Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-24
Dignity of Trade Recog-
nized by Aristocracy
Special Correspondence OF The Star.


VIENNA, October 16, 1909.
MPEROR FRANCIS JOSEPH'S act
~ in comforting the title of count or
49, Baron d'Aerenthal. the Austrian Tor
eign minister marks the final transforms
ton Of an old bourgeois family into a
noble one and the recognition by the most
exclusive aristocracy in Europe Of the dig
nity of commerce. Count d'Aerenthars
ancestors were merchants of Prague, and
one of them, John Antoine Lexa. founded
the first company for fire insurance and
insurance against hail in the Austrian, or,
as 1t was then, the holy Roman empire
He was ennobled by Emperor Joseph IL
and received the title Of Baron Aerenthal.
and his descendants continued to enrich
themselves by trade, and obtained 1resn
titles in recognition Of their wealth. The
first of them to render direct service to
the state in return for which title was
bestowed is the new count.
In most of the continental countries. az
in England, the ranks of the nobility have
at all times been largely recruited from
the trading classes. The line of division
was and is sharply drawn between mobiles
and bourgeois, but there never was mo-
ment when a wealthy man could not stel
over it when he chose. Ihe reason tha'
all the wealthy citizens in some CONT
mental empires and Kingdoms ala not stel
over this line when real privileges were
attached to noble rank Is tnat real duties
were also attached to 1t, and comfortaoie
burghers did not care to be opllged u
raise regiments or companies OF Soiolers
and personally lead them into the neld
When the payment of taxes could not OF
otherwise avoided, the weaitniest mer.
chants took the risk of war and accepted
nobility, but wherever they were strone
enough the trading communities Ina1s
themselves free cities and trus ootaineo
the greatest of the privileges Or noolilty
freedom from taxation. without its heav'
lest burden. army service.
In France the majority or what re-
mains of the old nobility, the nobility ex'
listing before the revolution, Is descended
from ennobled merchants and magistrates
Under the old regime magisterial and civil
office carried noble rank and It's tax-ex
empting privilege with 1t. Nobility lr
France was recognized as or three kihuS-
nobility Of the sword. nobility or Inc
gown (the magistracy) ana noplAty VI
aldermanship or municipal office. more
often than not nobility OF the gown ano
aldermanship was not hereditary In the
ory, but 1t was hereditary in tact, 1or III
the old days every occupation was closec
to outsiders, and magistrates and aloer
men took good care that their sons o.
tanned the reversion of their offices.
1t is calculated there were hunoreo
thousand mobiles in France of the lega
and trading class on August I, 1ieo' .ne
day on which the constituent Assembly
abolished every feudai prl'lesei; ahi =;
then nobility has had no privilege II
France and every one who Is descended
from a man who held noble rank, OF
whose name resembles that or such
man calls himself noble and generaliy
decorates his name with ute. II -
ho a
change his surname, and 1t is also Illegal
for a man to bear title he has no rlght
to- but there is no check on sell-cfeateo
titles, for, given noble name II Is prac-
tically impossible to prove that the pear.
err of it is not descendent OF some
nobleman who bore 1t.
In Germany, Austria and the other
countries where hereditary rank IS sui
officially recognized, strict RECORDS are
kept Of the national nobility; but the use
of foreign titles is not forbidden. and
even in these countries it is open to any
one who chooses to give himself ute.
Penniless adventures do so. All oenere
who desire to step across the oounoary
line from the bourgeoisie into the nobll-
ity. and who cannot claim to be ennobleu
for service to the state. buy their titles.
If they are Roman Catholics they ouy
them from the pope, if they are Protest
ants they buy them in Portugal by AID
ing some of the financial schemes with
which the government UT ITO lcooh6 Hheat
hers are connected. The tariff varies with
the rank. but IT is not high.
The titles given by the pope are moi
those of the Holy Roman empire, which
was the old Austrian empire swept away
nv NAPOLEON. The titles conferred by the
none are Roman titles. That conferred
on Count Aerenthal is an Austrian one,
while the first received by his family
we're Bohemian titles. for according to
the strict heraldic law man might De
noble in Bohemia and not in Austria.
Long before his new dignity was confer
red on him the Austrian foreign min
lister was allied with the higher nobility.
his wife being Countess Pauline Szech-