East High School - Redjacket Yearbook (Pawtucket, RI)

Page 15 text:

PAWTUCKfT S I. LARSON

Page 17 text:

Lester Knox Little OF all the many graduates of Pawtucket High School, none has had a more interesting career than Lester Knox Little. Commissioner of Customs at the Port of Canton. China. Mr. Little graduated from Pawtucket High School in 1910, as president of his class, and entered Dartmouth College in the fall of that year. While at Dartmouth he received his Phi Beta Kappa key. and was made a member of Psi Epsilon fraternity, the Casque and Gauntlet, and Paleopitus. the senior governing body. He was elected President of the Dartmouth Christian Association, and won his “D” on the varsity track team. After graduating with an A. B. degree in 1914, Mr. Little sailed for Shanghai to enter the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, which was then offering positions to promising young Americans. Mr. Little has since served the Republic of China continuously for twenty-four years, working in many different branches of the Service. The Chinese customs is a proud old service, extremely important to Chinese finance, as there is no system of national taxation in the Republic. Besides the actual collection of customs, the service supervises light houses and all harbor activities. thus having almost absolute control over China’s commerce. During his first leave of absence from China Mr. Little spent several months in advanced collegiate study and was awarded his Master of Arts degree by Brown University in 1921. Commissioner Little has been stationed at various times in Pekin. Amoy, Tien-Tsin, and Shanghai. His duties have required a complete mastery of Mandarin, the official Chinese language, as well as several of the hundreds of native dialects. During the Japanese incident of 1932. Mr. Little was stationed at Shanghai as personal secretary to the Inspector General of Customs. After this affair he was sent to Geneva as the official advisor to the Chinese delegation to the League of Nations Conference. At the present time he is serving as Commissioner of Customs at the Port of Canton. Here he is in charge of several hundred Chinese and foreign workers, administering the customs at this large river port. Canton, one hundred miles up the Pearl River from British Hong-Kong, is now doubly important because it is the only large Chinese port that is not under Japanese domination. In his latest letters home the Commissioner praises the loyalty of his native staff, none of whom has deserted his desk despite the constant physical danger and tremendous mental strain of war-time work. The thought uppermost in their minds is Commissioner Little's often repeated motto. The integrity of the Customs must be preserved”. Modest and retiring, Mr. Little has never claimed any of the honors and publicity that many a lesser man would consider his due He has worked faithfully and quietly for the Chinese government, keeping cool and level-headed in the midst of the mass hysteria of the frequent air-raids. Surely Mr. Little is a worthy example for the youth of America to follow. The class of 1938 is proud to add the name of Lester Knox Little to Pawtucket High School's Roll of Honor. Jean Hendricks [ 13 ]