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Our Lounger

Our Lounger image
Parent Issue
Day
20
Month
January
Year
1893
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Our Lounger promised last week to say something concerning the class of people wiio have what is iermed the "better than thou" feeling. But since then a week lias passed and Our Lounger approaches the subject with a feeling of hesiiation, for the people he intends to hit will never recognize their own portraits, while those sensitive mortals, who have none of the feeling portrayed, will be the very ones to imagine that they themselves were intended to be classed in the category of the "better than thou's." There is a class of men and women too who are continually seeing the aaotes in their neighbors' eyes. They look down upon the common run of humanity as of a lower grade than themselves. They think because a man does not put on a certain number of fripperies, does not circuíate in the same society, he is the less the man for that. This feeling exists in too great a degree ín Ann Arbor. There is too much of classism in the formation of sociaty, or rather, there are too many castes in our society. Break down ïhe castes and bring the men face to face on the footing of real manhood and where would the "better than ihou" feeling exist? No man knows so much but what le can find something that he is ignorant of that the man he looks down upon as immeasurably below him, knows. He is the greatst man, who recognizes this fact and is not ashamed to learn of anyone.. There is too much falsepride on the part of the silk stockings. Taking one of many illustrations, we find this thoroughly exemplified by the workingsof the Australian ballot !aw. In a certain city of Indiana at the first election under the law, three times as many ballots had to thrown out in the silk stocking wards as were thrown out in the wards inhabited by the laboring classes. At the school of instruction in this city it was found that the street laborers voted their ballots more intelligently and made fewer mistakes than the business men. It was a prominent professional man whose ballot was thrown out at a recent election in this city. It was a prominent University professor, who, when he paid his taxes, inquired how much of the axes he paid to the city tax collector went to the support of the United States government. Every peg fits some hole, but no matter how good the peg there are holes that it will not fit. Put the teacher into the drygoods business and he would make an indifferent success of it indeed, but put the drygoods merchant in the teacher's place and his presence of mind is apt to fail him there. But why on that account should the drygoods merchant look down upon the teacher or the teacher upon the drygoods man? A bilí poster may not be able to deliver a philosophical lecture, but neither does the professor know how to keep his paste from freezing so as to put up bilis with the thermometer below zero. Why then should there be little coteries in society, composed possibly of people in the same business so that the view of life is less apt to broaden but rather to contract to the narrow space within the conlïned visión of the man who forms one of the iittlc circle. Get out into the .vorld. Rub up against the various conditions of men who go to make up theworld. Throw aside the fripperies of life and you will find that the world is better than you take it ;or. Our Lounger fears that the municipal club needs to rub up ágainst :he world a little. It seeks, so its naembers teil Our Lounger, topledge 'he candidates for office to enforce the laws. And yet what school boy is there who does not know that the mayor, for instance, before he can take his place as mayor has to make a pledge far more solemn than any club can secure from him. Does he not have to raise his right hand and take the soletnn oath of office, "to support the constitution of the United States, of thé State of Michigan, and to faithfully fulfill the i'nties of the office to which he is ted." What mayor can faithhiïly fulfill the duties of his office ■who has no regard for the enforcensent of the laws? Theie are men in. the municipal club who have been iO positions to see to the enforcezaent of the laws who so clearly cern the mote in their neighbors' eyes but never saw the beam in their own. The "party of great moral ideas," the "grandly ousted party," professes to contain all the good elements of society, and yet what party was it whose senator was elected in this state recently by the expenditure of $ 120,000? Is not that a great moral idea? But Our Lounger is warned by the editor that he is getting too ruoody and his further effusions will have to be postponed to next week.

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News