824 



SWITZERLAND. 



The railroads in operation in 1879 amounted 

 to 1,059 kilometres. The number of govern- 

 ment telegraph stations on December 31, 1878, 

 was 127 ; length of lines, 7,617, and of wires, 

 13,711 kilometres. The number of inland dis- 

 patches sent was 466,766 ; of foreign dispatch- 

 es sent, 115,254 ; of foreign dispatches received, 

 130,128; and of transit dispatches, 2,820; mak- 

 ing a total of 714,968. The railroad telegraphs 

 are not included in these figures. The number 

 of post-offices in 1878 was 867; the number of 

 inland letters sent, 9,137,754 ; of foreign letters 

 sent and received, 3,410,936. The number of 

 newspapers sent and received was 8,984,996. 



The Swedish Kiksdag was opened on Janu- 

 ary 18th. In his speech from the throne, the 

 King stated that, owing to the depressed state 

 of commerce, the revenue for 1880 was expect- 

 ed to fall below the usual estimates, and the 

 Government therefore proposed to increase the 

 duties on liquors and tobacco, and also on sugar 

 and coffee. In the budget for 1880 the revenue 

 and expenditures were each estimated at 74,- 

 650,000 crowns. In April both Chambers voted 

 an increase of 20 ores (1 ore = O'lOO crown) 

 per kanna (1 kanna = 2'76 quarts) in the tax 

 on spirituous liquors. In May the Riksdag, in 

 accordance with a Government proposition, 

 passed a bill providing for the retirement of 

 the notes of private banks of 5 and 10 crowns, 

 and replacing them by notes of the Royal Bank. 

 It was stated in support of the motion that 

 over three quarters of all paper money is issued 

 by the private banks, and that, while they had 

 about 48,000,000 crowns in circulation, only 

 one sixth of this amount was secured by coin 

 deposits. In this way they drew interest to 

 the amount of 3,000,000 crowns from a capital 

 which did not exist, and which ought to pass 

 into the Treasury of the state. 



The Swedish Government in January re- 

 turned to the French Government the 80,000 

 francs paid by the latter for the island of St. 

 Bartholomew, for the purpose of founding a 

 charitable institution on that island. 



The Storthing of Norway was opened on 

 February 3d by the King in person. In his 

 speech from the throne he stated that the de- 

 pressed condition of commerce necessitated an 

 increase of the direct taxes. Propositions to 

 this effect would be submitted by the Govern- 

 ment. Bills would also be submitted affecting 

 the army organization and the city schools. 

 The budget, as submitted by the Government, 

 amounted to 46,000,000 crowns, bat was re- 

 duced by 4,500,000 crowns by the Storthing, 

 the reductions principally affecting the army 

 and navy. In consequence, numerous works 

 on fortifications which had been begun had 

 to be stopped. The general elections for the 

 Storthing, held in October, left its political 

 complexion unchanged. 



SWITZERLAND, a republic of central Eu- 

 rope, consisting of twenty-two cantons, three 

 of which are divided into two independent half 

 cantons each. The President of the Federal 



Council for 1879 was B. Hammer of Soleure, 

 and the Vice-President Dr. E. Welti of Aargau. 

 The area and population (according to an 

 official estimate of July 1, 1878) of the differ- 



ent cantons are as follows : 



The movement of population in 1878 was: 

 20,550 marriages, 91,426 births, 68,904 deaths, 

 and 3,593 still-births. 



The total revenue of the Confederation for 

 1878 amounted to 41,536,226 francs, and the 

 expenditures to 41,469,641 francs. The budget 

 for 1879 estimated the receipts at 40,565,000 

 francs, and the expenditures at 42,028,000 

 francs. The liabilities of the republic amount- 

 ed at the close of 1878 to 35,036,976 francs, as 

 a set-off against which there was Federal prop- 

 erty amounting to 41,197,439 francs. 



The Federal army consists of the Bundesaus- 

 zug, comprising all male persons between the 

 ages of twenty and thirty-two, and the Land- 

 wehr, comprising all those between thirty- 

 three and forty-four. In 1879 there were 578 

 officers and 119,419 men in the Bundesauszug, 

 and 135 officers and 95,338 men in the Land- 

 wehr. 



In 1878 there were 799 post-offices; number 

 of internal letters sent, 47,530,128, and of for- 

 eign letters 20,201,012 ; newspapers, parcels of 

 foreign and domestic printed matter, etc., 72,- 

 716,096. The length of the Government tele- 

 graph lines in 1878 was 6,523 kilometres, and 

 of Government wire 15,960 kilometres; num- 

 ber of stations, 1,161; of dispatches sent, 2,476,- 

 988. The length of railroads in 1877 was 2,590 

 kilometres. 



The principal question before the Federal 

 Assembly in 1879 was the restoration of capi- 

 tal punishment. In March a bill was intro- 

 duced restoring to the several cantons their lib- 

 erty of action in this question. It was passed 

 by the Cantonal Council on March 19th. In 

 the National Council it was at first rejected, but 

 was finally passed on March 28th. The ques- 



