Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/317

Rh to suggest the question whether democratic America is not the richest in titles of any country in the world; and, if so, why should it be so?

Let an American visit Germany or Russia; any country of continental Europe where the encroachment of free institutions upon the military control of society is less marked than among our people. The first feature that obtrudes itself is that soldiers in uniform are to be seen in every important town. The visitor is required to register at police headquarters and answer a variety of questions, rational and irrational, about his present, past and probable future. He learns that titles of all kinds, but especially military titles, are protected by law. The man who calls himself a colonel, or allows his friends to call him so, is soon required to prove his claim to the title. Where is his uniform? If he is a foreigner, why did he not report his rank at the police registration office? Is he not a suspicious character whose actions must be watched? If he is a native jackdaw trying to wear borrowed plumage he is lucky if he avoids arrest. The professor, moreover, is an officer of the government, whose salary is paid from the public treasury, so far as his income is derived from a salary. Any one who assumes the title without official sanction does so at his own peril. To hold such an office is presumptive evidence of marked ability, and it carries with it a claim to social deference that is universally accorded. 'No colonel or professor in Germany can exist as such without having stood tests of special training that prove him an educated man. No such title comes by inheritance or courtesy. It means much and its value is great. No such prize can be stolen by the unworthy, for danger attends the violation of law where popular, sentiment sustains the military power that ensures its enforcement.

It must not be inferred, however, that all titles in continental Europe have retained the meaning or the importance originally attached to them. Everything depends upon the consideration whether the title has been directly acquired or has been inherited. In a German university where the present writer spent some time the physical laboratory assistant, whose duties were exclusively mechanical, was a count whose inheritance seemed to be limited to his title. In the duchy of Mecklenburg a traveler has found a count for landlord of the village inn, a countess for landlady, young counts filling the places of hostler, waiter and bootblack, and countesses for cooks and chambermaids. Indeed, in one village all the inhabitants except four were found to be of noble birth. America therefore has by no means a monopoly of cheap titles.

It would perhaps be interesting to trace in detail the evolution of titles with the development of society; but such a field is too extensive. Originally a name or title was merely the suggestion of an association. 'Young-man-af raid-of-his-horse' was a Sioux Indian whose fame might