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The Crime of Caste
The Crime of Caste
IN OUR COUNTRY AMERICANS ENFORCE EQUALITY No Sham Aristocracy of Wealth Permitted by the People Lesson of 1892 Taught Imitators of English Aristocracy HISTORY OF THE POWER OF PEOPLE RE-TOLD Records for Three Thousand Years Searched for Examples Bullets, 1861—Ballots, 1892 By BENJAMIN R. DAVENPORT PHILADELPHIA: KEYSTONE PUBLISHING CO. 1893 Copyright by JOSEPH W. MORTON, Jr. 1892 This Book is Dedicated to All American Citizens, who believe That Patriotism, Honesty, Virtue, and Merit ALONE CONSTITU
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DEFINITION OF “CASTE.”
DEFINITION OF “CASTE.”
The word “Caste,” we derive from a Portuguese word, which means “a race;” the Portuguese being the early voyagers to the East Indies, where they found the distinction of classes of society established under the Brahminical regime of India. Thence it came to be applied as a term of distinction of society in other countries. There were four castes in India: 1, the Priests; 2, military; 3, merchants; 4, the servile classes. Members of the lowest caste were forbidden to marry those of the upper. Chi
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CHAPTER I. VOX POPULI, VOX DEI.
CHAPTER I. VOX POPULI, VOX DEI.
The voice of the people, is indeed, the voice of God, and in grand and tremendous tones has that voice resounded through the land. The 8th of November, 1892, will long be remembered in the history of our country as one which stands in the annals of time as a monument to the might of the people, upon which might be carved in letters of everlasting durability, “Do not tread on me.” The tidal wave, so often referred to by the newspapers, has come with unexpected momentum, washing aside the puny pol
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CHAPTER II. THE ALLEGED GENERAL DISCONTENT.
CHAPTER II. THE ALLEGED GENERAL DISCONTENT.
The workmen of our country, it is true, want better times, cheaper clothing, the doing away with trusts, and many other desirable changes; but far more than this, they feel the need of the absolute crushing out of the last vestige of “caste.” They at last realize that “caste” is a crime; and the common people have, at heart, no sympathy with criminals, and especially criminals of that class. The common people stay at home, work hard, and very seldom have need to “go to Canada,” or take a flying
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CHAPTER III. NOVEMBER 8, 1892.
CHAPTER III. NOVEMBER 8, 1892.
November the 8th, 1892, will be noted, by the historian of the future, as a date constituting a milestone to mark the road and journey of struggling humanity. What July the 14th is to the French, July the 4th is, and November the 8th will be, to the American people. The surface of the waters of public opinion presented a peaceful appearance at the dawning of that autumn day, but beneath the tranquil surface there raged subterranean and powerful forces, moving the deep waters of public sentiment.
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CHAPTER IV. SOCIETY AS THE PEOPLE FOUND IT, NOVEMBER 8, 1892.
CHAPTER IV. SOCIETY AS THE PEOPLE FOUND IT, NOVEMBER 8, 1892.
Society, as the people found it, on last election day, was certainly not as attractive as that autocratic gentleman, the distinguished Ward McAllister found it, and has helped to make it, as related by him in a book which has been published with much flourish of trumpets, entitled “Society as I Have Found It.” While the volume itself hardly rises to the dignity of a dime novel, it still, doubtless, is a true statement and record of the doings and pretensions of the very class of people who, by t
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CHAPTER V. SOME REASONS FOR WRATH.
CHAPTER V. SOME REASONS FOR WRATH.
Had the spurious article, “American aristocracy,” confined its vaporings and exhibitions to secluded spots, it would have been tolerated by the American people, exactly like many other “isms,” shams, frauds, and delusions. Had the worshipers at the shrine of “caste,” and supposed social superiority, reserved their devotions to some secluded chapel, they might have worshiped in peace at the feet of the tinseled god whom they adore—“caste.” The American people tolerate almost any kind of “ism” for
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CHAPTER VI. THE ARISTOCRATIC “CHAPPIE” vs. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
CHAPTER VI. THE ARISTOCRATIC “CHAPPIE” vs. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
As that satellite of McAllister, that scion of the line of “Patriarchs,” parades Fifth Avenue, creating by his presence an aristocratic atmosphere for the poor, Common People to enjoy, what a picture he presents! How admirable and worthy of emulation! How the mind naturally recalls specimens of the genus Chappie when the subject of the young male aristocrat recurs to us! This descendant of a half-dozen fur traders, ferrymen, or land speculators, has become elongated and attenuated by the non-exe
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CHAPTER VII. HON. JOHN BRISBEN WALKER, ON HOMESTEAD.
CHAPTER VII. HON. JOHN BRISBEN WALKER, ON HOMESTEAD.
