THE CITIZEN ARMY OF SWITZERLAND 



507 



soldier, able to separate at a glance the 

 essentials from the non-essentials, would 

 see in those regiments men who had re- 

 ceived excellent training in field work, 

 and in whose instruction nothing was 

 omitted that would make them, when 

 marching to their country's defense, de- 

 pendable and trustworthy troops. Com- 

 bined with their training, they possess a 

 sparkling patriotism and a deep courage, 

 inherited from ancestors who had no fear 

 of death. These qualities, united with 

 a love of country unsurpassed in any 

 known people, are such that no nation 

 would enter into a conflict with them 

 lightly ; for, being a nation in arms, pre- 

 ferring annihilation to defeat, they are 

 bound to compel universal respect. 



A RESOURCEFUL SOLDIER 



The daily life of the Swiss citizen 

 inures him to hardship and fatigue ; the 

 high educational standards of his coun- 

 try give him perhaps a higher average of 

 intelligence than any rank and file in Eu- 

 rope ; generations of battling with the 

 mountains have made him ingenious and 

 resourceful, and he combines the dash of 

 the Frenchman with the stolid courage 

 of the Briton. If to these qualities you 

 add the fact that as a marcher he is tire- 

 less, as a marksman he is without a peer, 

 all that is left for the severest military 

 critic to desire are the few tricks of the 

 parade ground, which any drill sergeant 

 readily can teach him. 



The Swiss government does everything 

 in its power to stimulate the interest of 

 the boys in marksmanship, although not 

 long ago it was forced to enact a law 

 against too much military parading by 

 irresponsible gatherings of youngsters. 

 During a recent year there were nearly 

 13,000 boys, between the ages of eleven 

 and twenty years, engaged in shooting 

 practice in Switzerland. Their shooting 

 clubs take the place of our baseball 

 teams, and the sand-lot enthusiast of 

 America sees no brighter visions of his 

 becoming a Walter Johnson or a Ty 

 Cobb of one of the big leagues than the 

 boy of Switzerland sees of his succeed- 

 ing to the marksmanship championship 

 of his country. 



Reckoning according to population, if 



we had as many boys under twenty years 

 of age practicing marksmanship as Swit- 

 zerland, we would have approximately 

 400,000. 



MAINTAINING- TARGET PRACTICE 



Every commune in Switzerland is re- 

 quired by federal law to maintain, at pub- 

 lic expense, a safe and suitable target 

 range of not less than 1,000 feet. All 

 legally organized shooting clubs of the 

 commune have a right to use this range 

 without expense. The government gives 

 80 cents a year to each club for each 

 member doing a prescribed amount of 

 shooting during the year. The annual 

 number of shots fired in target practice 

 in the army and in the shooting clubs 

 reaches nearly 30,000,000 rounds, two- 

 thirds of which practice is done by the 

 shooting clubs. 



Any shooting club, having not less than 

 ten members, which complies with the 

 conditions set forth in the law, may .claim 

 the State subsidy. This subsidy is paid 

 to the club instead of the individual, be- 

 ing determined in amount by executive 

 decision each year when the year's firing 

 program is announced. Only the army 

 rifle and army ammunition are recognized 

 by this law. The military authorities of 

 each canton appoint a shooting committee 

 of from three to seven members, who 

 supervise the arrangement and the firing 

 of the various squads in this canton. 

 The president at least must be an officer 

 of the active army. 



Between the shooting matches of the 

 communes, the cantons, and the Confed- 

 eration, Switzerland is able to keep her 

 rifle shooting up to an unprecedented 

 standard of excellence. On fete days 

 one may see men in all the different 

 grades of the service, from the newly 

 joined recruit to the major of his bat- 

 talion, standing side by side in the shoot- 

 ing-club contests. Every Swiss soldier 

 is compelled to fire at least 35 rounds 

 annually. If he does not complete his 

 score at the cantonal rifle meetings, he is 

 obliged to attend a three-days' course of 

 shooting under military supervision. 



While the Swiss militiaman gets noth- 

 ing for his services, on the other hand 

 he is absolved from all expenses. When 



