Inside stories

Progress, it goes without saying, is not entirely uniform. Indeed, retrogression sometimes occurs, for example in the style of official prose. Where now it employs neologisms, euphemisms, and acronyms to the point of incomprehensibility, it was once clear, vigorous, and even a model for aspiring writers. Of course, in those days its authors were not so ashamed of what they did that they had to disguise it by the use of opaque language; barbarous locutions conceal a bad conscience.

Can anyone conceive of reading a contemporary official report with pleasure in its literary qualities? Recently I read the Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Condition and Treatment of the Prisoners Confined …