828 



SWITZERLAND. 



Of the total number, 211,019 were foreign- 

 ers. The religious statistics, according to the 

 census of 1880 were as follows: 



Protestants 1,667,109 



Catholics 1,160,782 



Jews 7,878 



Others 10,838 



The population was divided as follows among 

 the difl'erent languages : 



German. . . 2,080,783 



French 608,017 



Italian 161,928 



Romance 88,705 



Others *)(<>75 



The number of marriages in 1879 was 19,- 

 447; the number of births in 1880, 87,395 ; of 

 deaths, 65,690 ; and of still-births, 8,247. The 

 number of emigrants in 1880 was 7,225, of 

 whom 5,792 went to North America. 



The population of the principal cities in 

 1880 was as follows : 



Geneva , 59,043 



Geneva(with suburbs) 63,820 



Zurich 25,102 



Zurich (with suburbs) 75,956 



Basel 61,899 



Bern 44,037 



Lausanne 80.179 



Chaux-de-Fonds 22,456 



St. Gall 21,433 



Lucerne 17,S50 



In the budget for 1881 the revenue was esti- 

 mated at 40,741,500 francs, and the expendi- 

 ture at 40,955,500 francs. The property of the 

 state in 1880 amounted to 51,117,348 francs, 

 and the debts to 37,442,029 francs. The length 

 of railroads in operation in 1879'was 2,573 kilo- 

 metres. The length of telegraph lines in 1880 

 was 6,554 kilometres, and of the wires, 16,058 

 kilometres. 



The Federal Assembly met in an extraordi- 

 nary session in February. Vice-President Droz 

 was elected President of the Confederation, 

 Councilor Bavier being chosen to succeed him 

 as Vice-President. 



A law was passed regulating the emission of 

 bank-notes by private and cantonal banks, re- 

 quiring a reserve to be held against the issues 

 of forty per cent in specie, and cantonal bonds 

 or good commercial paper to guarantee the 

 remainder. The project of a Federal state. 

 bank was therefore defeated, and the security 

 of the bank issues not materially improved. A 

 coinage law to make small coins of nickel and 

 copper without any alloy of silver was passed. 

 A new factory law making employers pecuni- 

 arily answerable for injuries to work-people 

 was enacted. A new law for the official in- 

 spection and guarantee of the fineness of gold 

 and silver wares was enacted. 



In the election of the Federal Council by the 

 Federal Assembly in December the Councilors 

 were all retained in office, namely, Welti, Ham- 

 mer, Bavier, and Hertenstein, who are counted 

 as moderate Liberals, and Droz, Schenck, and 

 Ruchonnet, representing the Radical wing of 

 the party. In accordance with the usual cus- 

 tom the Vice-President (Bavier) was elected 

 President of the Confederation for 1882, 

 Kuchonnet being elected his successor as Vice- 



President. The departments were distributed 

 among the Councilors in the following man- 

 ner: President, Bavier, alternate Ruchonnet; 

 Interior, Schenck, alternate Droz ; Justice 

 and Police, Ruchonnet, alternate Welti ; War, 

 Hertenstein, alternate Hammer; Finance and 

 Customs, Hammer, alternate Hertenstein ; 

 Commerce and Agriculture, Droz, alternate 

 Schenck; Post-office and Railroads, Welti, al- 

 ternate Bavier. 



The election of Ruchonnet into the execu- 

 tive body in February to succeed the deceased 

 Councilor Anderwert changed in some re- 

 spects the character of the Federal Council. 

 The majority which was constituted by this 

 accession was inclined to construe more strict- 

 ly the paragraphs of the compromise Consti- 

 tution adopted in 1874, which were unwelcome 

 to the Catholic cantons, particularly the anti- 

 Jesuit law and the article requiring the cantons 

 to provide satisfactory gratuitous and compul- 

 sory primary instruction in secular schools, 

 conducted under civil direction exclusively. 

 The Radical party were inveighed against in 

 several of the cantons, particularly in Geneva, 

 for tendencies toward centralization which 

 they were charged with following. With 

 the cry against " centralization " and " Ger- 

 manization " an uncommonly passionate elec- 

 toral campaign was carried on in the autumn, 

 but the Radical-Liberal party came out victori- 

 ous with a greater and more largely Radical 

 majority in the National Council. The tend- 

 ency toward centralization is manifested plain- 

 ly in the drift of public sentiment in German 

 Switzerland. Several changes in the Federal 

 Constitution are advocated with more and 

 more effect. The proposition for a national 

 bank-note currency, though once voted down, 

 is gaining in favor. National schools are pro- 

 posed ; and various projects for legislation on 

 trade and industry, protection of workmen, 

 emigration, colonization, etc., reveal the tend- 

 ency. 



The Federal budget for 1882 estimates the 

 total revenue at 41,670,000 francs and the ex- 

 penditures at 42,035,000 francs, showing an 

 expected deficit of 365,000 francs. The items 

 of expenditure under the several heads are as 

 follows : 



ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES. Francs. 



Interest and reduction of debt 1,870,000 



General administrative expenses 739,900 



DEPARTMENTS : 



Executive 298,500 



Interior 2,756,135 



Justice and police 45,000 



Military..... 15,959,449 



Finance 1,719,400 



Customs 1,583.500 



Commerce and Agriculture . . 800.550 



Post-Offlce 14,155,000 



Telegraphs 2,377.000 



Railways 174,188 



89,414,722 



Incidental 10,878 



Total. 



42,035,000 



The Federal Assembly has since the institu- 

 tion of the referendum in 1874 enacted sixty- 