It is the good fortune of only a few to be possessed of the remarkable genius and imbued with the spirit of prophecy to predict coming events with the certainty and accuracy of the Hon. J. Brisben Walker, who, in an article published in the Cosmopolitan for September, 1892, foretold, with wonderful force, the rock upon which the Republican bark was drifting. It was not until the manuscript of this volume was almost completed that attention was called to Mr. Walker’s article. To the credit of jou
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CHAPTER VIII. SURRENDER AT HOMESTEAD.—ORGANIZED LABOR DEFEATED.
CHAPTER VIII. SURRENDER AT HOMESTEAD.—ORGANIZED LABOR DEFEATED.
It is fitting to follow the chapter composed so largely of what Mr. Walker has written concerning the condition of affairs at Homestead, with an account of the surrender. Carnegie, the owner of castles and coaches in Scotland, the many times millionaire, and Frick, his representative, living in luxury and attempted social superiority, have vanquished the forces of organized labor. They have won the battle. Some victories are more disastrous than defeats, and this victory, at Homestead, of capita
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CHAPTER IX. POSSIBLE FRUITS OF VICTORY.
CHAPTER IX. POSSIBLE FRUITS OF VICTORY.
We have considered, and we hope with charitable eyes, the scenes resulting from the victory in that skirmish at Homestead, between Carnegie, Frick, and the Common People; we have thought of the result of the picket fire at Buffalo between organized labor and the combination of capital represented by the New York Central Railroad; both of which engagements, while only out-post encounters of the on-marching army of the Common People, were decisive victories for the capitalists, the sham aristocrat
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CHAPTER XI. ANDREW JACKSON, 1828.
CHAPTER XI. ANDREW JACKSON, 1828.
Jackson was in truth a popular idol. Hickory poles, the emblem of devotion to “Old Hickory,” stood in every village throughout almost every State, and at the street corners of many a city. In his own Tennessee, less than three thousand votes were cast against him in the entire State, and in many precincts he received every ballot. The story is told of a stranger who visited a Tennessee village on the afternoon of the election, and found its male population turning out with their guns, as if for
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CHAPTER XII. THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1800.
CHAPTER XII. THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1800.
In 1800 Adams was a candidate for re-election, and fully expected to be successful. But the Democratic-Republican party, as the opposition was now called, defeated him, and elected to the Presidency its great leader, Thomas Jefferson. At a glance, it will be seen that the Republican of 1800 was the father of the Democratic party, the canonized Thomas Jefferson. The people, even thus early in the history of our nation, had begun to give evidence of that discontent at the aristocratic tendencies t
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CHAPTER XIII. THE REVOLUTION IN 1776.
CHAPTER XIII. THE REVOLUTION IN 1776.
Revolt from aristocracy and detestation of “caste” in politics, in religion, and in society, have been the key-notes of the whole history of the Anglo-Saxon race in America. They were the incentives that first led men of that race to seek homes beyond the Atlantic, and have ever been the cardinal principles of the nation those pioneers founded. The westward movement began with that era of English history marked by the intolerable pretensions, in matters both of Church and State, of the Stuart mo
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CHAPTER XIV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
CHAPTER XIV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
Feudalism, introduced in France a thousand years ago, reconstructed society on the only basis then possible. It was a bridge from barbarism to monarchy. The invasion of the Northmen, though apparently a calamity, was a blessing. They brought fresh, lusty life. Their courage and vigor gave the country a new and needed impulse in progress and civilization. William, Duke of Normandy, conquered England in 1066, and proved an able and stern ruler. While many of her nobles were engaged in the Crusades
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CHAPTER XV. ENGLAND, 1645.
CHAPTER XV. ENGLAND, 1645.
The American regards England with more than kindly eyes. Her history has been the history of our race. The sterling valor of the Englishman early made itself felt in the demands made by him upon the reluctant kings who ruled him. At no time in the history of Great Britain, from the Norman Conquest, had the peasantry and “Common People” been submerged as completely by the power of the privileged classes as has been the case in France, and, in fact, as in all of continental Europe. When John, know
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CHAPTER XVI. THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1520-1525.
CHAPTER XVI. THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1520-1525.
Germany does not present a fruitful field for examples of popular uprisings and the exhibition of the indignation of the people when crushed by the oppressors of the upper classes. Germany to-day, even in the last decade of the nineteenth century, presents a picture of the only government in Europe which pretends to have a representative form of government, where the chief executive, the Emperor, can speak of himself, or would dare to do so, as the “war lord,” to whom absolute obedience is due b
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CHAPTER XVII. SWITZERLAND, 1424.
CHAPTER XVII. SWITZERLAND, 1424.
