Evening journal., 1904-10-20
SOCIETY IN ENGLAND
POWER, OF CASTE AND INFLUENCE
OF THE LANpowNlNe CLASS.

social Prestige IL Too Great BY
Far 40 Catalogue.
An interesting book might be writ
ten on the inhuence Of the English
landowning class. Even in these days
Of ubiquitous manufactures, when TO
look at map Of England is to wonder
how it is possible for landowning
class even to exist the social and po-
litical influence OF that class is some
thing more than maintained.
The ambition OF every successful
Englishman is to have "a place in the
country" to get a foothold on the as
piring territorial ladder, and the ranks
OF the landed gentry are continually
being REINFORCED, more so perhaps to-
day than ever before. by recruits from
the industrial army The immense util-
ity OF the English country gentleman
win not be questioned by any one who
roally knows England.
But nj the same time it is equally in
disputable that the sort OF LIE he af-
fects-the endless indulgence in sport,
the salmon stream. the grouse moor,
the hunting box, the pheasant preserve
and SO on-is on the whole one Of more
or less harmless and often irresponsi-
bic idleness and that the neighborhood
IN which he lives is rarely apt to re-
gard him as an apostle Of strenuous
ness.
The country" everywhere stands for
leisure, and 80 long as the country"
continues TO represent the supreme OBJ
feet Of an Englishman's ambition ana
his social ideal 50 long will England be
leisurely.
Again. in an old and stable land, with
social standards as fixed as the social
foundations and governed by n mon
archy, the conventions play an enor-
nous part, and the conventions in Eng
land are all against hard work. II Is
the leisure class that rules, that makes
M society, that holds all the positions
men naturally covet
A sort OF "Four Hundred" atmos-
phere permeates England. In America
one gets whn Of II on Fifth avenue
and at Newport, but in England one is
never away from II. The number OF
things, for instance, that a gentleman
cannot do without losing social caste is,
in England, so prodiglous as to form
almost schedule Of forbidden in
dustries. There nre some trades and
professions that are respectable" and
those that are not
Only an Englishman knows which Is
which, why a doctor ranks socially
above a dentist. why man who sells
should be irretrievably below the man
who manufQ ctures, and he the Eng
nshman, knows It by an instinct which
is born in him and which he never
examines and so cannot define. Any
one who can tell why the merchant
should consider himself and be con.
sidered by others the social superior
OF The biggest storekeeper in the kiag
dom viii be we'll on the way toward
understanding England
The daughter OF a wealthy mnnufae
turer lof. kettles marries the owner
the largest dry goods store in London
WHY should she be thought and spo
ken OF ms having married little
though only q little, beneath berf Ter
sonally. / do not know. l merely oo
serve. without attempting an cSplana
ton. that the man in the wholesale
business Is more looked up 70 Than th'
man in the retail business. that while
the former IS not averse TO tolkins
about his affairs. the latter is only tor
anxious to "slnk the shop and thai
pcial position IN England is regulated
By host of perfectly facdtions an,
conventional considerations more read
ily felt than expressed.
Such graduations exist OF course e
some extent everywhere. hut nowhere
are they so stereotyped, nowhere az
they strike so deeply. as in England.
have never yet been able 70 discover
an Englishman who had not the socia
privilege OF despising some other Eng
lishman. and the lower one penetrate'
in the social scale the more complex
and mysterious and the more rigidl,
defined do these lines Of demarcati0l
become.
The point is that throughout Englan'
the sense OF the nobility Of work 10
its own sake II not actually lost. ha
become so confused by the intrusion
OF quite alien factors that the spher
OF action open to a young man Of what
ever rank is sensihly circumscribed
The country. while democratic In form
IS not democratic in spirit. II has no
accepted and does not subscribe
that gospel Of work which lies at tn
root of American strength. America
success, American democracy.
Any one who has looked into Englis
trade unionism must have realized no
largely it IS mixed up with class spirl
The workingman who knows that h
employer drives down 20 tie once
half past 10 takes a couple Of hou
for lunch. is home again shortly aft
3 and thinks himself somewhat Of
"hustler' II he is content with thr
months holiday IN a year is not like
to have a keen appreciation Of the d
nifty Of labor His ideal insensibly
comes that OF doing as little as he CT
OF striving to reproduce on his oH
plane his employers mode Of life a
Of regarding work as an unpalatal
interruption Of the real business OF {
istence Hence the "cacanny" poll
OF English trade unionism. Syd ydn
Brooks In Harpers Weekly.
signs of Genius.
Il reckon John must have been c