he young aspirants for guild leadership who can pass the
criticism of us old fellows are likely to be pretty well equipped.
Recognizing this fact, the nation entrusts to the honorary members of
each guild the election of its general, and I venture to claim that no
previous form of society could have developed a body of electors so
ideally adapted to their office, as regards absolute impartiality,
knowledge of the special qualifications and record of candidates,
solicitude for the best result, and complete absence of self-interest.

"Each of the ten lieutenant-generals or heads of departments is
himself elected from among the generals of the guilds grouped as a
department, by vote of the honorary members of the guilds thus
grouped. Of course there is a tendency on the part of each guild to
vote for its own general, but no guild of any group has nearly enough
votes to elect a man not supported by most of the others. I assure you
that these elections are exceedingly lively."

"The President, I suppose, is selected from among the ten heads of the
great departments," I suggested.

"Precisely, but the heads of departments are not eligible to the
presidency till they have been a certain number of years out of
office. It is rarely that a man passes through all the grades to the
headship of a department much before he is forty, and at the end of a
five years' term he is usually forty-five. If more, he still serves
through his term, and if less, he is nevertheless discharged from the
industrial army at its termination. It would not do for him to return
to the ranks. The interval before he is a candidate for the presidency
is intended to give time for him to recognize fully that he has
returned into the general mass of the nation, and is identified with
it rather than with the industrial army. Moreover, it is expected that
he will employ this period in studying the general condition of the
army, instead of that of the special group of guilds of which he was
the head. From among the former heads of departments who may be
eligible at the time, the President is elected by vote of all the men
of the nation who are not connected with the industrial army."

"The army is not allowed to vote for President?"

"Certainly not. That would be perilous to its discipline, which it is
the business of the President to maintain as the representative of the
nation at large. His right hand for this purpose is the inspectorate,
a highly important