The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1877-12-22

Vi 81 Illdlly OlllSIS, lldNC thought lldI
a caution extended in this way to off
cials might tend 70 some extent to bring
about reform in ':Oficial Manners.
Yours, &C., H.
OFFICIAL MANNERS.
How pleasant quality is civility in
official and business intercourse Itcosts
nothing, and is always sure to pay those
who render it, and yet how often it is
churlishly withheld without reason
Nothing in business life or in the great
body of the people gives more satisfac-
ton than to go into an office where every
officer, clerk and attendant understands
the value of being polite and obliging
to customers and visitors; and, on the
other hand, there are but few things more
disagreeable than to meet in such places
men who think it incumbent on them
to give as little information as possible,
and that in as huffsh and unpleasant
style as they can managet put it. This
latter characteristic crops out most fire.
quently in public offices, or at the desks
and counters of corporate and other
companies that have managed to acor
a monopoly of particular classes
iness, such as railroading, expresSSi-S " "
telegraphing, freighting, &c. We do
not mention these classes Of business in
any invidious way, but simply as illus
trations. In all cases where there is
active competition in any line ofbusiness,
officers, clerks and attendants of all
kinds are carefully instructed and kept
under rigid discipline in this matter Of
politeness and obliging disposition, be-
cause it is essential to success. Why,
then, can it not be extended at all times
How frequently it happens that cit
izen goes into public office to get infor-
nation on matters of importance to him
and of interest to the office itself, andis
repelled by the cold curt manner in which
he is answered. Our American theory is
that the public official is the servant of
the people, but the general practice is
quite the reverse. The citizen is too
frequently eyed with a scowl, and treat
ed as if he were a meddling and offend
ing subordinate come in togive ehis mas
ter (the Officially unnecessary trouble
In this way many man, after making
an unpleasant visit to one of the public
offices, is literally driven away without
getting the information to which he is
entitled, and has to grope along in the
dark, doing his business in ablundering
way only to make more trouble at some
future time for the very funCtionarieS
who repelled him, and who ought to
have set him right by giving him polite,
full and satisfactory answers at first. This
is mainly because all Government bust
ness is virtually monopoly. If it were
not so--if there could be any competition
such offices would soon be deserted,
unless the manners of the officers under
went change for the better. So it is,
in too many cases, among railway, ex-
press and telegraph employees and in
all cases, however, nor even in major
ity of cases, for frequently customers
meet the most obliging people in such
offices, but the rule ofincivility prevails
in too many cases. The trouble in such
places, and on the railways, arises
from giving short, curt answers, as If
the official feels that every word he
drops is a costly gem, and that he
must therefore expend as few of them
as possible How many traveller mis-
ses his passage, or gets upon the wrong
train, or loses his baggage, because re-
PEELED by these short and churliSh an
swers, and because he shrinks back
through a sheer feeling of dislike at sub
jecting himselfto any repetition ofthem.
Nearly every one can recall instances of
the kind.
The priceless quality of civility, which,
like charity, is twice blessed-the one
that gives as well as the one who receives
should be impressed indelibly on the
minds of all from the earliest childhood.
1t is worthy of inculcation in the public
schools; and especially it should be
made principal point in the examina-
ton of every applicant for public office.
The men with whom the people have to
come in contact in official intercourse
should be well trained and disciplined
in this particular. They should be made
to remember that the world is made up
of all sorts of people, some of whom may
be dull of understanding while Others
are bright, but that all, the dull as well
as the brilliant and well informed, are
entitled to civility and satisfaction
They should also be made to remember
that persons who are unaccustomed to
any special business cannot of course
understand it as we'll as those who are
in the habit of transaCting it every day,
and that they may therefore have to ask
more questions, and to repeat those al
ready answered and that it is the duty
of the officer or clerk to bear with such
persons pleasantly, instead of showing
bad temper and worse breeding. The
public officer, and the funCtionary
every kind who is thrown into close
contact with the public, should always
be an agreeable, polite, obliging, for
bearing man, and if he is not, he should
be held unfit for his place. IfthoSe for
whose improvement these remarks are
designed will only try the course here
recommended, they will soon find it to
be as satisfactory to themselves as it is
to the public; and when once they adopt
habits of civility and patience they will
never depart from them.-PhiL Ledger.
Ra~A gentleman from the country
invited young man from the city to go
out on his farm and shoot birds on the
halves. The young man accepted, went
out, shot what birds he wanted and left
the farmers half for him to shoot when
ever he feels SO disposed. ~
B9rNever put off until tomorrow
what you can get some one else to do to-
day.