The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1902-04-29
DRAW ING THE LINE.
American Politicians Forgetting
that IAN Men are Created
Euual.n

There Is no getting away from the
aristocratic trend of ideas in certain
society circles of this plain democrat.
ic country. In the Philippines, the
ilIustrious components of the Taft
commission differentiate sharply be.
tween gentlemen" and peasants"
among the Spanish clergy. A proper
contempt is frankly expressed for the
ethical and intellectual "inferiority" Of
the latter. 1t is the firm conviction
OF our specially favored Commission.
ers that humble origin is an insur.
mountable obstacle to the develop.
mont of the most desirable qualities
OF mind and character. The unfortu.
nate peasant product among the priest
hood, they inform us in substance
could not be expected to attain that
high moral. state enabling them to
resist temptation. With their breth.
rem and associates of better blood Il
is somewhat different though both
classes received precisely the same
religious and intellectual training fol
the duties of their sacred vocation.
This exhibition of serio-comic snob.
berry in public office has found ready
imitation, Of all places in the world,
in the non-Catholic ministerial ranks
at home The Rev. DR.. Wayland
Paulding, president of the Congrega
tional Clerical Union, publicly stigma
Ties Mark Twain as a person of low
birth and poor breeding" because
forsooth, the elephantine humorist
has the temerlty to question the NOR.
atty of self-confessed actions of some
OF Dr. Paulding's missionary brethren
IN emma. AS secular exchange
cheerfully remarks, it is rather pre-.
posterous to talk of low birth and
breeding in a. republic founded upon
the theory that "all men are created
equal" 1t is none the less ridiculous
in view of the fact that the highest
Eonors in the gift of the people have
been, from the very earliest days of
cur national existence, bestowed upon
those who have sprung from the
peasant" class; men of "low birth
and poor breeding" as the term is de.
fined by these fastidious official and
clerical snobs.
Ii we run over the list of names OF
our greatest men, our foremost public
characters, the leaders in every field
CT human effort, nine-tenths of the
whole will be found to belong to those
who, in the most emphatic manner,
must be set down as of low BIRTH"
The names of the men and patriots
held in highest reverence, the names
most conspicuous on the national
scroll of fame, are in nearly every in.
stance those which "came up from
the peasant class. 1t were needless
to enumerate them.
Notwithstanding the filing away of
old ties, the discarding of old tradi-
lions, the reputation of old policies,
the reforming" of our old democratic
faith, and all that sort of thing, indi-
Gated by the present spirit OF the,fore-
most official and social rank, we think
the snobbish affectations evinced by
our Philippine Commissioners and doe
tors of divinity are, to say the least
premature. The American masses
are not yet prepared to acknowledge,
much less accept, class distinctions
based on the lines of demarcation laid
down by official or ministerial arbiters
Of the Taft and Paulding stripe.-The
San Francisco.