The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-12
Nj EN w O M E N
 A ND T H l N c s

If something isn't done to prevent the rising tide of bureauracy our boasted democracy will be drowned out. The coast line has already been flooded and if we have the back country we had better begin to bill dykes against the ever increasing in flow.
 Bureaucracy and autocracy are the troublesome twins which have played havoc with the rights of man down through the ages, and it does seem a bit careless the way we are letting the partners in exploitation make themselves at ease in this the home of democracy.
 The army of national, state, county and city officials is already becoming problem and burden on the shoulders of the tax payer; but more than this, even outside Of Washing ton, those in office are beginning more and more to constitute class with well defined status in every community.
 
 Bureauefacy and imperialism may walk hand in hand without getting out of step but there is surely some ething wrong when bureaucracy and democracy are able to keep to- gether without inconvenie ncing one another. I for one look with dis pleasure on the ever increasing num- Der of men and women who in ono way or the other have been incorpoS rated into officialdom.
 This not merely because of the extra taxes required to keep them up, in a free country like America to have a steady growth of the govern ing classes" l realize that as long as government exists at all Q gov ering class is necessary and inevita- ble, but this is no reason why those who live at the public expense should not be held down 10 the lowest possible minimum compatible with proper service.
 Say what you please but there Is a certain tone about the governing classes" even in a democracy like ours which puts on airs not at all in Keeping with our, best past history You may recruit them as you may, grade them as you like. pay them high or low, they will nevertheless form Q class with inherited instincts and traditions. Anyone who has ever lived in Washington will rec ognize the truth of the statement.
 
 The atmosphere of a government or a political .office catches hold of a man or woman who is unfortunate enough in youth to get berth and molds them into type. Uncon- sciously they adopt traditional point of view. acquire certain es- prit de corps, and as the years go by embody fin themselves the attri- butes and characteristics of the bu- reaucrat uniting them for other avenues of life.
 A young man or woman should ponder well the step before putting their necks into the bureaucratic yoke. for while there may be plums along the way for some, in. most cases the route becomes a weary one as the years go and the fodder scare CT. Bureauracy Is a disease which is easily diagnosed. It is seen in the love of writing, in the accumulation of documents, in the filing and in- dexing and annotating, in the belief in the printed form.
 These are the first stages, for later there comes the inability to make decisions, an intense desire to pass on and upwards the awkward prob- lem and the dangerous responsibility, a veritable paralysis of initiative, and a defense huddling together against every breast of criticism or threat ening >attack that comes from the outside, for in spite of civil service there is the constant fear of the rain- bow colors, the pink slip" and the yellow envelope"
 This is no thoughtless or heartless indictment of many civil servants who have at small salary done the nerve racking work which the red tape system has wound about govern mental affairs, for hid away in some of the big departments at Washing ton and elsewhere, there have been men and women who have done loyal and splendid service. am merely pointing out the danger of bureau cracy both to the people and to those who are caught in its net. e3pulEuaM uaMIAoutlH