The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-07-14
bf La MARaUIsE DE FONTENoY.


MS more correct title. the Tenno
L mat Japan is indebted for the in
PRODUCTION OF competitive examine
tons for every Office OF the civil ser
wee OF the empire. So strict and far
| reacnlng is the application OF the sys-
tenn. that the appointment OF incom
petents through favoritism is pract-
cally unknown. The imperial uni
versities and the government depart
ments OF education have co-operated
with the crown in the matter, and the
University OF Toxic has even a spe-
cial department for the training or
provincial projects or governors where
candidates for that office receive spe
clal lnstructi n. OF an order to eouip
them for the administration of the
various provinces into which the En-
pire OF the Rising sun is divided. on
graduation they receive the appoint
Inent OF general secretary 10 the pro-
rincial government. and in due course
are promoted to governorships
To-day the vast majority OF the
projects and sub-prefects OF provin-
cial governments OF Japan are spe-
c!al graduates of this particular school
Tor governors at Toxic. the only thing
OF the kind in the world. They MAY
therefore be said to constitute the very
pick and Hover OF the civil service OF
the empire: and l may add that spe-
cial pains are taken BY the profess
sors Of this class TO emancipate their
pupils from all tendency to red tape,
which is the curse OF every bureau
cracy. II is difficult in writing about
this to refrain from the thought as TO
whfther 1t would not be possible TO
inaugurate similar system here in
America, where the governors OF
states have such vast power placed in
their hands, without previous eu,tp-
ment for the post. Although the pro
iessional politician would doubtless
Id N.
IDEA, yet there is no doubt that al
most every governor OF an American
state would benefit by receiving two or
three years of previous special train
Ing tor his important office.
Emperor Francis Joseph creates
princes but rarely. Indeed, he has not
bestowed the closed coronet upon much
more than q dozen OF his mobiles.
nree-score years. 1 mentioned last
week that he had conferred an honor
OF this kind upon his ex-premier, Count
Francis Thun. leader OF the great
feudal aristocracy of Bohemia. and now
governor OF that province. He has also
granted the same distinction TO Count
IassiIo Festetics. whose name is fami-
liar all over Europe as that of the
principal fgure of the old Magyar no.
billy, and as probably the greatest OF
the territorial magnates or Hungary,
his estates extending over nearly a
million of acres.
The count has twice declined the
once OF cabinet minister and Of Premier
OF Hungary, accepting, however, the
grand mastership of the Hungarian
Court and the Order OF the Golden
Fleece, Devoid of personal ambition,
he has throughout his life held almost
entirely aloof from politics, without,
IN
viii Of his countrymen. 1t Is known
that. II anything, he is conservative,
10 the point OF Toryism. Yet on the
only two occasions that he came under
the PUBLIC eye in connection with poll
ticai affairs, 1t was in the interests OF
Liberalism. The first time was when
the Emperor personally requested him
to use his influence to arrest the op-
position of the Hungarian aristocracy
to the law of civil marriage, that had
been voted by the lower house of the
national legislature at Budapest. He
accomplished this by personal suasion
having never yet made any speech at
the table of the House of Magnates
as the Magyar House OF Lords IS styled
About three years ago. he again inter-
vened. at the instance of the Emperor
In an attempt to reconcile the Nat
ionalist leaders in Hungary to GER
tain measures to which the Emperor
was committed. and incidentally made
al-remarkable declaration of the real
sentiments of the heir apparent, Fran
els Ferdinand, with whom he is ex-
tremely intimate. with regard to Hun
gary. and which had the effect of
dispelling much of the popular preju-
dice. which until then prevailed among
the Masyars concerning the archduke
He communicated to the Hungarian
political leaders, and to the Hungarian
public generally, that the archduke
was in no sense opposed to the Mag.
vars. or champion OF that TO them
so distastefyl policy of Trialism. that is
TO say, of the restoration of the an
Client Kingdom of Bohemia, on the
Same astronomical basis as that OF
Hungary, but that he was an ardent
believer in Duallsm; he was anxious,
however, that while Austria should
retain Its German hegemony. and Hun
gary It's Magyar hegemony to the full