Photo by Arthur A. Porchet 

 A SWISS SOLDIER ON SENTRY DUTY ON THE GRAND ST. BERNARD 



of the drill that afterward fits him for a 

 soldier. 



When a boy reaches 17 years he is 

 liable to service — a liability which con- 

 tinues until he is 50 years of age. Even 

 after that he may be liable, if he is capa- 

 ble of doing any other army work than 

 soldiering, such as acting as baker, veteri- 

 nary surgeon, or otherwise. 



PEW PROFESSIONAL SOLDIERS 



Yet with all of this universal training, 

 the only people in Switzerland who make 

 arms an exclusive profession are the 

 Commander - in - Chief, selected by the 

 Federal Assembly, and the General Staff. 

 These form the brains of the army. The 

 rank and file belong to the cantons, just 

 as the militia do to the States in this 

 country. 



The Swiss man sacrifices cheerfully a 

 definite amount of his time to preserve 

 his independence as a citizen of a free 

 country. 



Entrenched behind its native rocks, the 

 citizen army of Switzerland contains 

 every element of the nation. The man 

 of wealth and the peasant are found 

 shoulder to shoulder. No man is com- 

 pelled to spend the crucial years of his 

 life away from home in the army, and 

 yet every man is required to contribute 

 his share to that army's maintenance and 

 the nation's safety. 



At the age of 20 every able-bodied 

 Swiss youth becomes a member of the 

 "Auszug," and every one who lacks the 

 necessary qualifications regrets that he is 

 unable to cooperate with other young de- 

 fenders of his country. During the first 

 year of liability he must serve 75 days or 

 more, and 11 days for each successive 

 year he is called to the standard. It is 

 no excuse that he has brothers already in 

 the army, or that he has a widowed 

 mother dependent upon him. The bur- 

 den of preparedness, spread over a na- 

 tion, becomes no onerous task for any 



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