INTRODUCTORY HISTORY. 3 



rights with all other citizens. These rights have been recog- 

 nized since the first settlement in America, and were plainly 

 and solemnly consented to by the compact entered into on 

 board the Mayflower. These rights should be maintained invio- 

 lable, because, when once invaded, that portion of American 

 citizenship is made to serve and not to share. 



It is nevertheless true, as has been charged, that a certain 

 amount of aristocratic ideas found their way to the shores of 

 the New World, and became a factor in its first settlement. This 

 element has been permitted to thrive to a greater or less extent, 

 and remains with us at the present time. As a rule, however, 

 it has been confined to the Atlantic seaboard, where it first 

 located, and has not as yet extended very far into the interior. 

 It is rarely seen, in its full un-American sense, except in large 

 cities, where business relations are in constant touch with the 

 East. One of the relics of aristocracy that has been handed 

 down to us is the United States Senate, a branch of our gov- 

 ernment whose uselessness is only equalled by its aristocratic 

 notions. In connection with this old-time, blue-blooded aris- 

 tocracy, and supplemental to it, has sprung into existence, in 

 almost every part of our country, another species of aristocracy, 

 which follows the acquirement of large fortunes. It has come 

 to be an accepted idea, that the accumulation of money will, in 

 some manner, divorce its possessors from the taint of plebeian 

 birth, obscure beginnings, or former social relations, and at once 

 change the inner as well as the outer individual. 



Aristocratic ideas, backed up by intelligence and refinement, 

 may serve a good purpose in toning down the untamed spirit, 

 and broadening the nature of a native American ; but when this 

 station in society is reached through the medium of a bank 

 account, human nature revolts, and the average person becomes 

 disgusted. This spirit of avarice, or desire to make money, has 

 become the bane of our social relations, and threatens the per- 

 petuity of the government itself. The desire for wealth is 

 increased as the power and privileges which it brings become 

 more clearly understood. When the brains of a Webster or a 

 Calhoun must wait unnoticed in the anteroom, while the ple- 

 thoric pocket-book of some conscienceless speculator, monopo- 

 list, or trickster, brings to its owner the privileges of the parlor, 



