, a highly important
department of our system; to the inspectorate come all complaints or information
as to defects in goods, insolence or inefficiency of officials, or dereliction
of any sort in the public service. The inspectorate, however, does not wait for
complaints. Not only is it on the alert to catch and sift every rumor of a fault
in the service, but it is its business, by systematic and constant oversight and
inspection of every branch of the army, to find out what is going wrong before
anybody else does. The President is usually not far from fifty when elected, and
serves five years, forming an honorable exception to the rule of retirement at
forty-five. At the end of his term of office, a national Congress is called to
receive his report and approve or condemn it. If it is approved, Congress
usually elects him to represent the nation for five years more in the
international council. Congress, I should also say, passes on the reports of the
outgoing heads of departments, and a disapproval renders any one of them
ineligible for President. But it is rare, indeed, that the nation has occasion
for other sentiments than those of gratitude toward its high officers. As to
their ability, to have risen from the ranks, by tests so various and severe, to
their positions, is proof in itself of extraordinary qualities, while as to
faithfulness, our social system leaves them absolutely without any other motive
than that of winning the esteem of their fellow citizens. Corruption is
impossible in a society where there is neither poverty to be bribed nor wealth
to bribe, while as to demagoguery or intrigue for office, the conditions of
promotion render them out of the question.«
    »One point I do not quite understand,« I said. »Are the members of the
liberal professions eligible to the presidency? and if so, how are they ranked
with those who pursue the industries proper?«
    »They have no ranking with them,« replied Dr. Leete. »The members of the
technical professions, such as engineers and architects, have a ranking with the
constructive guilds; but the members of the liberal professions, the doctors and
teachers, as well as the artists and men of letters who obtain remissions of
industrial service, do not belong to the industrial army. On this ground they
vote for the President, but are not eligible to his office. One of its main
duties being the control and discipline of the industrial army, it is essential
that the President should have passed through all its grades to understand his
business.«
    »That is reasonable