774 



SWITZERLAND. 



over $1,600,000,000. There were 3,418,000,- 

 000 letters delivered in Europe ; 1,246,000,000 

 in America; 75,000,000 in Asia; 36,000,000 

 in Australia, and 11,000,000 in Africa, making 

 3'5 letters for every inhabitant of the earth, 

 according to the returns of the Postal Union, 

 and those of countries not yet forming a part 

 of the Union. 



AEMY. The Federal army is composed of 

 the regular army (Bundesanszug), to which all 

 are liable between the ages of twenty and 

 thirty-two, and the reserve (Landwehr), which 

 comprises all the male citizens between thirty- 

 three and forty-four years of age. The strength 

 of the regular army on the 1st of January, 

 1882, was 115,754; of the reserve, 92,178 men; 

 together, 208,216 men. 



FINANCES. The total receipts of the Federal 

 Treasury, in 1881, were 43,383,026 francs, of 

 which 655,568 were derived from public prop- 

 erty, 214,708 from capital at interest, 17,436,496 

 from customs, 15, 998,837 from posts, 2,496,039 

 from telegraphs, 1,274,084 from the mint, 1,- 

 705,981 from the military administration, prin- 

 cipally the half of the military tax accruing to 

 the Federal Treasury, 3,243,378 from the Fed- 

 eral laboratory, powder-factory, and other 

 monopolies, and 357,935 from other sources. 

 The total disbursements were 42,717,493 francs, 

 of which 1,870,583 were for interest and re- 

 payments, 816,522 for the general cost of the 

 Government, 4,845,603 for the departments, 

 12,614,971 for the army, 14,129,741 for the 

 post-office, and 8,440,073 for the telegraphs, 

 mint, laboratory, and other purposes. 



The budget for 1882 makes the total receipts 

 41,929,000 francs, and the total expenditures 

 42,294,000 francs. 



The combined net receipts and expenditures 

 of the cantons and those of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment, for 1876, are shown in the following 

 summary, giving the amounts in francs : 



The debt of the Confederation amounted on 

 the 31st of December, 1881, to 36,947,044 

 francs, and the assets to 52,939,752 francs. 

 The aggregate cantonal debts, in 1877, amount- 

 ed to 252,793,373 francs, and the aggregate 

 assets to 456,267,202 francs. All of the twen- 

 ty-five cantons and half -cantons except seven 

 had assets in excess of their liabilities. The 

 excess in both Bern and Zurich was over fifty 

 million, and in Aargau over twenty-five mill- 

 ion francs. 



A new commercial treaty was concluded 

 with France, after some delay, owing to the 

 demands of the French protectionists. The 

 trade with France is large and important, es- 

 pecially to the Swiss dairy interest. The ex- 

 ports of Swiss cheese to France rose from 600,- 

 000 francs in 1856 to 8,500,000 francs in 1881, 

 corresponding to a weight of 55,000 metric 

 quintals. Conventions were arranged with 

 France also on the subjects of the residence of 

 the citizens of one country in the other, and 

 the protection of literary and artistic property, 

 and of trade-marks. The opening of the St. 

 Gothard Tunnel and the project of a new Fran- 

 co-Swiss railroad are described elsewhere. 



FOKEIGN RELATIONS. The Swiss Govern- 

 ment, which took the lead in furthering the 

 Postal Union, the Red-Cross Association, and 

 similar humane and utilitarian international 

 projects, proposed in 1882 two new subjects 

 for international agreement. One was a com- 

 mon basis of factory legislation. This was re- 

 jected by the various governments by the 

 German, because factory laws were considered 

 a matter of internal moment ; by the French, 

 because it did not wish to be bound in this 

 question by international regulations ; by the 

 British, on the ground of the unequal industrial 

 conditions of different countries; and by the 

 Austrian and Italian, because the basis of com- 

 mon legislation was not elucidated in the pro- 

 posal of the Federal Council. The second prop- 

 osition was for an international standard of 

 fineness for the precious metals, and reciprocal 

 recognition of the official inspection of each 

 country. This was rejected by all the Euro- 

 pean governments. 



POLITICS AND LEGISLATION. The elections of 

 November, 1881, gave the Radical party a ma- 

 jority in the National Council. This party, 

 opposed by the aristocratic and clerical ele- 

 ments in the French and Italian cantons and 

 by the German party in German Switzerland, 

 does not represent an absolute majority of the 

 nation. In consequence, the right of the ref- 

 erendum was exercised in 1882, to an extent 

 which makes the efforts of the last generation 

 to establish a national government in the place 

 of the former loose confederation of semi- 

 independent states appear fruitless, and the 

 National Assembly a useless institution, since 

 its decisions are alway overturned by the ple- 

 biscite. The most important question which 

 has exercised Switzerland in recent times is 

 that of national defense. It was the growth 



