Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-10-07

USEFULNESS TIE ENDURING BA.
SIS OF TRUE NOBILITY.

a Recognition of the Fact That
Labor Restores, RcncwS and
Re-crcatcs the Vitality of the
Subject Which Is the Life of the
Nation.
Written for the STANDARD by Lady Cooke, nee
| Tennessee c. Cla,nin.
There are many social fallacies
which have for ages continued to live
vigorously, and which die hard and
slowly. Among them is that most
pernicious one that trade is undigni-
fled and labor a reproach. No matter
what moralists and philosophers have
said as to the worth of work and the
value of commerce, no matter what
has been written by the poets or
preached by the divines, fashionable
society shut its ears and its under
standing to all, and decreed that,
whatever their personal character or
abilities, those who engaged in trade
or labor should be excluded from its
circles.
This opprobrious distinction between
idleness and usefulness to the preju-
dice OF the latter, or between one kind
of usefulness and another, is not an
Indigenous sentiment, but was cont.
mental, and imported hither. 1t had
its rise in an inflated military pride.
Our practical forefathers honored
trade, and by its encouragement pre-
pared the way for England's greatness.
And they regarded all classes OF idlers,
whether aristocrats or sturdy vaga-
bonds" with keen severity. Indeed,
no one can read BlackstOne's Com.
mentaries on the laws of England
without coming to the conclusion,
that not our wealth, population, and
power alone, but our liberties also, had
their origin in trade. Trade and free
dom marched hand in hand, acted and
reacted upon each other, and built up
the worlds greatest empire.
The wisest monarchs of England
including Alfred and Elizabeth, have
promoted the extension of trade by
their example rs well as by their laws.
Elizabeth had share in many specu-
lations. During the Stuart and Tudor
periods, merchants were honored
guests at court. If we except the
purely feudal period, it was not until
the commencement of the present dy-
nasty that the narrow ideas OF social
dignity, which have so long prevailed
in Germany, were introduced here.
Since that time, and for the first time
in our history, the great princes of
England from barons to dukes, have
been compelled to give precedence to
every petty German prince who finds
his way to this country, and our mer
chant princes have been held as of
small social importance unless they
could compel the royal smiles through
their political influence.
Fortunately this system, which has
lasted nearly two centuries, is giving
way through its internal falsity. Num-
bers of noble and even of ducal houses
are re-embarking in commercial ven
lures. Earls are voluntarily becoming
cab proprietors, wine merchants, dairy
men and cattle-breeders. Dukes are
company directors, and titled ladies
run bonnet shops and dress establish
ments. We have not heard that any
of them have been excluded from "the
hupper sukkles" in consequence. 1t
would seem, therefore, that sound
common sense is likely to prevail, and
that eventually every useful career
will be deemed honorable in any rank
of society. Fashion has taken a slight
rurn, and we must not be surprised if
we see countess directing a steam
laundry, or a viscOunt master of q
merchant ship.
1t was the same aboard. The
illustrious De Medicis, father and son,
were merchants and residents OF the
kings of their time The Doges and
State Councillors of Venice, whose
faded splendors are the marvel of
Europe, were merchants and controlled
the trade of the East.
How paitry and pitiabfe have been
the methods by which class has in
trenched itself from contact with
class, each feeling that it must draw
a line" in its own favor, and making
every town and village in the kingdom
q hot-bed of jealousies and hatreds.
proprietors OF land dis
dained the landless proprietOrs of
money. The man who could let his
farms on hire scorned the man who
made them fruitful.
Wholesale" would have nothing to
say to "retail." Small gentry cooked
their noses at the apothecary, but ad-
mitted physician. Clergymen of
the Established Church refused to
shake hands with the dissenting |
ministers. When a merchant or
bought an estate and
settled in the country, lie was a