In 1887 there were exported to the United States 4,262,000 pounds, at an invoice valuation of $658,000. During the Alpine pasture season the cheese is made in the little stone huts or sennes of the herdsmen, and brought down in the autumn; the herdsman will descend from the pastures with a cheese weighing from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five pounds on his shoulders. The larger the cheese the better its quality. Each cow is supposed to yield a hundred-weight of cheese during the summer months. The average of fat contained in the milk of the best Swiss cows is three and three-tenths per cent., though in a few cases it may show four to four and a half per cent. of fat or oil. The several varieties of cheese are classified: either according to consistency of material, as dur, ferme, and mou (hard, firm, and soft); or according to the proportion of fatty matter, as gras, migras, or maigre (rich, medium, or thin); or according to the coagulation, whether by rennet (à pressure) or by sour milk (à lait aigre). The better kinds of Swiss cheese are as much the products of skill and high art as the Swiss watch and Swiss embroidery. The best and most abundant, retaining nearly all the elements of the milk, with its nutritive value, is the Emmenthal, known as the Schweizerkäse, and is made in the valley of the Emme, Canton of Bern. This is a round cheese eighty to one hundred centimetres in diameter, ten to fifteen centimetres thick, and weighing from fifty to one hundred kilos. or more. Next in importance is the Gruyère, called after the village of that name in Freiburg, around which it is asserted grow succulent herbs of aromatic juices, that perfume the milk of which this cheese is made, that is so well known and highly appreciated throughout the world. Another celebrated cheese is the Schabzieger, or green cheese, known as the Sago or Sapsago. Its manufacture dates back to the tenth century, and it is still largely produced in the Canton of Glarus. The peculiarity of this cheese is due partly to the method of coagulation, and partly to treatment with the Schabziegerklee, a plant grown for the purpose in Schwyz. The analysis of the Emmenthal and Gruyère cheeses is given: the former, water, 34.92; fatty matter, 31.26; caseine, 29.88; salts, 3.94: the latter, water, 34.57; fatty matter, 29.12; caseine, 32.51; and salts, 3.80. There is at Cham the largest and most successful milk-condensing factory in the world, with branch establishments in England, Germany, and Orange County, New York. It uses the milk of not less than six to seven thousand cows, and its product is known far and wide. At Romanshorn, also, the Swiss Alpine Milk Exporting Company does an immense export business of pure milk produced from healthy, grass-fed cows. These companies claim to have satisfactorily solved the problem of condensing and preserving milk without altering its original composition, either by the addition of sugar or other preservative substances. Switzerland is veritably the land “flowing with milk and honey, and cattle upon a thousand hills.” Great attention is paid to apiaries; the honey is famed for its aroma and delicacy; though some tourists are disposed to doubt if that which is on every breakfast-table is all the product of the little busy hymenopteran.
The first railway on Swiss soil was a short piece from St. Louis to Basel, opened in 1844; but the first purely Swiss line was that from Zurich to Baden, opened in 1847; yet Switzerland has to-day more railways in proportion to area than any other country of Europe. Its railroad mileage per ten thousand population, stands third in Europe, being exceeded only by Sweden and Denmark; and in outlay for the same per capita, it comes second, England being first. By a federal law of 1872, the right to grant concessions to railroads was vested solely in the Confederation, but the co-operation of the Cantons was to be sought in the preliminary negotiations. The revised Constitution of 1874 expressly sanctioned the condition into which railroad affairs had been brought by previous legislation; for the 23d article repeats the constitutional provisions of 1848 regarding public works, and another article is added; the 26th declaring that “legislation on the construction and management of railroads belongs to the Confederation.” All railroad companies, whether confined to a single Canton or running within the limits of more than one, and of whatever length, from trunk lines down to the shortest funicular, desiring a concession, must first apply to the Federal Council, submitting the necessary documents and information. These are at once transmitted by the Federal Council to the cantonal government or governments through which the projected railway proposes to run, and negotiations take place between cantonal