Page:History of Journalism in the United States.djvu/165

Rh to finish. The dignity and prosperity of a town were established by the fact that it supported a weekly journal.

The absence of political parties gave emphasis to the two great divisions of society, i. e., the rich and the poor.

Unskilled labor was paid but two shillings a day, and it was only by the strictest economy that the laborer kept his children from starvation and himself from jail. He was not considered one of the real people, had no right to vote, lived in low dingy rooms, rarely tasted meat and looked up respectfully to those who were able to vote — those, that is, who were able to pay the tax that gave them the franchise—as his "betters." He dressed in a way that marked him wherever he went: "A pair of yellow buckskin or leathern breeches, a checked shirt, a red flannel jacket, a rusty felt hat cocked up at the corners, shoes of neat's-skin set off with huge buckles of brass, and a leathern apron, comprised his scanty wardrobe."

Spring elections for 1785 found the papers filled with exhortations to the people to oppose all those who were aristocrats. "Beware the lawyers! Beware the lawyers!" was the title of a pamphlet, typical of the times, exhorting them to vote against those who were interested in property and not in human rights. The people were led to believe that the lawyers prospered only as the people suffered, this prejudice going so far that even the judges were notified that the people did not want them to sit.

Another problem that the people had to face was the lack of sound coinage, for counterfeiters and clippers were so busy that it was said that a good halfpenny or a