Newspaper Page Text
PAGE TWO
Public Opinion Throughout the Union
INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGES.
The rate at which American heiresses and
American dollars have been acquired by more
or less noble descendants of patrician fam
ilies of the Old World during the last few
years is nothing short of a matrimonial and
financial menace. The subject has at last
got into Congress, where ways and means
are being discussed for putting at least a
partial stop to it. From a financial point of
view it is more threatening than the whole
sale immigration of undesirable citizens, when
it is considered that twenty American girls
have transferred to the Old World in dowers
and private fortunes a total of nearly SIBO,-
000,000 which have been bestowed upon de
Castellanes, Marlboroughs, Manehesters, Yar
mouths and the like, to wantonly squander
along the rialtos of Europe. Tire complete list
is interesting from many points of view, and
is given here for consideration.
Heiress. Carried Away.
May Goelets4o,ooo,ooo
Pauline Astor 20,000,000
Anna Gould 17,000,000
Mrs. Marshall O. Roberts 12,000,000
Sarah Phelps Stokes 10,000,000
Consuelo Vanderbilt 10,000,000
Belle Wilson 5,000,000
Caroline Astor 5,000,000
Marie Satterfield 4,000,000
Lily Hammersley 3,000,000
Gertrude C. Parker 3,000,000
Julia Bryant (Mackay) 2,000,000
Miss Garner 2,000,000
Florence Garner 2,000,000
Claire Huntington 2,000,000
Mrs. Livingston (Sampson) 2,000,000
Minnie Stevens 2,000,000
Beatrice Winans 2,000,000
Helen Zimmerman 2,000,000
Alice Thaw 8,000,000
Gladys Vanderbilt 20,000,000
We have also a list of the “happy” and
“fortunate” bridegrooms in each instance,
but that is of no importance —they are nearly
all alike. The percentage of divorces, though
large, is no larger than might be expected,
and in almost every case the noble husband
succeeds in retaining a goodly share of the
dowry, which in some cases they have made
sure of by collecting in advance. In the
latest case the Thaw family, in order to avoid
more notoriety, allowed the Duke of Yar
mouth to retain one-third.
The best summing up of this unfortunate
and humiliating condition was made on the
floor of the House by Congressman McGavin,
and it is richly worth reproducing.
He declared that, “in view of these inter
national unions which are of such frequent
occurrence of late between American heiresses
and alleged nobility from abroad” it was not
amiss to inquire “what we are coming to?”
Continuing, he said
“Tn thinking of these numerous weddings,
I have wondered what the early pioneers who
THE JEFFERSONIAN.
battled with the Indians, challenged the for
est, and braved the winter’s winds alid snows
to establish a government, where manhood
might be recognized for its true value, instead
of for accident of birth, wmuld say if from
their graves they could look back and see so
many of the women of this country sacrificing
their souls and honor upon the altar of snob
bery.
“I am not going to make reference to the
manner in which the fortunes of these heir
esses have been founded, except that in mo=t
eases they were made by men who started out
with meager means. Suffice it to say, in the
language of Shakespeare, •' ’Tis a common
proof that lowliness is young ambition’s ladder
whereto the climber upward turns his face;
but when he once attains the upmost round
he then unto the ladders turns his back, looks
in the skies, scorning the base degrees by
which he did ascend.’
“A bill has been introduced in the House
by one of my colleagues from Chicago io levy
a tax upon all dowers and settlements made
by these heiresses, or their parents, upon their
titled husbands. I am not here to advocate
the passage of that bill or to oppose it, but
my curiosity was aroused to know to what
committee it might have been referred. I
found it had been very properly referred to
the ways and means committee, inasmuch as
it sought to levy a tax. Then I was curious
to know whether the present tariff schedule
included dukes, earls, lords, and counts, and
finding that these things were nowhere men
tioned, I thought that it might be proper
for the customs officer to classify them like
frog legs as poultry.
“Mr. Chairman, we upon this side of the
House, have in recent years referred
triumphantly to the fact that as between this
and other nations, the balance of trade was
in our favor, but nowhere in the summary can
be found a reference to such trades as these,
where soiled and frayed nobility is exchanged
for a few million American dollars wrung
from the lambs of Wall Street.
“There was a time when wealthy Ameri
cans traveling in Europe were contented with
buying costly fabrics and paintings by old
masters, of whom they know nothing, but now
when some wealthy girls traveling ■with their
parents abroad see a remnant of royalty, they
enthusiastically exclaim, ‘Oh, mamma, buy
me that!’ an interpreter is secured, the bar
gain is made, the money is produced, and the
girl is gone, to return soon a sadder, but a
wiser one.” —The Model Magazine.
BRYAN AS A POLITICAL CAPTAIN
OF INDUSTRY.
(James Creelman in Pearson’s Magazine )
From that bitter note of awakening world
liness to the development of Mr. Bryan in a
well-cut frock coat, unbagged trousers, four
in-hand cravat and an income estimated at
something like sixty or seventy thousand dol
lars a year, with a political prestige that ris-
es superior to consequences and compels even
his enemies to fawn like spaniels, his growth
has been largely a conversion of politics into
a clean, practical but going private business
Nor is there the slightest unfriendly aim
in this statement; merely an impartial con
sideration of interesting and significant facta
concerning one of the most singular and com
manding personalities in American history.
Mr. Bryan takes 50 per cent of the ticker
money when he lectures. It does not matter
whether his lecture is for the benefit of a
church, a hospital, an asylum or an enter
tainment bureau, his share is not less than
one-half of the receipts.
He does not charge anything for his strict-
Democratic banquets. In these matters he
gives his services without pay. But it will be
seen that the activity and enthusiasm of his
political followers and the consequent atten
tion paid to his plans, movements and views in
the local newspapers, save the cost of adver
tising and help to draw paying crowds to his
lectures. This has occasionally tempted the
envious to scoff at the title of his favorite
lecture, “The Value of a Moral Idea.”
After all, a man must live and make pro
vision for his family and old age * * * So too
w’hen one opens Mr. Bryan’s Commoner on
the threshold of this momentous year, he
reads a stirring headline: “Wanted —An Ar
my of a Million.”
Beneath this announcement the leader of
the Democratic party thus appeals to the suf
fering people of his country:
Will you enlist? Will you become a re
cruiting officer, trying to enlist others? Will
you help to organize this army of a million
to wage a strong and winning battle for the
triumph of the Democratc principles? Vic
tories, both of war and peace, are not the re
sults of chance —they are results of organiza
tion, of careful planning, of thorough equip
ment anl of concerted action.
Already the lines are forming for the cam
paign of 1908. The first skirmishers have
been ordered forward. As they advance, let
the work of organization be pushed, to the
end that when the battle opens the forces of
Democracy may be prepared for a general ad
vance —an advance well organized, w’ell plan
ned and well equipped.
A. million earnest men are needed to take
hold and help in this great campaign. If
you will be one, prevail upon as many others
as you can to enlist.
It is then explained that the wrny to join
the army of a million earnest patriots is to
cut out the accompanying coupon and send it
to the Commoner, “accompanied by sixty
cents,” thus making you a subscriber to Mr.
Bryan’s paper and swelling his advertising
revenues.
Mr. Bryan has received SSOO apiece for
short newspaper articles, money paid in ad
vance. It is said that he got ten cents a word
(Continued on Page Fourteen.)