NATIONALIZATION OF SWISS RAILWAYS. 619 



were freely circulated, and the newspapers took a very active part in 

 the matter. 



The vote was taken February 20th. Out of 734,000 citizens en- 

 titled to vote, 570,000 exercised their right. The result was a sur- 

 prise to all. The measure was carried by a vote of 386,634 to 

 182,718, 200,000 majority, or by more than two to one, when few 

 anticipated a difference of more than 50,000 or 80,000, and some 

 persons considering themselves well informed thought, even the day 

 before the voting, that the scheme would be rejected. 



Only a year before — February 28, 1897 — the Swiss people had 

 voted against a project for a state bank which had been recom- 

 mended to them by the same parties that advocated state railroads. 

 Still, we can not infer from this that the people have reversed their 

 position and favored a state socialism this year which they rejected 

 last. The motives that determined their vote seem to be of a different 

 order. The majority of the electors evidently regarded the railroads 

 as a public service of the same kind as the post office, telegraph, etc., 

 and sought to remove all private influences and sense of personal 

 benefit from their management, as well as to free it from foreign 

 influence. The mass of the people trusted to the promises held out of 

 reduction in rates and improvements in all the features of the 

 service. The men employed on the roads exerted a strong and solid 

 influence in favor of the purchase, because they believed they would 

 fare better in the hands of the state than under private owners. 



By the vote of the 20th of February the Swiss people have made 

 a decision of extreme importance, which will be certain to react upon 

 the whole political, economical, and social life of the country. It is 

 now for the federal council to see the law carried into effect. On 

 the 2 2d of February it withdrew the concessions from a part of the 

 Northeastern lines. If the repurchase goes on successively accord- 

 ing to the terms of the concessions, the confederation will secure 

 possession of the Jura Simplon, Central, ISTortheastern, and Swiss 

 Union systems in 1903, and of the St. Gothard in 1909. For the 

 purchase of the St. Gothard, negotiations will have to be gone into 

 with Germany and Italy, which furnished considerable subsidies for 

 the construction of the line; and it is further possible that the con- 

 federation will secure possession of the whole network before 1903 

 if it decides to negotiate with the companies, as the law authorizes it 

 to do. If it does not do this, and does not succeed in coming to an 

 understanding as to the price, the federal tribunal will be called upon 

 to decide important questions relative to the calculation of the in- 

 demnities to be paid to the stockholders. 



The experiment which Switzerland is trying is certainly very 

 instructive. It will be interesting to observe how the confederation 



