Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1902-02-20
AMERICAN TITLES.
n NoN6ENSlCAL HABIT THAT PROM
lSES TO CONTINUE FOREVER.

ne Aisxes and Prefixes of Our Names May
Properly be Designated Z" "Flum'
merry" and Give IN Excellent Opportu-
4 nifty for National Reform.
\ Why do we write ESQ" after .
mans name or "Mr." before 1t In ad-
dressing a letter? Why do we write
sDear Sir" even in addressing the
Seriest stranger! Why do we SUD-
scribe ourselves to all correspondents
- "Yours truly" or other words to
that meaningless effect!"
We do none Of these things In tele-
grams, yet we do not feel that we are
discourteous to John Jones when we
address him by telegraph only A. John
Jones and sign our names at the END
Of the despatch without any flourish
Of words. Why should we not be a.
direct simple and truthful In our
letters a. in our kilograms?
All these practices are survlvals
from an age Of leisure, extravaganza
and servility Of mind. They are now
m absurdity and a costly one. More
than three billion letters are written
every year in the United States. Al
lowing half minute as the time con.
sumed In writing Dear Sir" ,and
*Yours truly" inside and "Mr." or
ESQ outside of each Of these letters,
and allowing 300 working days of ten
hours each to the year, the people OF
the United States waste In this way
1898 years Of time every year. In
other words we actually waste the
whole time Of more than 5000 persons
In writing "Dear Sir" "Yours truly"
mr." and ESQ" At the lowest cal.
culation the time thus wasted each
year Is worth ten millions Of dollars,
or half river and a harbor bill.
The sole purpose Of the superscrip-
ton on letter Is to tell the postcflice
people to whom and where to deliver
II. All that Is necessary for that pur-
pose Is to write the name and address.
~. Wintersmith, "a John street, New
York City" completely fills the re-
quiremeut All else Is wasted. There
Is no occasion to tell the postman that
]. Wintersmth Is n clergyman by writ.
Ing REV. before his name, or that he
ID a woman and unmarried by writ
Ing Miss there, or Is married or has
been, by writing Mrs
But we have worse habits than
these. In addition to the meaningless
Mr." and the absurd ESQ., we are
constantly addressing men az Hon"
Of "Col.' or "Rev." Why do we do
II? As every little politician who gets
himself elected an Alderman or q
member Of the Legislature IL hence
forth called "llon," why should any
body think II a requirement Of cour-
tesy to address so justly distinguished
ample, as Hon. W. l.. wilson, for ex-
ample, as "Ilon W. l.. Wilson" We
do not speak of Hon. Thomas Jefferson
Of Hon, Daniel Webster.
Military titles arc necessary in mill.
tary life In undressing n General or
a Colonel In the field M indication Of
rank helps TO find him, and perhaps
It helps discipline too. But why should
we 90 on calling men Colonel, Cen
eral, Major and the like long after
they have retired to civil life, merely
because they held such rank In the
volunteer forces Of thirty odd years
ago or because some Governor has ap-
pointed them to his staff? We do not
speak or think Of General George
Washington or Gepcral Hannibal or
General Julius Caesar.
Still worse Is the title gratuitously
conferred, the honorary" title OF
Colonel and the like. There are tens
Of thousands Of Colonies In this
country who never commanded a
squad, and Judges who never sat
on any bench or read page of law.
1t Is all falsehood and fummery.
As an honest self-respectlng people,
why should we not rid ourselves of III
mr. Is convenient when the first
name OF the person addressed or re-
ferrcd to is not used. SO are Mrs"
and Miss IN like circumstances. All
the rest are Heather or prllnclla,"
which Is the poets phrase for stuff
and nonsense New York World.