authorities and representatives of the railway as to the concessions asked for, under the presidency of a delegation of the Federal Council, including the chief of that particular department. After the Federal Council has settled the terms of the concession, it sends a message, with the text of the proposed conditions, to the Federal Assembly for their consideration. The ultimate decision rests with the Federal Assembly, and they may grant a concession even if the Canton opposes it. The purchase of the Swiss railways by the Confederation has been much discussed of late years, but so far without any result. The Confederation has left the development of railroads to private enterprises, and never exercised its right of subsidies to railways except in the case of the St. Gothard Company, which pierced the Alps with a tunnel of incalculable value to the whole of Switzerland. By this tunnel Switzerland overcame the isolation resulting from an altitude above the sea; linking north and south, central Europe and Italy, in new bonds of amity, and opening through the very heart of the Alps a new highway for the nations. It is one of the greatest triumphs of modern engineering, one of the grandest monuments of human skill. It is the longest tunnel in the world, being fifteen kilometres long, or nearly nine and a half miles; one and a half miles longer than the Mont Cenis tunnel. In addition to the great tunnel there are fifty-two smaller tunnels approaching it, making a total length of tunnels in getting through the Alps fifteen miles. The St. Gothard railway proper extends from Immensee, in Switzerland, to Chiasso, in Italy, a distance of one hundred and thirteen miles, and there are in all not less than fifty-six tunnels, comprising more than one-fifth of the whole line, or twenty-three miles of tunnelling. The width of the great tunnel is twenty-six feet and the height nineteen feet. It requires, at express-train speed, sixteen minutes to pass through it. It is about one thousand feet below Andermatt, and five thousand to six thousand five hundred feet below the peaks of the St. Gothard. The preliminary works were begun at Göschenen, on the north side, June the 4th, and at Airolo, on the south side, July the 2d, 1872. Louis Favre, of Geneva, was the contractor.[83] On February 28, 1880, a perforation from the south side penetrated the last partition between north and south sections, and the workmen on either side exchanged greetings. On the 22d of May, 1882, the first train passed over the line, and every town from Luzern to Milan celebrated the completion with banquets and excursions; and its business, passenger and traffic, at once assumed immense proportions. The construction cost 56,000,000 francs; which was partly paid by subventions from Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, the conditions and respective amounts of which were the subject of a treaty between these governments. It penetrates the mountain like a corkscrew, making four complete loops within a distance of twenty miles, in order to attain the requisite elevation, when it emerges into daylight only to enter again the main tunnel. The waters of the Reuss and the Ticino supplied the necessary motive power for working the screws attached to the machinery for compressing the air. The borers applied to the rock the piston of a cylinder made to rotate with great rapidity by the pressure of air, reduced to one-twentieth of its ordinary volume; then, when they had made the holes sufficiently deep, they withdrew the machines and charged the mines with dynamite. After the explosion, the débris was cleared away and the borers returned to their place. This work was carried on day and night for nearly ten consecutive years. The official report shows that three hundred and ten of the workmen were killed by accidents during the building of the tunnel, and eight hundred and seventy-seven were wounded or received minor injuries. The work was done by Italians; no others would accept so much toil and danger for so little pay. There were used in its construction 2,000,000 pounds of dynamite and 700,000 kilos. of illuminating oil. The problem of keeping the temperature and atmosphere of the tunnel within a limit involving perfect safety to persons passing through it, proved one of the most difficult encountered. It was satisfactorily solved by the establishment of immense steam-pumping machines, which constantly throw in an ample supply of fresh air, and maintain a temperature never rising above 20° Celsius or 68° Fahrenheit. There is at present being projected, by the Italian and Swiss governments, the Simplon tunnel, to pierce the Alps about midway between Mont Cenis and St. Gothard, which will be one kilometre longer than the St. Gothard,—that is, sixteen kilometres, or about ten miles in length.
