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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1878)
NO ft. AMEWCAN AW8TOCUA0Y. 488 on histories show Unit our young men me "smart" in ciimc as well as in useful enterprise. It Is lamentably true thai those who are hereafter to have the first opportunity for prominence in our bus iness and political circles, are not being fitted as were those who now conduct business and forms public opinion. The energy which giro precocious prominence to ,oungmon, encouraged to nu extreme, threatens society with a gen oration of snobs young "blades'"vho hr.ve ambition without judgment, and extiavn- gniice without moral.'. Whoever has an oye for character can evorywiioro point out the counterpart ol' the "fast" young man, who having heard much of Niagara determined to visit the fulls. Ho had been .absent from his ac customed haunts scarcely long enough to make the trip to Niagara, when his companions had occasion to congratu late him upon his safe return. "Did you go through?" asked one. "Of course I did," was the response. "I anived at mid-night, took a lantern, and did the thing in half an hour." "A thing for laughter, sneers and jeers Is American aristocracy. ' Hut it has solemn as well as satirical phases. During one week two tnousand one hundred adveitisements for employ ment were published in the New York City papers Of these not fifty specified any pioduotivc labor for which the adver User was competent. Little peddlers, er rnnd boys, servants, porteis and clerks throng the market, ami siibtain the inlel ligenoc olllces, and put money into the printer's pocket; but good mechanics have no such "wants." Why? First, because thcie is an increasing demand Ibrproduc live labor; second, respectable society di. courages thorough apprenticeship at common trades. Boys must "do" their trades as the fast young man "did" Niag ara. Thorough work-men do not increase willi our population, except in "genteel" employments, because American Aristoc racy ignores whatever smells of the shop. Children of fortunate fathers do not learn the trades which their parents practice, because in the circles where they move, mechanics are sneered at. Sillv mothers and foolish fathers lose caste with their own children by encouraging such sneers. In the aristocracy of birth there is res pect for the past an active pride in the memory of grandfather and grand-moth-er. To each other, American aristocrats can only "jingle their purses." "Tho faintly thread they can't ascend, Without good reason lo apprehend, They may llnd it waxed nt the other end." It is ihe crowning virtue of American democracy that it incites the humblest citiv.en to aspire to the highest distinction. It is the bitterest reproach of American society that it oilers a high premium to Miccessful speculation; that at whatever risk of morals or sacrifice of industry, its highest rate per cent, is bestowed upon humbug. On: political system is so opposed to tho accumulative principle of monopoly, which concentrates wealth, and learning, and power into the hands of the few, that the poor and the rich, the obscure and tho prominent, are continually changing pla ces. There is an incentive to hasten to dis tinction, to speculation in commerce, to risk in trade, to the advantages which open competition oilers wonderful suc cess and melancholy failures are to be expected; but they furnish no good reason why the enjoyment of the best society should depend upon furniture and silk, upon jewelry and champagne. Under the code of honor which the ar istocracy oi display requires, social dis tinction and even social respect, is won or lost for a young man by his accidents. The young men I described as leaders in the business world, are not the leaders of social circles, but many of those of whom I spoke as representing "Young America" in prison houses, have been