SWITZERLAND n 47 



lishing insurance against sickness and accidents; it was carried by a majority of 

 46,000 only on a poll of 528,000 in the face of strong resistance on the part of the foreign 

 insurance companies, who saw their business being taken away. 



The following is an outline of some of its chief provisions: (i) only certain trades and 

 occupations are included under its compulsory prbvisions, railway and steamer employes, 

 factory operatives and artisans or mechanics. Other classes of workmen or workwomen 

 (such as servants, hotel employes and agricultural labourers) are not subject to these com- 

 pulsory provisions, for they are protected by another law, by which the employer is respon- 

 sible for his employes, save in the case when he prefers to insure them himself. (2) The 

 Confederation is responsible for insurance against accidents only. In the case of insurance 

 against sickness the matter is in the hands of the existing Friendly Societies, if they bring 

 their statutes into accordance with this new law. But any canton or "commune" can 

 enact that insurance against sickness shall be compulsory within its jurisdiction. (3) In 

 the case of insurance against sickness the scale of contributions payable by the Confederation 

 to the Friendly Societies is as follows for each person insured (whether compulsorily or of 

 his free will, whether male or female, whether a native born Swiss or a foreigner): children 

 up to and including 14 years of age, and also mer, 3^ frs. per annum, and women (including 

 childbed benefits) 4 frs. per annum. If, however, a Friendly Society makes a larger con- 

 tribution than its statutes require, the Confederation can (not must) also make a larger 

 contributory grant. In the special case of dwellers in mountain regions an extra grant up 

 to 7 frs. a head is made, over and above the sums given above. In the case of insurance 

 against accidents the law distinguishes between accidents arising in the course of the work- 

 man's employment (then the Confederation pays f and the employer f) or not in the 

 course of his employment (here the workman must himself pay the premiums, but the 

 Confederation contributes J of the amount). (4) The benefits in the case of insurance 

 against sickness are payment of the doctor's and apothecary's fees (the insured having the 

 right of free choice of both doctor and apothecary), as well as a sick allowance of at least 

 I fr. a day. Lying-in women, who suckle their own babies during 10 weeks have a right to 

 a grant of at least 20 frs. but no payment is made in respect to sick children under the -age 

 of 14. In the case of insurance against accidents, widows and orphans, on the death of the 

 bread-winner by accident, receive a pension up to 60 per cent of the amount of the wages 

 formerly received by him, in addition to a grant of 40 frs. for funeral expenses. If the 

 injured person is totally incapacitated the grant amounts to from 70 to 100 per cent of the 

 wages formerly received; if only temporarily incapacitated, the ordinary wages are given 

 as from the third day after the accident. The trades are graded according to their dangerous 

 character, and in this class of trade the premiums are higher. 



All native Swiss workmen are entitled to these benefits and also foreign workmen residing 

 in Switzerland, provided their country grants Swiss residents there similar benefits (if not, 

 the pensions are paid on a reduced scale and a lump sum given on leaving Switzerland). 

 The date at which this law comes into force was not definitively settled, as much previous 

 preparatory work has to be done. But it is supposed that the sickness part would be put 

 into operation in the course of 1913 and the accident part probably in 1914. 



Swiss Cantons. Mention has been made above of some important events in several 

 cantons, and, with an allusion to the great strike in the town of Zurich (summer of 

 1912), where the Socialists are acquiiing more and more power, we may limit our 

 attention to two other great cantons. 



Basel. In 1910 the separation of State and Church was here carried out. The number 

 of the Romanists rose from about 5000 in 1850 to some 41,000 in 1910, thus forming about 

 | of the population of the town. But they were unable to obtain favourable terms from the 

 State, the pretext being that their regulations did not allow them to permit their priests to 

 be elected by their parishioners, and that they could not submit their internal regulations 

 for the approval of the State. The Old Catholics (4,500 in 1910) accepted these conditions, 

 and so obtained a church in full ownership, a lump sum of 6,000 and recognition (like the 

 Protestants) as a " public corporation." The Romanists and the Jews are now only "private 

 corporations" in Basel; the former received the provisional right of user of a church and a 

 lump sum of 8,000, while the Jews (2397 in 1910), the richest of all these religious com- 

 munities, were awarded the derisory lump sum of 6op. 



Geneva. In 1910 the electors of the now disestablished Protestant Church decided that 

 women should have a vote in all ecclesiastical matters. In the same year a new Art and 

 History Museum was opened, wherein many scattered collections have been brought together. 

 But the chief event in recent Genevese history relates to its main (or Cornavin) railway 

 station. This, like the line from the town to the French frontier, belonged to the French 

 Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway Company, an obviously anomalous state of things. 

 The result of many deliberations was a final arrangement on March 23, 1912 it was 

 approved by the Federal Assembly in July, 1912 as between the three parties; the Cornavin 

 railway station, with the line to the French frontier, was ceded (against a considerable 



