Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-05-25

CA"aiuciiatH, WHOSE Iatner was the dis
tlnguished colonial secretary. and whose
grandfather was . bootmaker.
These are the people whom the BRITISH
democracy has chosen to govern 1t IL
1917. The demOcracies Of Australia, New
Zealand. Canada and South Africa are al
approximating to this form. to this choos.
Ing OF men to represent the different
working elements In the community
though the professional politician is more
prominent in Canada than in the rest OF
the sister nations.
When l ask distinguished American
men OF business why they do not go into
politics in the United States, some OF
them seem to sugge hat politics is q
low-down kind of trade. Yet, of late
years, you nave not been without presi.
dents taken from what / may call the
aristocratic class. Colonel Roosevelt. 70,
Instance. whose rank in England would
he that OF n duke, is the head of a fam
lily nearly as old as Lord Robert Cecil's.
We have nothing In England in the way
OF social status to outmatch or even IN
certain respects to equal hat Of a Roose-
Welt In New York or q Cabot in Boston.
We have, 1t is true, many great families
OF whom we are proud, such as the Cecils
and the Stanleys. They bring to a gov
an experience and tradition
which are Us invaluable In a government
as they are in a business corporation;
nut there is no governing Class as the
analysis above proves.
ana that reminds me to say a word or
two about Social arlstocracies" in Eng
land and in the United States.
americans seem to find it impossible to
realize that birth Is in many ways
much less important socially in England
than in the United States. Nothing has
amazed me more. during my many visits
to the United States. than the tenacity
with which most of the families belonging
to the missionaries of birth in cities like
New York and Boston and Philadelphia
and Charleston maintain their pride OF
ancestry against newcomers
lou see. your minds turn toward the
past more than ours do. You have q most
astonishing cult of local antiquities-all
the way from andirons. to Inscriptions on
tombs. You nave an incredible number of
BOOKS devoted to family history. contain
ing lists or ancestors and enormous lists
OF descendants. Some of your news
papers actually publish Whole distinct
genealogical departments giving the Sew
enteenth century family information of a
most intricate and bewildering sort which.
4 assume, must be interesting to their
readers. You also have q unique array
of impressive patriotic clubs and societies
especially for women) to which nobody
may belong unless descended from some
special group Of historic persons some
where In the remote colonial or reyOiu-
tionary past.
We really cannot compete with you in
mersed In the present. We maintain no
influential organizations OF persons des-
cended from persons who fought against
you lO years or 40 years ago. Our purely
social life contains virtually no concerted
efforts to keep the, memory of certain
ancestors green and to keep the prestige
OF their descendants intact.
What mtSleads an Amnricap 10 MI cps
tenn of political titles. When an American
thinks Of an English lord" he seems I'm
curabiy to begin thinking also about the
battle of Crescy. He would usually be on
n better track II he started thinking about
a barrister's chambers or q house of
committee room or a factory or
a laboratory or a tropical swamp where
some quite recent person achieved some
Ieat OF energy and accomplishment which
won political recognition for himself and
mis- heirs. This sort OF recognition, con-
stdercd socially, LIS really one OF the many
Engiish influences which work out toward
making a society of constant change rath-
er than toward making a society Of hard
and-fast lines. Some American satirist
q recently written some verses about
Boston in which he alleges that Cabots
speak only to Lowells. and Lowells speak
only to God. I shall not discuss the con-
versatt0nal habits OF Cabots and LoWells
as individuals. assert confidently. how
ever, from long observation OF both coun-
tries. that the class Of persons to which
the Cabots and Lowells belong Is more
set apart" from social contact with the
rest Of the population in any one of your
older American cities h any corves-
pondtng class OF persons Is set apart In
London. Our very system of titles. re-
wards. honors ard decorations, though
you call It "Aristocratic," actually pro-
motes-instead of retarding-that contin-