Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-22
THE LEAVEN
OF DEMOCRACY
England's Aristocracy of Birth
and Title Is Giving Way to
IAN Aristocracy of
Merit
BY GILBERT VIVIAN sELDEs

bpectdi correspondence Evening Lcuo~
LONDON June 2.
TT THIS story is not true It ought TO be
l. A young officer was drilling his com
pany. Tine officer was not only young he
was a swell. what they call In England q
"lSnut," His drawl offended the Tommios
monocle and spats snrage tho average
American. But the oflcS kept his monocc
easily In his eye while he put the men
through their drill.
Next day the company appeared In the
drill square, Every man had taken his
first reglmental button and screwed It into
his eye.
The officer looked them over coolly, Then
he took his monocle out Of his eye, He
gazed at the men with a sort Of melan-
choly interest and clipped his monoce high
into the air.
As It descended he caught It in his eye
again.
Now, you blighters, do that" he said.
Then he began drawing out the words Of
command.
am not writing this article to give an
hNCDulll OF lie HtlODdNtC skill OI tUe bTlllbH
"arstocracy" I cite the story only be-
cause It suggests the manner in which the
classes have met in this war and the result
Of their meeting n this story is not true
| know another which is the story OF an
officer who stood on the parapet Of a fire.
swept trench, monocle in eye, and slowly
directed every man in his company. I
=
company say that he would follow Lieuten-
ant x 20 he'll. The whole company
followed him to the German lines. at any
rate.
Democracy of Heroism
People are always asking whether the
war IL going 10 make any difference IN tho
relations Of the classes here IN England
The answer is In such stories as those
have cited. The men who found out that
their staggering officer was not a fool the
men who discovered that their fop was
something Of a hero will never again feel
as they did TO the so-called upper classes
They will respect the men Of title and OF
position and Of blood, not for title position
and blood but for merit
And that means that the snobbery Of Eng
land, which does not differ in quality from
the snobbery Of any democracy, Will grad
ually wear thin and wash out. The snob-
berry of this country has existed because the
average run Of people has bowed down to
anything but merit 1t has bowed down TO
money and to rank, Hereafter II will bow
down to human qualities. Result: a tre-
mendous falling off in foot-scraping
Eliza Ann may still flush with pride II
she sells n bunch Of flowers and gets a
smile and slNpence from n duchess But
Bill and Bert will be less ready to tip their
caps to the younger son Of the nephew Of
hn hatp anna nj to 10 nf
densed Milk. They will throw, their caps
in the air Tor the man who has shown his
pluck I'm the war or out of It. But they will
discriminate as they have never done before.
The aristocracy has made good In the
field 1t hasn't distinguished itself notably
at home. After the war, when the commons
will begin to demand credentials, the aris-
tocracy will have to make good
The other side Of this 'hange IN attitudes
Is quite obvious, and II has been emphasized
at the expense. Of the side | have chosen TO
present first OF course. the men who have
been rolling in wealth, have come down or
been sent down from oxford, have trained
for the diplomatic corps or for great posi-
tions in the city and then have volunteered
for the ranks, will have a new opinion Of
some Of the men they have fought with.
4 few nights ago I saw a captain and a
noncom talking 10 each other quite friendly
at the Cafe Royal. Many queer things hap
non at the cafe Royal but this one was
most unusual It isn't done. And yet at
one of the training schools in England ]
saw an officer do something more unusual.
He was sitting with group Of officers at
the window Of an inn. II saw some men
walking down the street with their tunics
ali avr, and called to a soldier in the street
to run down and "strafe" the men. When
the soldier came hack the officer rose eX-
cused himself. and went down to the bar
to buy his soldier a drink. ] saw the two
OF them fraternizinE some twenty minutes
later And the noteworthy thing Is that
not one of the group of officers whom he
left saw anything wrong in his perform