The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-10

ess and maintains that contractors of | character and position should be frank lly taken into the confidence of the Gov ernrnent and allowed a reasonable latt- tude and initiative as it's collaborators in the national interest. There is an
 obvious good sense about this proposal
 which cannot be seriously discounted unless we are to admit a practical fail-
 ure of intelligence and of commercial
 probity among the heads of most lm-
 portant and peculiarly British industry.
 But the subject with which it deals is
 wider than any one field of manufac- 1 turing activity.
 There are other cases where superVis- | ion is gratuitous and Irresponsible ana | can claim no excuse either in the obli- cations of office or in the possession Of special knowledge. In such cases It IS
 as far removed from intelligent criti- cism as it is nearly allied to meddle-
 some curiosity. It is to this kind Of ln- vestigation that medical practice IS at times particularly liable. distin- gulshed person is ill and forthwith eV-
 cry incident in his condition is focused
 by industrious interviews s if they act
 ed for a jury of physicians. All that
 his countrymen wish to know is Wheth-
 CT he is better or not. In addition to
 information on this all-important point
 they are treated to minute details Of
 pulse, respiration. temperature, drugs,
 and perhaps of something approaching
 to sick-room gossip as well.
 Much the same thing happens when there is news Of a reverse at the seat of war. We have only to invert the tele- scope in order to find the civilian from his writing table at home carefully en- deavoring to instruct the soldier in his duties regardless alike of military methods and of local conditions. Other examples of like nature might be quoted, but the foregoing will suffice to direct attention to a quality of mind which appears to be increasingly preva- lent among a certain class of writers | and takers and which cannot be re- | garded as sign of healthy social life. | It is not vigilance or prudence or de- lberate and considered judgment; it is | not even a natural and rational anxiety, though it may exhibit itself in the guise | of any one of these. It is mere fussi- ness. Serving in itself no profitable it mingles with and impedes every useful work, damping energy and initiative and the sense of in those engaged in 1t. All the while it may be preaching mod eration, patience and self-eontro.
 The neurosis is not confined to any people or part of the civilized world, though it seems to be more prevalent in some quarters than elsewhere. Wher- ever there exists a suitable soil in the form of an intellect equipped with the visual organs of education but without reflective power and self there the morbid germ de- velops until it may even become epi- lemic over a wide area. Fortunately it Is true functional disorder and there Is no reason to regard 1t as incurable. If only the exciting cause be frankly i, and grappled with much will have been done toward providing a In order to arrive at suc- ,essful result, however, it is necessary o begin by admitting that scrutiny ind echnical matters, even by those whom t may concern, may be overdone. It $ matters little whether it be carried out " subordinate Government official f " an over -zealous pressman, or by a l