are
we not, if not ourselves actually erect
ing, permitting a chosen few of our
number to lay the foundation walls of
future aristocracy, whose so'agre dzul
for the present is of a golden tinged
yellowish consistency?
In what did the old distinction of
patrician and proletaire first have its
origin? Turn back the pages of any,
even the oldest country's history, and
you will come eventually to a time
when the little handful Of men who
made up its census were, physit a ly,
mentally, and morally equals; before
the second century had closed, an aris-
tOcracy had been created, and in what
manner? In some one of the three eS
sential charact eriSticS a deterioration
had set in, which time only served to
make more marked, and within the
specified lapse of one or two hundred
years the victim had fallen SO far below
his fellows that class distinction was
the inevitable result. His succeeding
progeny made the distinction great er
by making the actual relative condition
the more glaringy obvious. In most
cases it will be found that the physical
attribute was the one involved, since
the farther back we proceed within GER
tain limits in our genesis, the nearer do
we approach the lower order in habits
and customs. Take two thoroughbred
colts, and give to the one careful train
ing, the best of provender and whole
some eXerciSe-tO the other no care,
meager food and little attention, what
is the result? The one will develop in
to that magnificent creature apotheO-
sized by Job in his ecstasy of praise
while the other will drag out the weary
years of his existence between the shafts
of huckster's cart. The deduction is
obvious.
In the beginning one man or two men
or dozen fell, little by little, behind
their fellows in some particular, it may
have been, most likely was; in bodily
vigor; time brought out the degenera
tion more accentedly in their progeny
and class distinction slid easily in
With us there is little danger of any
such condition of affairs in the immedi
ate future. Our laws, our customs, oul
condition all seem to preclude the pos
sibility of any such danger. ''See thai
ragged little urchin yonder,'' cries ou
the SelfcOntained American gentleman
"he may be our President some day.
OF course there are IN ours, as in ever,
nation of the world few empty pate(
exotics who claim that they are thu
salt of the earth and belong to the fou
hundred of the elite; but these we d.
not consider seriously; their intention
may be serious enough; but their exist
ence can only engender ridicule. TIL
one danger which we ever need serious
Iy apprehend will be that brought abou
s by excessive wealth on the one ham
e and extreme poverty on the Other
q The ages have echoed the aphOrism tha
), 'wealth is power" and it is only
J. question as to how great or how littl
a this power may be. If it he stron
|, enough to starve the weaklings into
0 moral as we'll as physical atrophy ther
2. is danger of seeing at no late day i
d America stronger demarkation lin
g than ever divided the mobiles and pl'
r beans in the old world There is gradl
r ally creeping into this land of equ;
rights, equal liberties and common ST
cial footing, feeling that wealth Ca
" ries creative patent right of nObillt
;, and this is to be deprecated instead {
- being tOadied to, as is unhatpily tt
~ custom. Honor a man of wealth ce
~ tainly for the noble endeavor he h;
A. made; for the great obstacles he h;
o. surmounted in securing for himself al
Il loved ones, through his own unaide
. toll, competency, restful ease aft
y toll, a reward for work we'll done-b1
~ do not fall down in adoring serfdom b
" fore the pampered scion into whose us
'0 less hands these hard earned dolla
10 are dropped in legacy. He can inner
his fathers wealth, but he cannot i
Nv herit the noble, manly effort his faith
&C made to secure it.
he =
,it is DRUNKENNESS crime! we re;