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," I said; "but if the doctors and teachers do not
know enough of industry to be President, neither