That little dot on the map of Europe, situated among the Alps, called Switzerland, has always formed an attractive and pleasing object to lovers of freedom and equality. Surrounded by powerful neighbors, the mountaineers of these little cantons seem to have imbibed, with the purer air of heaven in which they live on the mountains, that degree of stern courage, determination, and love of liberty which enables them to resist the pressure of the great nations by which they are surrounded. Switzerla
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CHAPTER XVIII. RUSSIA.
CHAPTER XVIII. RUSSIA.
At the very name of Russia a kind of horror fills the souls of those who love liberty, equality, and detest “caste” and oppression. Russia is a veritable blot upon the civilization of the nineteenth century. She furnishes an example of all that was horrible under the old monarchical governments of Europe. Russia’s social life is honeycombed with anarchy, nihilism, and hatred. Beneath the surface, made smooth by military despotism, there burns the fierce fires of inextinguishable hatred. The peop
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CHAPTER XXI. EGYPT, 4235 B. C.
CHAPTER XXI. EGYPT, 4235 B. C.
Egypt, the cradle of civilization, had its Democrats, who struck resistless blows for equality, freedom, and fraternity for the race. So accustomed have we become, in thinking of Egypt, to be struck so forcibly by those evidences, the pyramids, of slave labor and the oppressed condition of the large portion of the ancient population of Egypt, that the existence of democrats in Egypt seems totally inconsistent with our preconceived idea of the ancient civilization of that country. Yet, we find, d
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CHAPTER XXII. CHRISTIANITY.
CHAPTER XXII. CHRISTIANITY.
Aside from the fact of its divine origin and inspired teachers, the doctrine of Christianity, the advent of the Messiah, was so opportune that, even had he not been the true Saviour, but taught as he did and as his disciples did, Christianity, by reason of the condition of the civilized world, would have made rapid and permanent progress among the “Common People.” Rome was at that time mistress of the world. Her empire extended over the whole of Western, and a large portion of Eastern civilizati
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CHAPTER XXIII. NOT A DEMOCRATIC PARTY VICTORY.—DEMOCRACY IS NOT THE NAME OF A PARTY, BUT OF A PRINCIPLE.
CHAPTER XXIII. NOT A DEMOCRATIC PARTY VICTORY.—DEMOCRACY IS NOT THE NAME OF A PARTY, BUT OF A PRINCIPLE.
The endeavor has been made in the preceding chapters to furnish examples of the uprisings of the people from the time of ancient Egypt to the present day. The endeavor has been made to place before the thinking men of the wealthier class parallels, in ancient history, of great political upheavals in the past history of our own country, as well as in the history of foreign countries and nations—exhibitions similar to the powerful protest made by the people on November 8, 1892. The object to be at
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CHAPTER XXIV. NOT A DEFEAT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S REPUBLICAN PARTY.
CHAPTER XXIV. NOT A DEFEAT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S REPUBLICAN PARTY.
The “Grand Old Party,” which sprang from American intelligence and the advancement of civilization, fully armed, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter! That transcendent glory which will ever surround the name of the Republican party with a halo, was not forever submerged beneath the flood of indignant votes, November 8, 1892. That party which, by its deeds, shall ever live in the grateful recollection of the American heart, was not vanquished in the fight November last. The symmetry, beauty, a
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CHAPTER XXV. THE POPULIST: THE “ALLIES.”—ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE; THEREFORE, WITH THE “COMMON PEOPLE.”
CHAPTER XXV. THE POPULIST: THE “ALLIES.”—ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE; THEREFORE, WITH THE “COMMON PEOPLE.”
It does not seem to afford any great amount of pleasure for the hide-bound members of the Democratic party, the thought that possibly the Democratic party may become but a fifth wheel to the coach, and they view with evident dislike the growing power of the Populist party. Quoting from the New York Sun , of December 11th, that able representative, in a journalistic way, of the Protection Democrats, we print the following statements:— WEAVER AND HIS MILLION VOTES. “The Populists are naturally exc
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CHAPTER XXVI. “FLABBYISM” AND THE INCOME TAX.
CHAPTER XXVI. “FLABBYISM” AND THE INCOME TAX.
Now, be it well understood that there is no attempt made, in commenting upon the article on the editorial page of the New York Sun , to disparage in any manner that worthy and eminent journal. It represents one part, or side, of that incongruous party, called the Democratic party, which presents phases as worthy of observance by the curiosity-seeker in the political field as the Populist party. On one side, Protection, endorsed by the New York Sun ; Free Trade, endorsed by the New York World ; a
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CHAPTER XXVII. CONCLUSION.
CHAPTER XXVII. CONCLUSION.
It would be with feelings of regret that this volume is brought to an end if the object for which it was intended could reasonably be expected to be in any way nearer of attainment. Unfortunately for the successful solution of the social problem in the United States, such can hardly be hoped for by the publication of one book, or as the result of one election; it will require the efforts of many skillful writers, a vast number of volumes, and it is to be feared many and more serious exhibitions
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