The Washington herald., 1915-12-14
ExSlusiveness.
D. JOHN y. BARRY.

Itiosa hO ePcSc III HBhy SoiuPu"ehes'y VIZ
of the new and beautiful building. He compared
it favorsby with another building. not new. but a
very imposing pile. into which social club had
recently moved. The character of that club he in
dictated in few telling words: 1T is club that
many men would like to belong to"
The implication was that many men longed to
join that club but could not secure admittance.
And il was this implication that established the
clubs social prestige.
II gave the club that hghly-prized quality ex-
elusiveness.
What is there in exelusiveness that makes it SO
attractive to human beings? Why is Il that human
beings enjoy feeling that they belong to or
ganzation which many other people cannot belong
to and that they can enter fine house from which
many other people are excluded? -
Docs not the explanation lie in the competitive
spirit that runs through all our life?
AS soon as children are able to observe they
see expressions Of this spirit And they see the
as il the expressions were good things.
Gradually they absorb into their consciousness
the belief that It is important to compete and to
outdo others.
Every day Of their lives they see their fathers
and mothers competing and they hear echoes Of
the competition. Soon they begin to have their
exclude nearly the whole world. They look down
on most OF the people about them with patronage,
perhaps with contempt.
Here is one of the infames practeed upon the
And through all society the same thing goes on.
Everywhere there rivaries. all inspired by the
spirit of competition, resulting in exclusivencss.
As a rule however men do not like to betray
love Of exclusivencss.
That distinguished millionaire in the enthusiasm
OF his talk before the Young Mems Christian AS
sociation doubtless said more than he would have
said II he had perfect sef-control
He gave away a secret. And he gave it away to
body OF young men whose open profession of
Christianity ought to make it impossible for them
to esteem the quality to exclusiveness.
For Christianity came into the world to destroy
excusiveness 1t came to introduce. in its place,
the ideal Of incusivcness.
1t taught that it was folly and wickedness for
to hold himself superior to another and
to vaunt such superiority.
1t taught that real superiority denied all asser-
tions of superiority and expressed itself only in
humility and service.
1t may be that human beings were not ready to
receive the message of Christ.
Christ Himself may have known that it would
take human beings centuries to adjust themse Ives
to His message and 10 accept 1t in all its bearings
With His wisdom He must have realized how te-
nacously they would resist the principle of incu-
siveness
But could even Christ have foreseen how in
geniously the Christian world would adopt Chris
tanity and still cling to the principle OF exclusive
ness, converting His message into ridiculous de-
nial of itself, preposterous contradiction
Exelusivcness makes people think they arc of
different clay from the mass of humanity.
"Those people do not feel as we do" I once
heard woman say in speaking Of her servants.
She had been brought up in little world of
exclusiveness She had been taught to believe that
the few people she knew the superior ones
of the earth, different from the rest of the world
The advantages secured to her by wealth she con-
fused with some natural superiority in herself
That woman was typical of large number of
people in society. They confuse their advanta-
ges with themselves.
"Rich people" says George Bernard Shaw. are
apt to imagine that if other people arc poor it
serves them right.
So with great comfort to themselves. they can
They crowd the poor into the most unattractive
of inhabited places.
Some OF the poor they crowd off the Garth.
They carry exclusion to its most hideous con-
sequences.
But the rich people don't mean to crowd the
poor off the earth. They willing to let all the
others live those who arc poor and those who |
without being rich, still not poor
For all these others provide exclusiveness for
them.
from themselves.
1t really comes from the opportunity the less
favored ones give the rich for comparison and ex-
ultation.
It is the consciousness of possession and the |
ability to flaunt possession that makes exclusive
ness so delightful.
If every could motor cars, then motor |
cars would lose half their charm |
II every could look out of the windows of |
a fine club. that club would not be exclusive and
there would be a great depletion of membership. |
There are dangers in exclusions. Even to the |
casual eye they apparent. |
The habit of excluding tends to isolation. But |
even in isolation some people find comfort and
qualification il the isolation is only sustained by
the consciousness that it results from superiority
And yet it is well known that isolation breeds |
disease, mental. physical and moral.
And it is known that society can suffer from |
disease just the individual suffers.
And all through society ono finds disease run
ming, the result of the isolation of groups that |
ought to be in sympathy and harmony groups sus-
tanned by the love OF cxclusivcncss.
Walt Whitman very amusing in his atti- |
tude toward exeusivcness 81 exclude no one" he |
said
In all human beings he found something to love |
their common humanity.
He could love even the exclusive people though |
he knew they would be the first to exclude him.
Which do you think is the better attitude, the |
millionaire's or Walt Whitman's:
Nearly always exclusiveness is associated with |
material possessions.