U.S.A. STANDARDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 July 1932, Page 9

U.S.A. STANDARDS

CASTE AND SOCIAL REGISTER. The Britisher, domiciled for the first time in the United States, notes with growing surprise frequent references in the daily papers, the weeklies, and the magazines, to what is known as the “social register,” writes “The Post’s” New York correspondent. A headline, not confined to the tabloids, says: “Social Registerite Dies in Leap.” A woman may be referred to as a “social matron,” a girl as a “debutante.” Families of the upperclasses get an affix after their names, thus Charles Van Ness 111., meaning the third head of the “socially prominent” Van Nesses. President Hoover’s grandson is Herbert Hoover 11. News writers never fail to affix social status to those whose doings are chronicled in the Press —if they have any. The surprise of the Britisher growsto amazement when he learns, on closer study, that social caste is as strongly entrenched in the United States, despite' its democratic tradition, as in any country that has developed aristocratic traits. The “social register” is an accredited publication, which made its first appearance in 1887, edited by Louis Keller, a. wealthy man’s son, who had no interest in life beyond the social round. He had just financed a society paper, “Town Topics,” when his friends suggested that he should compile a register of prominent New York families. The first issue contained a few hundred names. The idea was welcomed in society, and the author becoming interested in culling bloods and breeds in the social amalgam, produced his volume annually, incorporating his work as the Social Register Association. Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston asked Keller to compile a register of their notables; to-day, ten years after Keller’s death, editions are issued annually for New York, Washington, Baltimore, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Pittsburg, San Francisco, and a dozen less important cities. The society “complex” is so pronounced that, on the day a new edition of the British Who’s Who is issued, the American Press publishes the names of new blood included in it, and names of those who have dropped cut, with the reasons in each case. Particular notice is taken of Americans included, and surprise is expressed at the non-inclusion of certain folk. This is a characteristic of the American mind that has no counterpart elsewhere among AngloSaxon countries, except Canada, which subscribes to American news services.

The “social register’,’ is now a sacred college. Under Keller’s will, it is carried on by a trusted aide, Miss Bertha Eastmond; he stipulated that she should be its secretary for life, and that she should receive one-tenth of its profits. Entries for New York new total 27,000 names. The days of the ‘Four Hundred” are past, A committee sits in judgment on marriages, divorces, and public scandals, with cbmpeteht local agents to advise it. There are-anomalies, some of which are amusing. For instance, Mr Hearst, despite his wealth and the influence of his papers, is ignored, while his son and his columnist, Arthur Brisbane, are admitted. Mr Charles Schwab, multi-milionaire industrial magnate, is not in the register. _Mr Roosevelt, Governor of New York State, is, but Mr Al Smith, his predecessor, is not. Lindbergh is “in,’ because he “married into the social register.” Conversely, Gene Tunney’s wife, “heiress' to the Carnegie millions,” was expelled because she married a prize-fighter. Miss Ellin MacKay, “the Postal Telegraph heiress,” was likewise expelled because she married Irving Berlin, who was once a singing waiter. Another “registerite” was dropped for marrying an actress. Yet if a Peer of the Realm in England marries an actress, she shares his title. Mayor Jimmy Walker, New York’s “playboy,” could not “make the grade,” neither could New York’s once official “greeter” and best-dressed man, Grover Whalen. The listing system is intricate: — “Smith, John, UN, UV, K, Sa. Ny, Dt, Bg, Ss, Lm, Snc, C1’89.”, These mysterious letters mean that ;Mr Smith has paid up his dues at. the Union, University, Knickerbocker, St. Anthony, New York Yacht, Downtown, Baltusrol Golf, and Sou,th Side Clubs, and that he is a member of the Colonial Lords of the Manor, St Nicholas Society, and a Columbia University graduate of 1889.