The Swiss Republic

by Boyd Winchester

The citizens of the United States residing in Switzerland, of whom there are quite a number engaged in prosperous and large industries, still come under the treaty concluded between Switzerland and the United States in 1850, long previous to the passage of the tax-law (1878), Article II. of which reads: “The citizens of one of the two countries, residing or established in the other, shall be free from personal military service, but they shall be liable to the pecuniary or material contributions which may be required by way of compensation, from citizens of the country where they reside, who are exempt from that service.” This article seems to contemplate the imposition of a penalty for the non-performance of a duty from which the party is specially exempted. It is susceptible of a plausible argument, that a proper construction of this article does not warrant the collection of the tax imposed by the Swiss law of 1878, from the United States citizens residing there. For this tax is not in fact a “pecuniary contribution” required from citizens of Switzerland who are exempt from personal military service, but is a tax required only from citizens who by reason of their age are subject to military service, but who in consequence of physical or other disability cannot perform it. That the words, “by way of compensation,” were not intended to qualify the phrase, “pecuniary or material contribution,” but refer to, “shall be free from personal military service.” Should a citizen of the United States residing in Switzerland prefer to render personal military service rather than pay the tax, his service would not be accepted; he would be informed that by virtue of the treaty with his country he is “free from personal military service, but liable to the pecuniary or material contribution,” and he must pay his tax,—“your money and not your service is what we wish.” If his service was accepted, it would carry an implication of the right to enforce either personal service or in lieu thereof the payment of a commutation tax for exemption. The language of the treaty obviously contemplated only such general contribution as might be required of all classes of citizens, and excludes the idea of a special tax levied upon an exceptional class. During the last war in the United States the tax exemption or commutation, to which a certain class of citizens were subjected by the draft law, did not interfere with domiciliary rights. There is to-day no exaction on the part of the United States government from foreign citizens domiciled or established within them, of any pecuniary or material contributions of a military nature; nor is it believed that there is any such exaction on the part of any of the States.[70] The Swiss construction of the treaty, as to the liability of the United States citizens residing therein to this tax, was substantially conceded by our Department of State in 1876, and left the remedy to be sought by an international treaty. The Swiss government has indicated its willingness to enter upon the negotiation of such a conventional agreement to effect the relief of United States citizens from this tax, after the manner prescribed by the law of 1878, and which was promptly acted upon by all the European powers. The government of the United States has not found it expedient to do this. Many difficulties are suggested.

In parts of Switzerland there has appeared some dissatisfaction with the military service and tax. It is alleged to be an unnecessary waste of money expended on the country’s armed forces, draining its limited resources to no practical purpose, and that an unprofitable and irksome task is imposed upon them by this assessment. The statesmen of Switzerland stand united in the expression that it is the only way to be sure of their neutrality being respected; as was abundantly proven by the prompt presence of the federal troops compelling Bourbaki’s corps of 80,000 men, when in 1871 they were driven into the Swiss territory, the moment they crossed the line, to lay down their arms; and thereby saved the German army from crossing the frontier of the Confederation and engaging the French on Swiss soil. The President of the Confederation, in his address to the Tir fédéral of 1887, voiced the prevailing sentiment when he said: “The government of Switzerland would remain foremost in maintaining peace and pride in its arts as the supreme glory of the republic; and would constantly endeavor to preserve her neutrality, but to do this she must not rely altogether on treaties, but also look to her own strength and energy; to keep her soldiery in condition to show that the adequacy of the Confederation to all the needs of national life is, in no single department, taken on trust. He therefore would urge them to be assiduous in improving military training, to add such training to the education of the youth, to hold rifle contests and to perfect drills, all of which should be animated by a free fraternal spirit.” Notwithstanding the constitution forbids the Confederation to keep a standing army, or any Canton to have more than three hundred men as a permanent military body, every able-bodied Swiss is a soldier of the republic; not on paper merely or by legal and constitutional fiction, but actually. The necessity of self-defence forced Switzerland to be the very first power in which universal liability to military service was introduced in Europe, many years and even centuries before other countries had recognized the principle, which is now almost universal. The Swiss army is based upon a “voluntary-compulsory” system. It is essentially a force of militia intended for defensive purposes only. Admirable as it is in a military and economic sense, it is scarcely more than a summer holiday, compared with the rigid and grinding martial duties under the other European systems. Two things make it a light burden, if not a diversion, for the Swiss. They have a strong natural military instinct coming down through generations.[71] Then this instinct is in every possible manner encouraged and developed by the government, the Canton, and the Commune. The elements of drill begin with the very first week of a boy’s schooling, as soon as he can stand erect or poise a stick. All kinds of games are practised that tend to open and expand the chest, to nerve the limbs, give carriage to the form, and serve to strengthen, temper, and adjust it. All these exercises fit him and, in fact, contemplate his becoming in time a soldier. He not only learns in his youth the elements of drill and the use of arms, but habits of obedience, order, and cleanliness; and even those yet higher duties of a camp, the will to mingle class with class, to put down personal hopes and seek no object but the public good.

