The herald., 1897-02-08
1.-The Masses and the Glasses :"

In foreign lands where the government
is founded upon caste, with the monarch
at the top and the serf at the bottom and
all the rest OF the people ranged in or
derly rows between them, the masses
and the classes" is useful, a convenient,
expression. 1t is an epigrammatic way
of pointing the distinction between the
people who have already been properly
sorted out and those who are still in an
unclassified condition. In old Rome there
were five classes, ranged according to
wealth; the residue of the nation, hold
ing only insignificant or non-existent in
comes, formed the proletariat-the
masses" That was in the old Rome Of
the kings. In the monarchies of today
the royalty and nobility, the upper
classes, are properly ranged and labeled
with stars and garters and titles and in
comes. Gilbert and Sullivan have sung
"the lower middle classes" but that is
burlesque, for after the upper classes
follows the "lower orders
1.-The masses" The upper classes have
their station" to remember and Mve up
to. The lower orders have their place"
each man his own place; each man ex-
pected Ito keep his place" and not to en-
croach upon the regions above him. The
masses" are, of course, the quickening
soil wherein are seeds of intelligence and
courage which sometimes succeed in
growing up into the upper air and flower
ing into the titled classes. When the in
dividual does thus emerge he il given
his station and "the masses" continue
their undistinguished labors.
Thus, in the monarchical form OF gov
ernment, "the masses" is a useful and an
expressive phrase, and foreigners are
fully justified in using it. But 1t has no
excuse for existence in tine speech or
the literature of the republic. 1t has no
place, no significance, in the republican
form of government, and American writ
erS and lecturers in using 1t are only
permitting themselves a careless ad-
option of foreign expression not appii-
cable to home conditions. In America
both the classes and the masses are nom
existent. Americans are great de-
mocracy, and the foundation of the ma
tion rests upon the equality of all men.
The great fundamental principle is now
undergoing what seems to be it's greatest
test since the world began. There have
been mighty republics before but this
republic is working with agencies far
in advance of those the nations of old
could command. That old problem of
force, of war, has almost been aban-
doned by common consent. Then uni
versal education is, a powerful factor
which it is reasonabl to believe may yet
make each citizen of the republic worthy
to exercise his right of sovereignty. The
with superstition, which held the minds
of the people in subjection to some form
of dogma, but today science has made
man conscious of the human intellect
as the guide given him wherewith to
prove all things. With the old science,
of popular education, of an enlightened
humanity, the principle of the equality
of all men is to prove itself or fail here
on this western continent and the effort
of every loyal son of the republic should
be to resist the tendency to change this
great democratic body into Glasses and
masses
The essential distinction involved in
"the classes and the masses as the Eng
lishman uses the phrase lies of course,
in labor-the "toiling masses" and the
leisure class" The wage-earners are
the masses" in the aristocratic form of
government, and here its inapplicability
to this country stands out clear for the
Americans at leisure are few, and, in
reality accidental The transmission
of great fortunes through generations
depends upon primogeniture. principle
which has utterly failed to take root in
this country The man of leisure, when
he does apear in this country, is most
likely the son of a wage-earner, and
quite as likely his own sons will be wage
earners; if not his sons. his grandsons
The American people, from the president
down, work; each man practically earns
his own living. Self-support is really the
republican ideal Therefore, 1.-The
masses" in any discussion of American
affairs is meaningless. 1t cannot apply
to the workers when the whole nation
works; it cannot apply to the unedu-