" GRAVE " AND " DRASTIC."
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."] SID,—Scarcely a day passes but one or two Ministers and a score or so of Controllers call "grave" and " drastic" to their rescue, These epithets have become so frayed with overwork that they now connote rather the bankruptcy of ideas and practical plans in those who use them than a reflection of the dangers and neces- sities born of the war. The effect of words upon the nation depends upon the character and credibility of the person who addresses himself to the public, and not upon his stock of tremendous adjectives. For some reason or other politicians and officials easily persuade themselves that the nation is less intelli- gent than they are. This is a mistake, and a great success awaits the public man who treats the nation as he himself would like to be treated—as grown-up people endowed with average common-
sense and right feeling.—I am, Sir, &c., P. R. C.
Previous page
