WEITLING'S "SYSTEM" 61
laws of nature to the service of mankind in every field of activity;
and mechanics, which included the theory and practice of all
manual and machine production. Weitling's Trio suggests Plato's
"philosopher-kings," the elite, who were masters of science and
"the rudder of the whole administration." Only by such expert
leadership, he believed, could harmony be introduced and main
tained in the social system.
Immediately below this governing trio stood the Zentral¬
meisterkompagnie, consisting of the highest office-holders chosen
by the various units in the society already described. It constituted
a sort of Senate and Ministry which represented the Master Com
panies and other units farther down in the administrative scale.
On the basis of reports coming up from officials and directors be
low, those at the top established general policies and apportioned
the tasks among the heads of the various crafts and services, who
in turn made the assignments and distributions farther down,
finally reaching every member of the community. Those at the
apex of the pyramid were expected not only to direct the work
program but also to attend to all matters affecting the life of the
society, such as health, housing, clothing, recreation, and the arts,
and to administer them on the basis of equal benefits for all.
Alongside these various organizations dealing with organiza
tional and administrative policy, Weitling's system established a
series of "academies" and "health councils." Inventors would be
come members of the academies, and the health commissioners
would be elected on the basis of their proved success in curing the
physical and spiritual disorders of the body politic. The process
for the selection of these various bodies was extremely compli
cated and their procedure hardly less so. It is unnecessary to de
scribe the organizational and administrative pattern in all its details.
It is so complicated and confused and reveals so many overlapping
jurisdictions that Weitling's program obviously would work only
in Utopia, though he insisted that it was a perfectly practicable
design for a new society which could be realized rather speedily,
if only a sufficient nucleus would undertake the social revolution.