The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-07-19


her machine if we owned electrics? suspect sht
would not The chances are .on the contrary that she
would then come to have little contempt for cleo
tries and dapper young brown men in green uniforms
The which would be that the peculiar
meaning which the aforedescrbed outfit has for he
lies the very many possess such
luxury 1t is for her badge of distinction, mark o.
class; which is take it, matter of great i'm
human society.
Material possessions kind of language
mode of speech, by of which manage to get
things said True enough they to full
fill bodily and other needs but they also fol
more than this little reflection will reveal The sym
bolical which make of things is common
and universal that all the liable to overlook
it. Why do necktie? Why do use a napkin al
the table? Why do shine my shoes before going down
town? Gf think of it, Why do comb my hair before
paying visit? One cannot think of what urgent ply
steal these countless other and acts
to satisfy they and all symbocal acts acts
of speech by of which try to tell that am
and tidy and Clean etc.
The holds of material belongings They
as symbolca language for declaring ourselves
and the classes and positions which claim.
This language is always changing brief review
of any nations history will show Once registered
his superiority and achievements by the number of wild
he had slain, of killed. wives owned, or
slaves possessed fought in he does the
by the numbers OF acres he owns, or men en-
p1oyed, stocks, dollars possessed.
It is by nature that we differ Social cleaV
ages go into the stuff Of which made At birth the
fat dowager was marked off by popularity inherited
character others destined become dowagers
she takes delight in her electric not because she
ride about in it, Ca carriage would serve welD but
because by of she reveals and her
cuiar dowageran makeup
Of which social reformer had best learn les
to be able to interpret the good womans little
pantomime the undoing of many ardent
tie of social regeneration.
For instance: Along comes sweating reformer and
declares, "A social classes and distinctions bad
utterly bad and vicious they tend toward excusveness
and arsocracy and snobbery things fatal to democracy
and brotherhood We must destroy classes. These diff
ferences material possession be abolished and
everyone brought to common level of ownership 1t
dowager's electric which separates her from me
and clique therefore, in the interests of brotherhood
and democracy let take her electric from her
make her her travelling like the rest of us
is revealed the taprOot of communism, that
fallacy which has been persistent for three
thousand years There few outand out communists
there hundred ago but there any
number vigorous reformers who harbor that deuson
under their hats Their pet notion is that differences in
material possession blame for the ceavages in
society, they work do away with said differ
ences and reduce US all to common level of ownership
So shrewd the good Thomas Jefferson labor
under this delusion Men want to be brothers and
equals he wont to say, and is only the fact that
some have silk hats and carriages and servants at the
dinner table that they therefrom Come let
throw away silk hats and ride horseback and
meals; then will all become democratic
brothers these hateful arstocratc distinctions
will disappear.
This reminds Of New Harmony, Indiana. That town
as you doubtless know established by Robert Owen
most enthusiastic and successful communist. He built
it to demonstrate the beauties of life In full
filment his plan all the ladies gentlemen
clothed in uniforms material made to
at common table, with diet fixed and changeless
timetable, and to sleep in barracks where it was i'm
possible for have single luxury by ali
the others 1t happened that two good brothers in
the habit sitting opposite each other table. On
each Friday kind of sweet pudding served at
dinner. The fat brother side fond of
his delicacy and usually asked for second helping but
the poor thin brother opposite stricken with dys
pepsa and could not parake of the sweet pudding But
he obliged sit every Friday in silence and observe
The commanding of his healthy the boards
and this finally became unbearable that the fell
it and plunged the whole colony into from
which did recover and which eventually broke
the whole scheme.
The persistence of natural distinctions is of the
social certantes and of sandpapering down
Or uniformng will ever wear away those distinctions
They granite and imperishabe. They be
made to conform to social schemes, social
schemes must be conormed them And these inherent
distinctions going 10 somehow themselves
ed If destroy mode of expression merely drive
the natural differences create other language
Society exists by chemical affinity other
wise Put any company of together with
and rapid redistribution place
and pairs The best accused exclusiveness 1t
would be true to they oil from water
children old people, without hatred in the
matter each seeking his like; and any interference with
The affines would produce constrant suffocation
Therefore when the lady gliding by her cleo
trio have CLEAN of envy but merely say. Yes
good woman, understand your talk. You welcome
to your little circle" And meanwhile chum comes
along slip his. and stroll to the Glen
where under the settle the prob
universe secure consciousness that the
tat dowager in her electric the person in the
world who exclusive circle.