The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-04
ARISTOCRACY.
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BY ALFRE D SETON.

Some students of our own times in contemplating certain phases of Amer ican life in our great cities are filled with misglvings. They feel very much as botanist might who discovers roses growing luxuriously on soil which should only nourlsh thistles. They endeavor to reconcile seemingly hostile facts, and, baffled in the effort, become bewildered. In a country of republican institutions, under laws presumptively framed to level all distinctions, they believe they discover on one hand families putting forth the leaves and tendrils of aristocracy,j and on the other, thousands of other families ready to concede all claims to superior ity And nowhere is this condition more noticeable than in New York city, but while it is conspicuousy in evidence there 1t is nevertheless discernable ev- anywhere.
 The leveling doctrine Is not new to this country, to our most recent centuries, or to our civilization. How it fared In other times every schoolboy knows; how 1t will fare among the transplanted Euro peans on American soil, history has yet to record. That our forefathers in cast ing off the moorings which bound these colonies to England believed that they had severed every tie between aristoc- racy and republican institutions Is not to be questioned. Heraldlc devices, titles, rights of the eldest son, entailment Of real property, all were placed under ban. Men should differ with one another only as the stars do by the light that Is within them.
 However wisely and well the builders of the new and great western republic drafted their lineS 1t is somewhat early to express an opinion. Any statement must be viewed as speculation, or as a prophecy Some conditions, however, are to be detected that would give rise to the suspicion that in spite of all the efforts of the framers of those great na- tiona1 documents, the Declaration of In- dependence and the Constitution of the United States, men will shine more by what they possess than by what they are. If 1t prove in the future class can exist arrogating to itself all the pre- tensions of an aristocracy, even though shorn of titles and rights to heraldic de- vices. unsupported by Herald's college, and if this class be recognized and its pretensions conceded by the masses, in what way, may 1t be asked, has the lev cling doctrine become q ruling principle in the republic?
 Certain families in New York city are generally conceded to be more than rep resentative. They are pre-eminent in the first social sphere for wealth and in1u- ence. Their influence awes those with no influence, and their wealth commands respect that has become almost servility. Year by year these families withdraw 4o elusive circles and surround themselves with barriers quite as urpassable as though they lived in feudal castles with moat and drawbrdge. Their comings and going are events, their marriages matter of national interest, the birth of their children incidents discussed in the tenements and in the farmers cottage.
 Great wealth marks these families as distinctly as a title Gescended from a Norman in Williams band of pirates. In- deed, millions of dollars to a mans credit mean more in this age than a shield of showy quarterings. Their families are small. and if large a son Is generally selected to perpetuate the family by the bestowai upon him of the bulk of the es- tate Their marriages are seldom ac- companied by the union of fortunes as well as families. What matters 1t if these families do not possess titles. so long as the family name is a symbol of great wealth and infiuence2 The history of France when it's place among nations was held by the sword, was history of families. and in this age, when n nation Is held in the scales of commerce, is 1t to be wondered at that It's leading fami- lies are the kings of commerce.? What are feudal fees to be compared to the tribute paid to the Vanderbilts. Goulds, Rockefellers Morgans and Whitneys. by every man. woman and child fin the great metropolis? No one escapes toll. To go up the state one pays a Vanderbilt to ride on the elevated one pays a Gould. to ride on the street car one pays a Whit ney, to burn gas one pays a Rockefeller,