ABSTRACT
‘In every department of state there is a permanent element, and also what may be termed a progressive and political one. The permanent public servants preserve all the traditions of the office, and carry on the ordinary business. They are the advisers of, and to a certain extent, a check upon, the new political chiefs who come in without experience; while, on the other hand, the tendency of all permanent officers is to get into a certain routine, and a change of the heads, from time to time, checked by the permanence of those who are always in office, tends very much to produce an improved system of administration of any department.’
