A Decoud Presidency would correspond allegorically to the rule of non-ideals, power as such without justifying ideology. The chief engineer's description of Moraga wielding San Tomé's financial clout illustrates such rulership and presages the rich, impersonal power of the Occidental Republic to come. Such non-idealistic unification would be a "new State" indeed in human affairs, something to make the cynical Dr. Monygham muse.