Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-01-25
REcLAsslEYIne SOCIETY.
Big snobs Branch Out On More AM
bilious Lines.

ptttoue 2iuoos
Goodby to the Four Hundred, for
now it's to be the One Thousand.
Under the name Of the assembly
set" the smart sets OF New York, Phil
adelphia and Washington will be fused
into body not to exceed thousand
families. In this process there will be
eliminated the now historic Four Hum
drsd. Mrs. William II. Taft Is behind
this movement, which had its incep-
ton shortly after the death Of Mrs.
William Astor year ago, and It II
looked upon favorably by the New
Yorkers In view OF the way that d.
vorce and other causes have played
havoc with the original membership.
There Ia absolutely no intention to ig-
more other cities. except geographical
ly. In the opinion Of those behind the
movement every social leader Of the
United States maintains q residence In
either Philadelphia, Washington or
New York, and this VIII be sufficient
qualification for membership.
Rank, birth and wealth will be only
relative qualifications for membership.
Rank will be more valuable than birth,
according to the promoters Of the
movement. They include birth as q
categorical qualification In order to
embrace those families that have
achieved no especial rank or wealth to
to justify their coming under these
headings Wealth alone will not be
considered. That money nevertheless
is not an unnecessary item Is made
plain by the drain Of expenses that
membership in this set win demand.
The latest development by the way,
discussed at q recent informal reunion
at which Mrs. Taft was present Is to
make especial allowance for bachelors
between the ages Of twenty-five and
fifty. Their membership viii not be
considered numerical unit In the One
Thousand, but an extraneous set high
ly- necessary to the smooth wori<ing. OF
exclusive social life. The age limit is
made twenty-five on the assumption
that man younger than that Is not Of
much interest except as a dancing
partner or to I'LL in odd places, and
these odd places, very frequently at or
binary functions, will be eliminated
In the new assembly. At about fifty a
bachelor will begin to be uninteresting.
Washington believes that there will
be great howl following this win
moving out Of many rabid social fami-
lies. In most cases, 1t is said, protests
and objections will be overlooked a.
insignificant, but because the assem-
bly, Is to be a national set socially prom
inent and entirely dissociated from the
traditional sets made popular in fiction
or otherwise-and the White House
might officially step on the toes Of
some "howlinz political dervfsh whose
daughters make him cantankerous and
whose wife drives him to desperation"
to use the very words Of popular Of
fetal hostess from Massachusetts-the
launching Of the assembly win be un-
accompanied by publicity or announce
ment Of date and therefore may be ex-
pected TO materialize any day.
Those who are left out may not know
Of 1t for many months.
The west will not be ignored In this
reclassification of social families. There
are at least fifty families VINO reside
some time in. the year in either WASH
ington, Philadelphia or New York New
England will be well represented.
In planning the new assembly per-
haps not one-fourth Of the Four Hun
dred will be given places. This asser-
ton, already current In high society,
has reached the ears Of some who be-
lieve themselves doomed to exclusion,
with a resultant antagonism on their
part and expressions Of derision at the
new order Of things. 1t seems that
the promoters Of the assembly unite In
the belief that the Four Hundred and
similar sets in other cities have out
grown themselves by intermarriase and
too farfetched loftiness which has
removed them from the interesting side
of the world.