The Republican journal., 1896-09-10
The "Plain People" Humbug.

The talk about the plain people that
has just emanated from the Bryan nation
al campaign committee, ana IS o1ten heard
from Bryan himself and his supporters is
ridiculous or mischievous, OF Doth 1t is
an attempt to create class that does not
exist in this country, and TO dlVlde Amerl-
can citizens by lines which are fraudulent
in the case of those who make the dis
tnction, and imaginary in those who ac-
cept it. There is no ''plain people class
in this country. 1t would be interesting
to learn how those who are glibly using
the term define it's meaning, The truth
is that, if there are plain people, they per
wade all classes, or all classes that have
the spirit of Americanism in them. There
are people of various degrees OF intelli-
gence and of wealth and Of different occu
pations with view to earning living
and doing their work in the world, but
there is no class wlich has monopoly of
''plainness Illiterate people are not
palmer than intelligent people; men who
wear ready made clothing have no claim
to be called plain above those who order
clothing made for them by tailors; small
income does not imply man plain above
another who has larger one.
This talk about plain people is accept
ing and intensifying an assumption by
certain pretentious people which it is
! really an indignity to those who are term
ed plain to admit If it means anything,
it means that men who engage in certain
occupations in this country are set apart
from those who engage in Others There
may be something of this kind in some
cities of the East, but it is an opposition to
the American idea that man is to be
| estimated according to what he is and
does, and it does not peryade the Ameri-
can nation generally. 1t is absurd to call
mechanic plain and clerk an aristo-
crat. No such line can be drawn on the
ground of occupation, and on the ground
OF income the pay of mechanics is often
greater than that of clerks. The attempt
to make class distinctions in this way is
ridiculous and deserves only contempt at
the hands of those who are sought to be
placed in a position Of inferorty by it.
Ii by plain people is meant the people
WHO are limited in pecuniary means, we
can easier understand it. But here there
are no classes. This kind OF people are
in every class. We find them among the
highly educated men of the professions
! as well as in the ranks of labor. Our at
tenton was called only week since to
clergyman in New Hampshire town re-
ceiving a salary Of $3.50 per annum and
his house rent, and there are probably
thousands more in the same condition.
! There are awyers with light practice,
doctors with few patients, school teachers
with small compensation, and in newspa-
per offices reporters who would exchange
salaries with pressmen. The small sala-
ries il the one class of Instances make
their recipients no palmer; the greater
incomes in the other make their recip-
tents no less plain No class in point Of
''plainness' can be made which does net
rnn through all kinds of occupations.
| 1t is illogical to reason that all these
/ people do not desire low prices for what
they buy and still more 50 to argue that
the great number of people who do neither
mechanical nor mercantile nor profession
al work are in favor of higher prices for
| what they purchase. President Harrison
was much criticised four years ago for
saying that cheap coat implied a cheap
man in it. 1t does not; neither does the
ability to purchase cheaply interfere with
the comforts of life of those who are
probably meant by ''plain people" Low
prices have come to them, if to nobody
else, as among the advantages Of improved
methods of production under advancing
| civilization. 1t is a contradiction to pro-
fess interest in the condition of men of
moderate means and limited incomes, and
then propose to raise the prices Of the
necessities of life that they are compelled
to purchase. Is it not a boon to plain
people, as thus defined, that their flour
and sugar and meat and butter and eggs
are to be bought at low prices; and boon
for the loss of which none Of the schemes
proposed for tampering with the currency
can compensate?
The main objection to this kind of eff
fort is that it seeks, in the first place, to
create classes that do not exist and in the
next to prejudice people against each
other who have common interest. The
prosperity of the country aids all classes,
its adversely causes all to suffer. There
is no natural distinction among the
American people here, and arbitrary ones,
emanating from the invention of poll
ticians, are simply fraudulent and mis-
chievous There are ''plain people"
everywhere: they pervade all ranks of life.
/ They cannot be placed in a class by them
selves, and it is demagogic movement to
attempt to segregate them in this way.
In this presidential campaign such an en-
terprise is pure politics, and cheap poll
tics into the bargain. We have faith that
the intelligent voters of the country will
readily appreciate this fact and act ac-