In practical engineering the Swiss may challenge rivalry with any other nation. The suspension bridge at Freiburg, constructed in 1834, at that time had the largest single curve of any bridge in the world, being nine hundred feet in length, and one hundred and eighty high. One of the most daring feats of modern engineering is the cog-wheel railway up to Pilatus-culm, on the Lake of Luzern, six thousand seven hundred and twenty-four feet high. The road-bed is of solid masonry faced with granite blocks. Streams and gorges are traversed by means of stone bridges. There are seven tunnels from thirty to three hundred feet in length. The rack-rail, midway between and somewhat higher than the tracks, is of wrought steel, and has a double row of vertical cogs milled out of solid steel bars. The locomotive and car containing thirty-two seats form one train, with two movable axles and four cog-wheels gripping the cogs, and which, on downward trips, can be controlled by vigorous automatic brakes. The speed of the locomotive is two hundred feet per minute. The road has an average gradient of about one foot in every two. Another piece of skilful engineering and of much scientific interest is the new electric mountain railway up the Burgenstock, also on the Lake of Luzern, it being the first application of this powerful agent to a mountain railway. The primary source of the motive power is three miles away, where an immense water-wheel of one hundred and fifty horse-power has been erected. This works two dynamoes, each of thirty horse-power. The electricity thus generated is transmitted for three miles across the valley, by means of insulated copper wires, to another pair of dynamoes, the negatives of the first, placed in a station at the head of the railway. Here the electric force is converted into mechanical power by the ordinary connection of leather belts, gearing the dynamoes, to two large driving-wheels of nine feet diameter. Then by shafting and cogs the power is carried on to an immense wheel of sixteen feet diameter, and around this passes a wire rope with each end connected to the cars. One man only is required to control the motion of the cars. The whole apparatus for this purpose is arranged compactly before him, and no scientific knowledge is required to manage it. Switzerland has developed the use of electricity to a greater extent, probably, than any other country; the mountain streams furnishing a power ready to hand, and the Swiss in every possible way are utilizing it for electrical purposes. There is a railway to the summit of the Jungfrau being projected that will surpass all existing works of the kind. It will be built entirely in the rim of the mountain, in order that it may be completely safe from storms, avalanches, and landslips. The tunnel will be on the western slope, which is very steep but the shortest route. It will start from Stegmalten, two miles from Lauterbrunnen, a point two thousand eight hundred feet above the sea, running a southeasterly direction, under the Mönch and the Silver Horn, to the summit. The road is estimated to be twenty-one thousand four hundred and fifty feet in length, and will run as close beneath the surface of the mountain as possible. The engineers supervising the construction are Herr Köchlin, who was one of M. Eiffel’s principal assistants in building the lofty tower in Paris, and Colonel Locher, of Luzern, the constructor of the Mount Pilatus Railway. The cost is put at 56,000,000 francs, and it is to be completed within five years. The magnitude of this work is shown in the statement that the quantity of rock necessary to be removed is thirteen times that taken from the St. Gothard tunnel. At Winterthur and Schaffhausen, locomotives, other engines and heavy machinery of superior character, are being made, with occasional shipments even to the United States. The recent movement of Switzerland, following the example of other civilized nations, in adopting a patent law, will give a new impulse to the natural mechanical genius of its citizens, and the resultant establishment of other prosperous manufacturing plants. This patent law, which went into effect November, 1888, protects only material objects and not processes. This feature is said to be due to the efforts of the manufacturers of aniline colors and chemicals, whose interest would be injuriously affected by a law as comprehensive as that of the United States, which protects “useful arts” and “compositions of matter” as well as tools and machines.
If a country’s roads be the “measure of its civilization,” Switzerland would be easily first. Many of the roads, specially in the Alpine districts, represent an immense cost and the boldest engineering. There is not in the country a road for the use of which toll is charged; for, to their apprehension, a toll would be a contradiction of the very purpose for which the road was made. There is a road-master (wegmeister) for every Commune, but he is appointed and paid by the Canton. Though there is so much rainfall, the soil being permeable and favorable to the percolation of the water, the roads, even after a heavy rain, rapidly become dry and clean; everywhere you find them as skilfully constructed and vigilantly repaired as the drives through a park; the cost of their construction and maintenance is defrayed by cantonal and communal taxation. The importance of the mountain roads is recognized by a provision in the constitution, by which the Cantons of Uri, Grisons, Ticino, and Valais receive an annual indemnity on account of their international Alpine roads; to Uri 80,000 francs; to Grisons 200,000 francs; to Ticino 200,000 francs; to Valais 50,000 francs, with an additional indemnity of 40,000 francs to the Cantons of Uri and Ticino for clearing the snow from St. Gothard road, so long as that road shall not be replaced by a railroad.[84] These sums are to be withheld by the federal government if the roads are not kept in suitable condition.
The “fremden-industrie,” or exploitation of foreigners, is not the least profitable industry of the country. There are over 400 mountain resorts, and, in fact, for months the entire country is one great consolidated hotel company.[85] Palatial hostleries with metropolitan menus and salles à manger, bengal lights and brass bands, reached by cable roads, are perched on crags where only the eagle used to build his eyrie or the chamois seek refuge. In July and August a quarter of a million tourists fill this little mountain country through its length and breadth with their joyfulness and jargon. This annual irruption constitutes a perennial well-spring of good fortune to many branches of industry and to a large number of Swiss people.
CHAPTER XVI.
PEASANT HOME AND LIFE.
“Mid the murmurings of his fountains,
And the echoes of his mountains,
Where the lordly eagle soars,
Where the headlong torrent roars,