746 



SWITZERLAND. 



wehr. The strength of the Auszug in 1885 

 was 114,928, that of the Land wehr 85,286 

 men. A commission of superior officers, ap- 

 pointed to elaborate a scheme of frontier de- 

 fense, in 1883 submitted a report to the Mili- 

 tary Department. The Bundesrath found the 

 project too costly, and appropriated only 500,- 

 000 francs for fortification works in 1886. The 

 Swiss militia is the only army in Europe that 

 is armed throughout with repeating rifles. 



Finances. The revenue in 1884 amounted to 

 47,605,079 francs, of which 21.486,578 were 

 derived from customs and 15,384,151 from the 

 post-office. The total disbursements were 46,- 

 190,092 francs. The revenue for 1885 was 

 estimated at 45,882,000 and the expenditure at 

 45,740,000 francs. The customs duties pro- 

 duced in 1885, 21,063,279 francs. The debt of 

 the Confederation on Jan. 1, 1885, amounted 

 to 35,510,342 francs, and the productive capi- 

 tal to 56,848,496 francs. 



In the budget for 1886 the revenue is esti- 

 mated at 57,304,000 francs, and the expendi- 

 ture at 57,774,000 francs. 



The Temperance Question. The plan adopted 

 for combating the growth of intemperance in 

 Switzerland was to impose heavy duties on 

 the importation and manufacture of spirituous 

 liquors. To enable the central Government to 

 carry out this scheme, it was necessary to abol- 

 ish the inter-cantonal tolls and imposts on spir- 

 its, for which a constitutional amendment was 

 requisite. The amendment was carried by the 

 popular vote on Oct. 25. The cantons were 

 promised a share in the new duties that would 

 considerably augment their revenues. The 

 annual consumption of spirituous beverages 

 in Switzerland is estimated to be 200,000,000 

 litres of wine, of which 97,000,000 litres are 

 imported, above 200,000,000 litres of cider, 

 more than 100,000,000 litres of beer, and 

 27,000,000 litres of distilled liquor, of which 

 20,000,000 litres are imported in the form of 

 spirits of wine. There is, besides, a large con- 

 sumption of absinthe, Kirschwasser, brandy 

 made from gentian, and cognac. 



Federal Legislation. A treaty concluded by 

 Col. Frey with the State Department at Wash- 

 ington for the reciprocal protection of trade- 

 marks on Feb. 14, 1885, was approved by the 

 Federal Council in March. The Federal As- 

 sembly, in the session that began Dec. 7 and 

 closed Dec. 24, 1885, passed thirty-five acts, 

 but the most important bills were not acted 

 upon. 



The Church Question in Ticino. The Clerical 

 majority in the Executive Council of the can- 

 ton of Ticino approved of a settlement of the 

 long-standing differences between the civil and 

 clerical authorities that entirely accorded with 

 Clericalist views. The jurisdiction of the apos- 

 tolic administrator was extended to various 

 branches of cantonal and communal adminis- 

 tration and criminal jurisprudence. The pro- 

 posals became law by act of the Grand Coun- 

 cil of the canton. 



The Anarchists in Switzerland. In the early 

 spring, several persons were arrested on sus- 

 picion of being engaged in a dynamite plot to 

 destroy the Federal palace in Bern. About 

 forty persons in Bern, Zurich, St. Gallen, and 

 Geneva were arrested by order of the Federal 

 Council. In a few weeks they were discharged 

 without trial, and it was said that the plot was 

 the work of paid agents provocateurs of the 

 German police. The Federal Council did not 

 rest in its efforts to rid Switzerland of foreign 

 revolutionists. The most obnoxious of this 

 class were the agents of Johann Mostfs "Frei- 

 heit." The spread of socialistic ideas among 

 Swiss working-men gave the propertied classes 

 a special reason for objecting to the presence 

 of foreign anarchists, of whom there were es- 

 timated to be 1,500 in Switzerland. After the 

 Stellmacher affair eleven persons were expelled 

 from the confederation. In June, 1885, on 

 the suggestion of the Police Department, the 

 Federal Council decreed the expulsion of twen- 

 ty-one anarchists. In September, five more 

 were expelled for affixing incendiary placards 

 in the streets of Glarus and Lausanne. 



The Simplon Tunnel. The financial arrange- 

 ments for tunneling the Simplon have been 

 concluded. The work is estimated to cost 89,- 

 070,000 francs, and is to be completed in seven 

 years. The sum of 67,000,000 francs is to be 

 raised on 3 per cent, mortgage bonds, guaran- 

 teed by the Federal Government and the 

 cantons of western Switzerland ; 4,500,000 

 francs of the capital are contributed by the 

 Federation, and 4,000,000 by western Switz- 

 erland. 



Conference for the Protection of Literary Property. 

 An international conference for drafting an 

 international copyright convention met at Bern 

 on Sept. 7. France, England, the United States, 

 Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands were rep- 

 resented by their accredited diplomatic agents; 

 Germany, Italy, and Sweden, by special dele- 

 gates. Federal Councilor Droz presided. There 

 were delegates also from the Argentine Repub- 

 lic, Paraguay, Hayti, Honduras, Costa Rica, 

 and Tunis. The project for a treaty provides 

 that the states forming the union for the pro- 

 tection of authors' and artists' rights in their 

 works shall each extend to the citizens of the 

 other states the same rights in their intellectual 

 productions that their laws give to their own 

 citizens. The previous publication of a work 

 does not debar an author of his rights. The 

 duration of copyright follows the law of the 

 country where the work is first published, or, 

 in case of simultaneous publication, of the 

 country where the copyright period is shortest. 

 A copyright can be obtained in any of the 

 states composing the union by fulfilling the 

 conditions and formalities required of its own 

 citizens. Publishers can copyright the works 

 of authors belonging to states outside of the 

 copyright union. The author of a literary work, 

 or his heirs and assigns, enjoy the exclusive right 

 of translation in all the states of the union for ten 



