LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6887, 24 June 1890, Page 1

LITERATURE.

LOOKING BACKWARD. 2000-1887. [By Edward Bellamy.] Chaptrb, XYll.— (Continued.) " I am sure," said Dr Leete, " that it is within the truth to say that the head of one of the myriad private businesses of your day, who had to maintain sleepless vigilance against the fluctuations of the market, the machinations of hia rivals, and the failure of his debtors, had a far more trying task than the group of men at Washington who, nowadays, direct the industries of the entire nation. All thia merely shows, my dear fellow, how much easier it is to do things the right way than the wrong. It is easier for a general up in a balloon, with perfect survey of the field, to mancsuvre a million men to victory, than for a sergeant to manage a platoon in -a thicket." " The general of this army, including the flower of the manhood of the nation, mast be the foremost man in the country, really greater even than the President of the United States," I said. "He is the President of the United States," replied Dr Leete; "or, rather, the most important function of the presidency is the headship of the industrial army." " How is he chosen ?" I asked. " I explained to you, before," replied Dr Leete, "when I was describing the force of the motive of emulation among all grades of the industrial army, that the line of promotion for the meritorious lies through three grades to the officer's grade, and thence up through the lieutenancies to the captaincy, or foremanship, and superintendency or colonel's rank. Next, with an intervening grade in some of the larger trades, comes the general of the guild, under whose immediate control all the operations of the trade are conducted. Thiß officer is at the head of the national bureau representing his trade, and is responsible for its work to the administration. The general of this guild holds a splendid position, and one which amply satisfies the ambition of most men, but above his rank which may be compared, to follow the . military analogies familiar to you, to that i a general of division or majorgeneral, is that of the chiefs of the ten great departments or groups of allied trades. The chiefs of these ten grand divisions of the industrial army may be compared to your commanders of army corps, or lieutenant-generals, each having from a dozen to & score of generals of separate guilds reporting to him. Above these ten great officers, who form his council, is the general-in-chief, who is the President of the United States. "The general-in-chief of the industrial -army must have passed through all the grades below him, from the common labourers up. Let us see how he rises. As I have told you, it is simply by the excellence of his record as a worker that one rise, through the grades of the privates and becomes a candidate for a lieutenancy. Through the lieutenancies, he rises to the colonelcy or superintendent's position, by appointment from above, strictly limited to the candidates of the best records. The general of the guild appoints to the ranks under him, but he himself is not appointed, but chosen by suffrage." "By suffrage!" I exolaimed. "Is not that ruinous to the discipline of the guild, by tempting the candidate to intrigue for the support of the workers under them ?" ". So it_ would be, no doubt," replied Dr Leete, " if the workers had any suffrage to exercise, or anything to say about the choice. But they have nothing. Jnst here comes in a peculiarity of our system. The general of the guild is chosen from among the superintendents, by vote of the honorary members of the guild, that is, of those who have served their time in the guild and received their discharge. Ab you know, at the age of forty-five we are mustered out of the army of industry, and have the residue of life for the pursuit of our own improvement or recreation. Of course, however, the associations of our active lifetime retain a powerful hold on us. The companionships we formed then remain our companionships till the end of life. We always oontinue honorary members of onr former guilds, -and retain the keenest and most jealous interest in their welfare and repute in the hands of the following generation. In the -Clubs maintained by the honorary members of the several guilds, in which we meet socially, there are no topics of conversation so common as those ' which relate to these matters, and the young aspirants for guild leadership who can pass the criticism of ua old fellows "are likely to be pretty well equipped. Recognising this fact, tbe nation entrusts to the honorary members of eaoh 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 selfinterest. "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, bnt the heads of departments are not eligible for the presidency till they have been a certain number of years out of office. Itis rarely that a man passes though 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 recognise fully that he has returned into the general mass of the nation, and is indentified 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 apecial group of guilds of which he is 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 tho industrial army." " The army is not allowed to vote for president?" " Certainly not. That would be perilous to its discipline, which it iB the business of the president to maintain as the representative of the nation at large. 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 Congrew " called to receive, his report 'and. approve or condemn it. If it ia approved, Congress usually elects him to represent the nation for five yearß more in the ihterhatiohal council. Coiigresß, I should also ■ say, paases on the reporfca.of theoutgoing heads «£ departments, and a disapproval renders any one of them ineligible for president. Sat it ia rare, indeed, that the nation has

occasion for other sentiments than those of gratitude towards its high officers. As to their ability, to have rieen 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 or wealth to bribe, while as to demagoguery or intrigue for office, the conditions of promotion render them out of the question." "One point Ido 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, Buch as engineers and architects, have a ranking with the constructive guilds ; but the members of the liberal professions, the doctors, teachers, as well as the artists and men of letter who obtain remissions of industrial service, do not belong to the industrial army. On thia ground they vote for the president, but are not eligible to his office. One of its main duties being the control aud 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, I should think, can the president know enough of medicine and education to control those departments." "No more does he," was the reply. "Except in the general way that he is responsible for the enforcement of the laws as to all classes, the president has nothing to do with the faculties of medicine and education, which are controlled by boards of regents of their own, in which the president is ex officio chairman and has the casting vote. These regents, who, of course, are responsible to Congress, are chosen by the honorary member of the guilds of education and medicine, the retired teachers and doctors of the country." "Do you know," I said, " the method of electing officials by votes of the retired membersj of the guilds is nothing more than the application on a national scale of the plan of government by alumni, which we ÜBed to a slight extent occasionally in the management of our higher educational institutions ?" ■ " Did you, indeed?" exclaimed Dr Leete, with animation, "That is quite new to me, and I fancy willbe to most of us, and of much interest as well. There has been great discussion as to the germ of the idea, and we fancied that there was for once something new under the sun. Well ! well ! In your higher educational institutions ! Thab is- interesting; indeed. You must tell me more of that." "Truly, there ia very little more to tell than I have told already," I replied. "If we had the germ of your idea, it was but as a germ." (This Story will be continued in our issue of Saturday next.)