This story, first published in 1870, is refreshing in a way, because it demonstrates very clearly that a dysfunctional government bureaucracy has been with us for a long time, yet, we have managed to survive so far. So the next time you spend countless hours trying to straighten out an incorrect tax bill, think about what the guy in this story had to go through. The music for the episode is "Busybody", by Bryan Teoh, from FreePD.com