PRINCIPLES OF taxation: 465 



Switzerland takes tlie lead in respect to values ; namely, $37 per 

 capita per annum. 



Of other countries, the Netherlands comes next to Switzerland, 

 with a present annual export valuation of manufactured products 

 of $35.60 per capita ; then England, $24.60 ; Belgium, $23.40 ; Ger- 

 many, $11.50 ; France, $11 ; Sweden, $7 ; Norway, $4.60 ; and, 

 finally, the United States, with $3.40. 



In respect to comparative aggregate valuations. Great Britain 

 furnished nearly thirty per cent of such esportations ; Germany 

 nearly eighteen per cent ; and France thirteen per cent, making 

 about sixty per cent for these three countries. The proportionate 

 valuation of the United States for 1894 was 12'16 per cent.* 



The principal articles of Swiss exportation are cotton fabrics 

 (printed and embroidered), silks (especially ribbons), food stuffs, 

 cheese and condensed milk, clocks and watches, machinery and 

 carriages, works of art, mineral waters, straw goods, etc. 



The leading characteristics of the people of Switzerland are 

 their habits of persistent industry, the practice of rigid economy 

 (in great part by reason of necessity) in their expenditures, a de- 

 gree of patriotism that is everywhere exhibited and acknowledged, 

 and a remarkable diversity of language. " Three tongues have 

 existed side by side in Switzerland for centuries, and their indi- 

 viduality is recognized in the Federal Constitution, by providing 

 that laws shall be printed in all of them, and that in the distri- 

 bution of certain offices regard shall be paid to the language of the 

 people for whose benefit the official serves, f Education is com- 

 pulsory ; primary education is free, and the percentage of illiteracy 

 is small — almost nothing. 



Their standard of morality may be indicated by the circum- 

 stance that about five per cent of the births are reported as 

 illegitimate. 



The present political organization of Switzerland closely re- 

 sembles that of the United States, but is far better entitled to the 

 claim of being free and democratic, and in this respect is probably 

 typically superior to any other Government that exists or ever 

 has existed.! Under the present Constitution, adopted in 1874, 



* Address of Theodore Search, President of the National Association of American 

 Manufacturers. 



f State and Federal Government in Switzerland. By John Martin Vincent. Johns Hop- 

 kins Press, Baltimore, 1891. 



X " The county, State, and Federal Governments (of the United States) are not democra- 

 cies. In form they are qua si-oligarchies composed of representatives and executives, but 

 in fact they are frequently complete oligarchies, composed in part of unending rings of 

 politicians that directly control the law and the offices, and in part of the permanent plutoc- 

 racy who purchase legislation through the politicians." The Initiative and Referendum in 

 Switzerland. By J. W. Sullivan. Nationahst Publishing Co., New York, 1893. 

 TOL. XLIX. — 38 



