To the Editor of the "Normn-Ciixa Day News"
Sin-—Present-day life is encompass Jed with offciaidem more than ever before, and it really would seem that the multiplicity of officials con-{Uimues to advance as it has done dur-ting the last few years, the ranks of the professional offteial' will soon approach, in numbers, those of the Jordinary man in the street. Shang-Mhai is no exception to this condition, for here it is dimieult to let pass a jweok, frequently even a day, with-lout the necessity arising of one interviewing some official or other.
Tt is not, however, on the growth of officialdom that 1 wish to. write but" rather on the attitude of the Jomcial toward the ordinary human mortal. I am not referring to any particular class of official nor to the ofeials of any specific nationality but to offeialdom generally, as we find it alt around us in 'A. public oficial, of whatever kind, lisa public servant That fact is fundamental and unescapable, even though, in the majority of instances, it has become a little obscure; and living, as we do, in a welter of bureaucracy, the tect Is too ttle appreciatea by average of little realized by the public. The natural. result—as any specimen of the }man in the street, selected at random, would probably testity—is that now-sdays a visi o any ofelal is usually Jaccompenied by 2 irepidaion and a wonder as to whether we shall come unscathed through the ordeal, whatever it may be.
Why is it, T wonder, that the averlage official fs unduly ofeious, or rude, Jor actively obstructive, or passively obstructive, or captious and fractious, lor condescending, or unreasonable, oF haughty, or arrogant, or bumptious, for cvetbearing, or lustering, "or Jsupercilious, or—but why go on where there is no end? But the general at-
iso unnecessary. Jot, most titude oe the average cei is really ly, a quiet and unassuming fellow hikes not strife and prefers peace to goes to an official, is usually for some /who, possessing and revealing rather [more than the ordinary modicum of intellect thet goes with officialdom, have, either gone or been enticed 10 business coneerna, to the good of the latter and to the loss of the ranks of officialdom. days when any person who was oF who represented Authority automatically took on the attributes of a species semi-god.
There are, of course, some charm-ling offictals—cheery, splendid fellows Jeapable and efficient, who are a dis-linet ornament to the cult of ofMfclal-Jdom; but they are definitely in the minority. Then there are some who, Jout of their offeial emees, can be lyery normal. I know one such. If lever I have to see him in his office, his attitude almost literally makes my blood bol. Of an evening, however, social surroundings, he is a dif: ferent creature altogether, and after the fifth Angostura has changed s0 much as to be almost lovable, What is it, T wonder, that makes the average oficial what he is? Tak-Jing the average of him, he is neither overburdened with intellect nor overflowing with initiative, Emerson. it was, I believe, who coined the phrase "The parrot of other men's minds." land possibly Emerson, at the time, had in mind the small ofMelal who treats, or attempts to treat, the public as so much rubbish which ought to be swept away altogether.
There is another aspect to official Jdom. The average (you will note the Jcontinued use of the word. Ido not Jwish to do the whole species an injustice) oficial is mostly dug-in in tuis job for life. The trade depression, the price of silver, Customs tariffs, hi-metallism, etc, have no tertors for him, and litre is he concern-Jed with them, Unless he does something really heinous, such as blowing lup a gas-works or robbing chicken= run, he can look forward to a halcyonic continuance of his official-idem and offiousness, with leave on full pay at not too-infrequent intervals, and a nice meaty pension when Ihe reaches the age at which Authority has decided his services can be dis-Jpensed with. Yet again—what proportion of the average official would able to have and to hold, for better or for worse, a job in a business Jofice at the salary, etc. which are his as an oficial? "The proportion, 1 think st will generally be is not high. We have seen in Shanghai [quite a number of instances of oticials One could go on ad infinitum in the same strain; but to what purpose? The only remedy would seem to be for the human and reasonable-minded joficials, here and elsewhere, to organize themselves into something on the lines of a "Society for the More Courteous Treatment' of the Pitiful Public and for the Conversion of Untractable and Bad-Tempered Of"- hals to the Same End." Failing something like that, the time may come when the public, goaded to desperation, will itself form some such body the "Society for the Castigation Bumptious Officials and the Conversion of the Whole Class to the (Tenets of Normal Politeness'
Worn. /Shanghal, Apr. 28,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.