The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-09-21
Mr.. NAIERS(IN
REVIEWS ATTACK
On the Morals of NewportS
Smart Set
DANGERS THAT LURk
In the Evil Ways of the CIaS-
Sifed Rich.
DANGERS THAT LUX

Louisville, Ky. Sept 2o-In tomorrow 5
issue Of the Courier-Journal Henry Wat
tersoa viii reply editorialiy to the several
critics who nave taken up his attacks
OF the 80.
This rejoinder of the great editor is
p9ngent and to the point lie rakes with
out mercy the morals of the upper class
6. Devsry is held up as equal morally
to the leaders OF fashionable New York
society: the defense made Of the 400 he
saws. Is based on the rule that brought
thousands TO the guinotine III the reign
OF terror and behind it al lies the pres
ence of an overmastering economic proc
lem.
The text of Mr. Watterson's editorial
which is entitled THE 400, the Newspa-
pers and the Truth follows:
when Ward McAlister. d rather alb
surd. but YET d well-born, gentleman in
vented the Four Hundred, it was his
rurpose-two parts turnkey and one part
lan-to pay a kind OF obeisance 10 Ger
tain families supposed TO Zoe rich enough
l. form a court circle ia the great and
growing city of New York
.That was Eve and twenty years ago.
There were many who laughed both at
Kim and his conceit There were some
who seriously accepted the homage in
tended TO be conveyed. Perhaps very few
thought that the imaginary lines thus
esta bnshed in the minds eye of rather
solemn bon vivent, VINO lived high and
died poor. would come to De the boundar-
ies of an actual territory "A newly discov-
cred country as fantastic as Wonderland;
with laws Of ITS own. inhabited 10y "a
people marked. quoted and signed for
deeds Of strenuous frivoity; an aristo-
crazy without pedigree: a Coteue de
RamboufIet without Wit or humor
~In the good old days when Bret Hsrte
vas a social as well as a literary lion. and
Mark Twain WAS considered equal 10 ex-
tracing sunbeams from cucumbers. the
dinners were in solid virtues worth what
they paid for them in mirth-provoking
foxes: the dinners were dun. hut respect
able: Chauncey being the grand chamber
lain and toastmaster i'm ordinary. What
is now called lower Fifth avenue could
Tot be described as Mr. Dooley recently
described Newport, the ABODE OF luxury
and aiimonF. where the husband OF
yesterday inthradooees the wife that was
70 the wife chat is or ought to he."
In the beginning it was a stn-nec5ed.
high backed affair. Having its abutment
on Washington Square there was then' as
there sun are-around tna- sehieei. COM
iort-breeaing octsson-piain' brick walls
with white iaelhes. To Wiich scandal
was a stranger hahitaiions that went 10y
the name OF home, the homes of the
toopers. the brnedns. the hmnelanderS'
the He"itS ihe @arnefS' the thorn
oikes solid folk who II rot as rich as
the cider Ast"rs in Eres sineulariy clean
End habits wholly unostcnjatious- They
form today the basis 81 what may fairly
be called good society Accuse one OF
heins OF the four hundred, and. il YOU
do NOT offer an insult. you perpetrate
soleeisrn
Mr. DeFery leads the four hundred OF
tn Sums VINO leads the four hundred
a. The upper crust? 1t matters little. but
wherein SHAH We seek for any moral
oi1erenoe IN point OF immoral Influence
that docs not lean 70 the side of Devery ?
II was all on account of moving uD-
town II began with The sudden wealth
81 which war Is the proeenitor. As long
as me average New Yorker had TO work
for his living and got his riches by the
sweat of his brow. money had both a
character ana q value