Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-07-24
SOCIETY BY

The revelations that are being made
with regard 10 the manner In which
wealthy New Workers get their names
before the public In a favorable light
Is rather apt tc disgust the plain,
everyday American with the words
society" and social" and all they are
made to stand for.
We learn that by the payment OF
from 1880 to $4,000 tribute money.
not only we're the names OF certain
people Of social %pretenslons to be
published prominently In Americas
| Foremost Families" Town Topics"
or Americas Smart Set" but unless
these sums were paid by the afore-
said people Of social pretensions the
Social Editors Society" and the $50
| ciety Editors Association" would
make a specially Of telling scandal
Gus stories about them.
The method pursued by these max
ers OF American society seems to
have been successful enough to have
enmeshed hundreds before one recall
citrant took the case into the New York
courts.
SO far has the foremost city Of the
New World drifted from those tradi-
lions Of liberty and equality upon
which, professedly. the nation was
founded, that certain matchmaking
writer's may collect tribute from hun
dreds who believe they may be arts.S
J ~ficially foisted onto the suffering
country as the Smart Set" or the
First Families"
1t Is lamentablc to confess that we
have. In this or M other country. a
pre-eminence founded on nobility of
character and merit Of heart and mind,
Dreams of equality have always been
phantasmagorical creations Of dis
hevelled brains, but in this country
at least, the belief that worth and
character were bound to receive due
recognition has been thought to be
better founded. In older countries
social standards are more firmly fix
ed, but the criterion Is not merit but
blood, occupation and lineage, with
an yer increasing insistence of wealth
for assured position. In this country
we have been accused OF giving pre-
cedence to wealth and making a poor
second Of the Inheritance of the dam
aged blood OF some titled roue or OF
an ancient American savage.
But the unco' rich and the I. rs,
appear to be In danger Of losing their
pre-eminence. without they are also
willing to pay blackmail to the ex'
tent Of $4,000 or so to these self con.
stituted arbiters Of American society.
The fact that these blackmailers
could have originated and carried so
far towards success their scheme,
could have received hundreds Of re.
sponses to their request for la~ge
sums, is n OF the saddest common
taries that could have been offered
upon the pursuit OF the social chimera
by the American people.
Those who live outside of The
charmed New York circle will say
that the lesson does not apply to them.
But the New York lesson is an illus
%tration Of a tendency that is growing
SO rapidly that happily 1t Is proving
It's own downfall. A, favored by
wealth or position or some advantage,
essays to receive as friends and
equals. not those who are worthy Of
friendship, but II possible to attain
social preference. II the gates swing
before the screaming insisterce which
ordinarily characterizes the seekers
after this sort Of distinction. and per.
chance he makes his way TO what lie
fcndly believes Is the innarmosr CIR
| Gle he finds himself faced with q