Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-07-13
GOLD ARISlOCRACY.
BY Thomas Wentworth Hlg ms N.


divided the world between them. We
| stand, in a manner at the nrr-ing of
| the ways. The ar. ..~.~-, - ~--.l has
lost its hold all over the world, and is
losing it still more.
! There remains but one absolute mon
arch in Christian Europe. the Emperor
of Russia There remains but one hered~
itary governing body. the English House
of Lords, and that has had such inroads
upon it's membership that it furnish hes
to-day rather a proof Of the decline OF
the aristocracy Of the grandfather than
of its permanent perpetuation.
Tin, hereditary ari>1ocracy has this i'm
menSe gain. that it is Strai@k forward in
its professions and cl.:ims t. be roth
! ill- but what ii is. I have often ~-.>H
that | could see in the aristocracy OF lie
dollar in America that absolutely simple
| self-reSpect which YOU notice in the men
! Of England who know that they are born
to Il high position and do not need to
assert it.
Take. for instance. the coat-of-arns
! lived in \cvl>rrt twelve years. and in
! watching the I;tr;.'!e Of carriages. many
OF which We're decorated With c':;it~->f-
AIMS. how often | have wished that lie
! owners IF those carriages would show
a sincere pride in the one thing thar was
! crelit;ble To 1hs.lE-n:lnely V. that they
j had laid the fouii.:A- Ms OF their OWE
, fortunes and were Wiling to show 1t be-
! fore the world.
! How | wished that some man who had
! made cre,iit;.|e fortune out Of shoes
j or out Of hides would show it by ding
; credit to the respectable animals which
! HAD lald the foundation of his fortune
| by putting a heiftr OF bullock upon the
| doors Of his carri;l-t4 Why could they
! NOT initiate Bishop y .!le:sis. who. having
! been brought up IL WlatlWriGlt. and be
! ing at last made Il Bishop. and being
! entitled to a coa1-Of-arNs. when he went
! out to take possession Of his picturesque
| palace. found thar the little boys had
been rhalkiny wheels ali over the doors
and the walls Of the castle: He WAS a
man Of sense. H" l,ut i wheel upon his
coat-of-arms. and tie little boys lost
: their fun and the price Ct chalk Went
| down.
! In Frankfort. over the doors Of the
: house WHERE the great German poet
| Goethe. was reared. va see the CGat-nT-
arms Of his father. He Was bred to lie
manufacture a ho':~>hoes. He r>sC a
horseshoe over his liuo' as his crest
! three horSeShoeS. bI; the artist. being
poetic man and Wi ;ins it TO appear to
the utmost advantage, wove those horse
| shoes into such Il shape that they re-
semhel the musicians Tyre. and uncon-
sciouSly predicted that within those walls
| the greatest poet Of Germany was to
be born.
l can remember when there was but
! one man in the neighborhood of Boston
who was even suspected of being a mil
lionaire / used to hear it discussed in
| my boyhood: DO YOU suppose that he
has really got a million dollars?' But
what is a million dollars now, in these
| days Of multi milliun:lires? Respectab Die
poverty.
You remember that gentleman of dis
| tingui>hed family Who died few years
| ago and did not distribute his estate
according to the liking of the community.
You remember that he left one or two
Of his sons $2O,O0).0UO apiece and other
sons $4,000. coo. and there was not a
daughter Of the family, l think. VIE
had more than S10.tsM.O0O to her -.ame-
| When the newspapers kindly took it UP
there was not a starving country editor
who did not air his Indignation over those
wronyed and deceived ladies. We
thought Of taking Up subscriptions in the
| Sunday schools for their bene1t.
Not many years ago a gentleman of
great wealth felt that he was overraxod
in Boston. I never knew a gentleman
Of great wealth who did not think that
he was oyertaxeu though | have known
assessors who did not think 50. He
went back to the country town where he
had lived. where his father was a quiet
country clergyman. who paid tax per
haps of $1J or $50 :. year.
When he got back there the assessors
of the town naturally were somewhat
startled at the sudden splashing down
into that quiet little rural lake Of this
gorgeous gold and silver fish, and they,
at his suggestion, had u conference with
him as to how much he would like to
| pay taxes on.
He said: whenever bills against the
town come in. you send them to me.
will settle them for year. and we will
see how it works. He paid every bill
against the town that year and saved
$4,000 by the operation.
The aristocracy Of the dollar appeals
to the democratic feeling which lies at
the bottom of all our operations. My
old friend. Theodore Parker, when he
first went to Cincinnati half century
ago said: 'Cincinnati is the most in
teresting place in America. 1t has an
American aristocracy in the making
We asked for particulars, and he said
why, in Cincinnati all honorable &C.
cumulations are based essentially or the
pork business. but it makes a vast differ
ence who kills the pigs. Cincinnati's
society is divided between those who
personally kill pigs and those whose
fathers only did it. and these may be de-
fined as the 'stickeE1s' and the stuck
| inns.
/ The ariStocracy of the dollar is mod
| ern. It belongs to peaceful. organized
! life. Ii we once 90 into the imperial
| business I will not predict what the re-
suit may be.
\ friend of mine once seeing a little
! boy ut the theatre who came there night
after night and who always went sound
asleep, said to him: Why do you al
ways come here. my boy? You don't
seem to enjoy 1t very much. You always
go to Sleep "Oh.' said the little boy,
as he rubbed his eyes, you don't know
how it is. l have to come. I have got
| a season ticket