SWITZERLAND 



5662 



SWITZERLAND 



in Bern, Baden and Schaffhausen draw numer- 

 ous travelers to those places. Lured by the 

 magnificent scenery, many tourists go annually 

 to Switzerland, thus increasing its prosperity. 



Transportation. Switzerland has practically 

 no navigable rivers, as the streams have very 

 rapid currents, but there are about 3,530 miles 

 of railway in the republic. There are five main 

 railroad systems, all owned and operated by 

 the national government. There is also a net- 

 work of carriage roads, and these are kept in 

 admirable condition. 



Government. Switzerland is a confederation 

 of twenty-two cantons, three of which, Basel, 

 Appenzell and Unterwalden, are politically di- 

 vided into two half-cantons each. Four are 

 called Forest Cantons, namely Schwyz, Uri, 

 Unterwalden and Lucerne. They are grouped 

 about Lake Lucerne. As Schwyz was the 

 most prominent in the war for freedom, and 

 members of the confederacy for independence 

 were known to the outside world as Switzers, 

 this canton ultimately gave its name to the 

 entire league. Each canton has its own con- 

 stitution and local government, and is divided 

 for administrative purposes into districts. The 

 districts are in turn divided into communes. 

 In nearly all of the cantons the principle of 

 the initiative and the referendum is successfully 

 applied. The Swiss cantons are republics in 

 miniature, having extensive powers in local 

 affairs. 



The capital of the Swiss confederation is 

 Bern. The executive power is vested in a 

 Federal Council of seven members elected for 

 a term of three years by the two houses of the 

 Federal Legislature, or Assembly. There are 

 seven departments of administration, each de^ 

 partment being under the control of one mem- 

 ber of the Council. The president of the Coun- 

 cil, chosen by the Council members for a term 

 of one year, is also President of the confedera- 

 tion. The relations of the Council to the Legis- 

 lature are somewhat the same as those of the 

 Cabinet of Great Britain to Parliament. 



The two houses of the Legislature are the 

 National Council and the Council of Estates, 

 the Swiss names for these bodies being Na~ 

 tionalrat and Stdnderat. The Council of Es- 

 tates is composed of two members from each 

 canton, whose terms vary from one to four 

 years. Each canton regulates the tenure of 

 office, salary and qualifications of its own rep- 

 resentatives. The National Council is made up 

 of members chosen for three-year terms by 

 direct universal suffrage, the membership being 



apportioned on the basis of one deputy to 

 every 20,000 souls. By virtue of the initiative 

 and referendum, the people may draw up and 

 present to the Legislature measures they wish 

 to have enacted into law. 



Defense. The Swiss military system, em- 

 bodying the principle of universal liability to 

 service, is famous. Instead of a standing army, 

 there is a national militia of the republic, com- 

 posed of its male citizens, who are trained to 

 defend the country against invasion. All males 

 between the ages of twenty and forty-eight are 

 liable to military service, with the exception of 

 certain Federal employees, clergymen, teachers 

 and policemen, and those who are disqualified 

 for physical reasons. The excused or rejected 

 must pay certain special taxes. The first 

 twelve years are spent in the first line, or Aus- 

 zug, the following eight in the Landwehr, and 

 the next eight in the Landsturm. (Cavalrymen 

 serve eleven years in the Auszug and twelve in 

 the Landwehr.) During their first year in the 

 service the men are trained in special recruit 

 schools, and at the end of the term each one 

 takes home his equipment and arms. These he 

 must keep in good condition. After the first 

 year men in the first line are called out six 1 times 

 for about two weeks of service. In the Land- 

 wehr they are called out but once, and then 

 for a period of eleven days. Each man must 

 report to the military authorities every year in 

 which he is not in active service. The Land- 

 sturm consists, only of men who have under- 

 gone some training. The unarmed Landsturm 

 comprises all other men between the ages of 

 twenty and fifty who can be used for various 

 kinds of noncombatant duties. 



Education. Elementary education is obli- 

 gatory in all of the cantons, but the law is 

 most rigidly enforced in the Protestant com- 

 munities. The percentage of illiteracy among 

 men eligible for military service is very low, 

 only one out of one thousand being unable to 

 read. There are seven universities in the coun- 

 try, at Basel, Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, 

 Fribourg and Neuchatel. The Federal govern- 

 ment maintains a polytechnic school at Zurich. 



History. The country in Roman times was 

 the home of the Helvetians and the Rhaetians, 

 who at different times were conquered by Ro- 

 man armies. During the German invasions 

 Switzerland was occupied by the Alemanni and 

 the Burgundians, and eventually the whole 

 country became a part of the empire of the 

 Franks. In the eleventh century it came under 

 the rule of the German emperors, and so be- 