The Schützenfest, liberally encouraged by the government, is held biennially. This is in many respects the parallel of the ancient Greek festival game, which served the purpose of keeping alive the national spirit. It is the most important and popular public gathering in Switzerland; the entries for the various prizes running as high as 100,000. It is uniformly opened by a formal address from the President of the Confederation and attended by all the leading men of the country. It is a national fête day. Then there are the Sociétés de tir, cantonal and communal shooting societies, which number about 1600, with over 100,000 members. These societies compete one with the other, and in event of their conforming to certain regulations receive subsidies from the Confederation. These regulations require:

1. Every member of the Élite or Landwehr must, on application, be admitted to the club, if he is able and willing to pay his share of the expense for targets, markers, etc.

2. The club must number at least twenty members.

3. The firing exercises must be done with the regulation arms and ammunition; each soldier must use his own gun; regulation targets must be had, and at least ten shots fired at every meeting, at each of the distances named.

4. To receive the subsidy, every member of the club must annually take part in at least three firing exercises, and must fire a total of fifty shots, of which at least ten must be at one of the regulation distances and regulation targets.

Every Swiss man therefore is drilled, armed, and ready to turn out and fight; in his house, within arm’s reach, must hang his gun, his uniform, and sword. The concierge who accepts your pourboire may be a captain in the line, and the driver of your voiture a corporal. Some one, writing of the universal fusion between the military and civic elements, tells this incident: A gentleman called to see a lawyer on business; asking the servant if the lawyer was in, he answered, “The colonel is not here, sir, but you can see the major.” So the visitor was shown in, and saw the major, who was the lawyer’s partner, and when he made a statement of his business, he was told, “That is not in my department, the captain will look after it.” The captain was the firm’s clerk, and while talking to him, a second clerk came into the office, whom the captain saluted, saying, “Good day, lieutenant.”

In the public schools even the girls receive some training which fits them to be useful auxiliaries in the army. They learn to stanch the flow of blood, to dress a gunshot wound, and to nurse the sick; they know some chemistry and are quick at sewing, binding, dressing, and such medical arts. And if need, they would march in line with knapsacks on their backs, as their mothers did in times past. The Helvetic women fought against the army of Octavianus Augustus in 16 B.C., and when all was lost, hurled their young children at the Roman soldiers and rushed forward to meet their own death. In the old days of trial by judicial combat, assumere duellum, the chronicles of 1288 contained this curious entry: Duellum fuit in Bern inter virum et mulierem, sed mulier prevaluit. Not only men but women fought at the battle of Stantz, and among the killed were counted one hundred and thirty women. During the French invasion of 1798, upward of eight hundred women took up arms in the Landsturm, and bore all the fire of the enemy in the last actions. At Fraubrunnen two hundred and sixty women received the enemy with scythes, pitchforks, and pickaxes; one hundred and eighty were killed, and one of them, whose name was Glar, had two daughters and three granddaughters who fought by her side,—these six heroines all were found among the dead. In the Swiss Reformed Church, in administering the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper, the men go up first and the women afterwards, with the single exception of Geiss, in Appenzell, where, on account of their service at the battle of Amstoss, the women go up first.

The Swiss owe their reputation to their freedom, and their freedom to their valor. Their military spirit is entirely free from greed of territory, lust of power, “the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war,” and other forces far from admirable in their motive, which give prominence and predominance to modern armaments; it is inspired by motives of civic manhood and manly self-assertion. A small and by no means rich nation that relaxes not from its attitude of defence is less likely to be attacked, though surrounded by powerful and ambitious neighbors, than another nation which possesses wealth, commerce, population, and all the sinews of war in far greater abundance, but is unprepared. The more sleek the prey, the greater is the temptation, and “no wolf will leave a sheep to dine upon a porcupine.”