758 



SWITZERLAND. 



and 287,069 men, of whom 40,247 have served 

 in the regular army. The Federal Council has 

 divided the Landstrum into the armed and the 

 auxiliary forces. The active army has 20,000 

 horses, and is armed with the Vetterli repeat- 

 ing rifle with ten charges, 280 Krupp field-guns, 

 and 22 mountain-guns. The cost of the army 

 has nearly doubled in ten years. The Swiss 

 Government has fortified the entrances to the 

 St. Gothard Tunnel, and to other tunnels of the 

 international railroad lines, and has prepared 

 the means of blocking them instantly by filling 

 them with stones precipitated with the aid of 

 electricity. 



Commerce. The special imports in 1887 were 

 valued at 792,284,000 francs ; the exports at 

 641,918,000 francs. The imports of precious 

 metals were 44,751,000 francs, and the exports 

 29,173,000 francs. Switzerland has a foreign 

 trade of 510 francs per capita, which exceeds 

 that of every other country except Holland. 

 The commerce for three years past has in- 

 creased 3 per cent, per annum, almost the en- 

 tire growth having been in imports. 



Railroads. The railroads in operation in 1886 

 had a total length of 2,912 kilometres, exclusive 

 of 63 kilometres belonging to foreign compa- 

 nies. The total capital was 1.050,608,170 francs. 

 The receipts were 75,392,588 francs, and the 

 expenses 41,084,353 francs. A mountain rail- 

 road over the Brunig Pass, connecting Lucerne 

 with the Bernese Oberland, was opened in 

 June, 1888. 



The Post-Office. The number of domestic let- 

 ters and postal-cards forwarded in 1887 was 

 61,001,268, exclusive of 6,880,115 official let- 

 ters; the number of printed inclosures, 16,- 

 292,656 ; of packets, 8,828,127 ; of postal 

 money-orders, 2,488,221, of the total value of 

 275,410,943 francs. The number of interna- 

 tional letters and postal-cards was 30,651,127; 

 of printed inclosures, 13,576,430; of journals, 

 65,805,033; of packets, 2,649,474; the value 

 of money-orders, 33,653,038 francs. 



Telegraphs. The length of the telegraph lines 

 in 1887 was 7,060 kilometres; the length of 

 wires, 17,102 kilometres. The number of dis- 

 patches was 3,331,155, of which 1,816,524 

 -were internal, 1,008,097 international, 396.037 

 in transit, and 110,497 official. The receipts 

 were 3,531,598 francs; expenses, 2,893,992 

 francs. 



The Alcohol Law. Tn order to check the spread 

 of drunkenness, the Swiss Legislature made the 

 sale of spirits a state monopoly in 1887, except 

 such as are used in industrial processes, which 

 must he rendered unfit for drinking. A com- 

 mission of experts decided what suhstances 

 should be used in denaturalizing alcohol to be 

 used in the various industries, and fixed the 

 proportions of the admixture in each case. 



Emigration. In 1886 the National Council 

 passed an act to license and supervise emigra- 

 tion-agents, the provisions of which were made 

 stricter by a hill approved in April, 1888. 

 Agencies are required to give bonds in the 



sum of forty thousand francs, and to pay an 

 annual license-fee of fifty francs. Sub-agents 

 can be employed on conditions subject to the 

 investigation of the cantonal authorities, but 

 an additional bond of three thousand francs is 

 required for each. No colonial enterprise can 

 be undertaken by companies, individuals, or 

 agencies, without the approval of the Federal 

 Government. When agencies undertake to 

 forward money to emigrants in foreign lands 

 they must deliver the full sura without deduc- 

 tion. A special bureau was created for the 

 purpose of supervising emigration-agencies and 

 furnishing information to intending emigrants, 

 and protection to Swiss citizens in foreign 

 countries. 



Anti-Socialist Proceedings. The German Gov- 

 ernment has brought pressure to bear on the 

 Federal authorities continuously for several 

 years past, to secure the suppression of the 

 German Socialists who make Zurich their 

 headquarters, and the Swiss rulers have done 

 everything to please Germany except abrogat- 

 ing the right of asylum. Four German An- 

 archists, named Schopen, Metzler, Haupt, and 

 Von Ehrenberg, were expelled from Zurich in 

 January, 1888. Against a German, named 

 Burger, who had become a naturalized Swiss 

 citizen, and acted as a spy and agent provoca- 

 teur in the pay of the Berlin police, the can- 

 tonal authorities brought criminal proceedings. 

 On March 20 the Bundesrath voted a credit 

 for the establishment of a political police, 

 which was asked for on the ground that the 

 relations with Germany necessitated measures 

 to prevent a disturbance of the friendship be- 

 tween the two countries and abuse of the right 

 of asylum. In introducing the bill, Federal 

 Councilor Droz said: "The majority of the 

 Swiss people are determined that our house 

 shall be respected by all who dwell in it. The 

 air we breathe is the air of healthy liberty. 

 We will not allow it to be vitiated by the mi- 

 asma of anarchism. Neither shall our house 

 be a refuge whence assaults can be directed 

 with impunity against the repose of other 

 countries." The chief object of the Ger- 

 man Government was to suppress the Social- 

 istic journals and pamphlets that are smug- 

 gled into Germany, notwithstanding the vigi- 

 lance of the post-office police authorities, and, 

 especially the "Social Demokrat' 1 newspaper, 

 which is the organ of the German Parliament- 

 ary Socialist party, and has a circulation of 

 from 10,000 to 12,000 copies. Several urgent 

 notes from the German Government demanded 

 the suppression of this organ of moderate So- 

 cialism, which continued to spread through 

 Germany the views that no one there dared 

 to utter except from the tribune of the Reich- 

 stag, and was more obnoxious to the German 

 Chancellor than the revolutionary " Rothe 

 Teufel" and the Anarchistic brochures that 

 were also issued by thousands in Zurich for 

 circulation in Germany, because it helped to 

 keep alive the Parliamentary party. The Fed- 



