Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1896-03-26
A CRIME AGAINST SOCIETY.

At the present crisis when the
country is trembling on the verge
of a possible foreign war, 1t is
satisfactory to note that the ar
my is likely to be saved from a
danger which threatened it's very
life and came near shaking the
pillars of society to their foun-
dation. Nearly two years ago a
young lieutenant. graduating
with high honors at West Point,
was SO insensible to. the obliga-
tions of his profession that he
married the daughter of a non
commissioned officer attached to
the national mill 5ary school, hav-
ing for his ''pest man" another
officer also outside the sacred
pale of commission. To say that
all the epauletted world was
s~candalized by such a missalli-
ance would be to state the case
too mildly. The whole service
was stirred up to bitter wrath
and righteous revenge.
The unfortunate nOn-com. who
assisted at the ceremony was
promptly dismissed from the
service. The brides father, who
was not really a particeps Grim
inis, save in SO far as he was
guilty Of occupying the position
of parent to one of the offenders,
was sent on hard duty out to
Arizona, while the bride and
groom we're consigned to con-
ventry by the naughty aristo :
Gratis whose titles Of nobility rest
upon the fact that a generous
country has fed and clothed and
educated them, as if they were
so many wards of the nation, III
the hope that they would turn
out to be loyal American citizens
and not puny dolts infected with
the notion that they were in any
way socially superior to the plain
folk who paid the bills for their
board and keep.
But West Point is the home of
a very peculiar aristocracy,
unique in the history of Caste
Let a boy of gentle breeding go
there, assured of his position by
right of decent forbears, and the
chances are ten to one that he
comes out as much of a gentle
man as when he entered. But
let an untutOred cub be the re-
cipient Of national bounty for
four years, and emerge with a
lieutenant's shouldersstraps, and,
unless he has been blessed at
birth with honest peasant pa
rentage, he is terribly apt to
prove a snob OF the first quality.
sit has always been the scrubs
who came to the Academy in
homespun Shirts" said a veteran
of highest rank the other day,
''that turned out the haughtiest
martinets after they went on
duty"
So it happens that the Ameri-
can army officer, who graduated
high in his class, found himself
ostracised by all the billiards and
caste-worshippers in the service
because he had chosen to marry
a young lady whose social posi-
ton was no higher tIan that held
by the brothers and sisters O.
nine>tenths of his comrades. He
lost caste by marrying the
daughter of a non-commissioned
officer, though he might have
held his social status by espous
ing the daughter OF a CIVILIAN O.
any rank or character, or a di'
vorced woman.
Is it not about time for the
country 10 regulate army ane
navy rank on a basis Of common
selse? Aristocracy at its plau'
sible best, that is, based upol
the illogical lines Of birth or de
scent, is a foolish thing enough
but an a~ristocracy whose paten
of nobility comes through tn
favor Of a Congressman to tn
son of a banker, or a tailor, or al
editor, or a politician, is an arts.
tocracy at which even the bar
sinister nobility of Europe Nigh
laugh.
The able speech of Mr.. Tnr
pie. of Indiana, in the Unite
States Senate in the case of M
Dupont shows conclusively, SO
seams to rs. that this last name