The Falls City tribune., 1910-01-14
A NATIONAL FAULT
AMERICAN SUBMISSION TO OF,
FlcIAL lNsoLENCE.
Citizen Is Too Prone to Stand with
Hat in Hand Before His Hired
Man-Some Plain Talk
Necessary.

The Scot who boarded a British
warship and sent word 10 its captaio
that "one of the owners wished ~
see him asserted a fact which few OF
us have the backbone TO stand up to,
that the humble masses OWL the earta
by right of having paid for it with
their more or less h%ard-earned
ey. Ii would seem as IL we, the pro.
prietors of the eFerglorious republic,
are especially meek in regarding QUE
hired men," from the president down.
as our masters rather thar our paid
servants, Frank NJ. Bicknell says in
Lippincott's. We aADw ourselves Ia
be b%rowbeaten by public and quasi.
public officials TO IN extent that
ama2es the foreigner. A titled Eng
lishman recently wasted much temper
In learning that an American rail,
way conductor Is allowed 10 be almost
as autocratic as the captain of al
ocean liner. Among the few 'strang
ers In our midst" who have really sue
oeeded in silencing n %toplofty parlor-
car conductor is Max O'Rell. and thu
did ii by bursting out with a threat
TO pitch him through the window,
about the opening of which they dis.
agreed.
1t Is not the highly placed officials,
however. but the petty jacks-in-office
who are the most bumptious: their
belief in their own Importance appears
to be in direct proportion to their spe
cifc levity. A smart young clerk in A
certain suburban city hall once tried
to snub and make needless trouble
for a quiet, shabby, elderly man who
had requested an item of information
at his counter. To the young fellows
discontinue, the old gentleman revolt
ed so far as to free his mind rs fol.
lows.
My friend, let me ask if | am in
your service or You IN mine. Id al.
ways supposed my tax money helped
you and these other chaps here to
work for the city to The best of youe
ability. And as I'm a citizen of tho
city I'm one of your bosses. and ! oh
ject to being treated as If | was no
better than dirt; besides which, on
our W account. You want to be a
little mite civil, or some day you'll be
hunting another job. 1t never struck
you in just that light before, maybe,
but it's so all the same.
A little plain talk of this sort. con
veying a wholesome lesson, is needed
much oftener than it is given. Most
of us submit to domineering rather
than make a fuss. being surprised, in
deed, if we don't get it. IL the police.
man on the corner, when we ask him
a direction, responds with anything
better than %patronizing condescension.
we are absurdly grateful. We ap-
proach the box Office of a theater, OF
even the desk of a hotel. as suppl
eants, ready to cringe at the expected
rudeness or rebuff. In the trolley
ears, of the large cities at least, We
avoid personal intercourse with the
men in charge, and look for only the
curtest replies if need forces us To
interrogate them.
However, there is something to b.
said on the other side, and if we do
feel moved on occasion 10 put ono OF
these high-and-haughty officials in his
proper place. let rs do it good-tem.
peredly, not forgetting the aint given
by a certain street car company in its
printed notice to the effect that while
courtesy is to be desired from the
conductor, its practice is not unbe.
coming in the passenger.