In some portions of this district, the goitre or swelling of the thyroid gland in front of the neck is so prevalent that
“Optimus ille est
Qui minimus urgetur.”
It is not painful, and not always apparently inconvenient, and the few who are free from it are laughed at and called “goose-necked.” A stranger once entering a church in the neighborhood where but few were absolutely free from these unseemly appendages, during service the congregation betrayed improper curiosity, and the pastor, after a sharp reproach for their want of manners, reminded them that it was not the fault of the poor man “if he had no goitre.” By some it is actually considered, in a mild form, to be desirable; for it possesses a positive money value in furnishing exemption from military service. Now and then these monstrous excrescences become too large to be borne, and the poor victims crawl on the ground because they cannot walk upright under the weight. There is a popular as well as scientific belief that water is the vehicle of the poison that produces it; that it is impregnated with tufa or tuf a calcareous matter, whose tendency to concrete among the glands of the neck, aided, perhaps, by stagnant evaporation of narrow villages, produces these wenny protuberances. This goitrous condition is often accompanied with an imperfect or arrested state of mental development known as cretinism, a distinct and most distressful form of idiocy. The cretin has an enormous head that drops listlessly on the breast; a vacant countenance; goggling eyes; thick tongue hanging out over moist, livid lips; mouth always open, full of saliva, and exposing decayed teeth; limbs misshapen; and wanting at times even the power of articulation. Many are deaf and dumb,—in fact, physical abortions, with every sign of bodily and mental imbecility. Few of these poor creatures can do any work, and many are even incapable of taking care of themselves, and not safe to leave alone. These distorted, mindless people, of semi-human attributes, excite a pitying disgust by their loathsome appearance, lolling tongue, obscene gestures, degraded appetites, and senseless gibberish as revolting as their aspects. The word cretin is thought to be derived from the older cretins of the Alps, whose name was a corruption of Chrétien or Christianus, and who, being baptized, and idiots, were supposed to be “washed from original sin” and incapable of actual sin. Cretinism is regarded by physicians as hereditary, for it appears in the most pronounced type in successive generations of the same family. This unfortunate district borders on the most fertile and beautiful valley in Switzerland, the Emmenthal, the rich plain in the northern part of the Canton of Bern, noted for its cheese and its schwingfeste (winnowing-festivals). Here the peasants are sturdy and strong of aspect, and on Sunday the men may be seen walking among their acres like lords of the soil, in their immaculate shirt sleeves of a fulness suggestive of episcopal dignity. It was the neat houses, comfortable dresses, highly-cultivated and generous soil, giving a cheerful and prosperous look to the face alike of the people and the country in this section, that caused so high an authority as Burke to write, “That he had beheld throughout Switzerland, and above all in the Canton of Bern, a people at once the happiest and the best governed on earth.”
CHAPTER XX.
SWITZERLAND THE SEAT OF INTERNATIONAL UNIONS.
It is not a little surprising—when we consider the great and rapid advance that has been made during the last century in diplomacy, jurisprudence, statesmanship, and political economy, and, indeed, in the multifarious branches of knowledge,—that international relations, upon which depend to such an extent the most precious interests of the nations and of all mankind, should remain so long in a condition very crude, indefinite, and incomplete. The “mills of God grind slowly,” but the mills of human government seem even more tedious and rusty. Now that, in the advance of intelligence and civilization, the nations have passed from the self-subsistent stage of national life into the dependent one; now that, through the great discoveries of modern times, the nations have been brought together, compacted into one community, and the interests of all have been blended; now that “the separate threads of national prosperity have been entangled in the international skein,” publicists have found it necessary to enlarge their opinions and judgments, so as to represent, not the narrowness of local prejudice, but the breadth and depth of the whole mind of civilized mankind. This tendency has found practical expression in international treaties, with objects neither sectarian nor political; concerning not individuals alone, not nations alone, but the whole community of man. With aims the most comprehensive, desirableness and practicability manifest, they are founded in a philanthropy seeking to promote the honor and welfare of every nation, and to bring additional blessings to every home and every heart in the wide world. International unions, with their noble and beneficent objects, constitute the fellowship of nations, under the dominion of law, in the bonds of peace. Central bureaus are required for the management of these unions, and it needed but little reflection to discover that the Swiss republic presented peculiar advantages for their location. Its neutrality stood guaranteed by the powers; it could not come under any suspicion of political ambition or territorial aggrandizement; it was thus mapped out to be a neutral state, with every reasonable prospect of this status being sustained. This neutrality, with its strong assurance of immunity from “all entangling alliances” and the untoward complications of war or foreign occupation, and the central position in Europe with convenience of communication with the principal European capitals, were in themselves sufficient to recommend Switzerland. Then the Swiss possess perhaps the most marked genius of any people for the administration of an office; the government itself is surely the most laborious, the most economical, the least pretentious, yet withal systematic, thorough, and efficient; the same sobriety of demeanor, conscientious discharge of duty, with painstaking, patient labor at their desks, pervade the entire Swiss bureaucracy; these were distinct and all-important advantages. And, last, the supposition that affairs which influence the conduct and affect the interests of nations might be discussed amid its mountains with a calmness and candor which the contemplation of nature inspires, contributed no little to the cheerful consensus as to the propriety of its selection for the seat of the bureaus. There are now a sufficient number of these unions, with their central bureaus or seats established in Bern, to confer upon the Confederation a singularly conspicuous position of distinction and usefulness. Uncontaminated by the ambitions of its neighbors, Switzerland offers to contending nations a quiet spot in which to settle their disputes by the peaceful means of arbitration. It is not only a place of occasional conventions, but also the official headquarters of a host of continuous international agreements, commercial treaties and unions, which render peace and freedom necessary, and therefore secure within its borders.
The first step from which resulted the concentration of these bureaus in Switzerland was taken in 1863. In that year a private committee, composed of different nationalities but animated by one noble impulse, assembled at Geneva to consider the practicability of making some better provision for the protection of the wounded in battle, the inadequacy of existing official means to meet the humane requirements of the sick and wounded soldiers in great wars having long been painfully apparent. It will always redound to the honor of Switzerland that upon its soil the first formal international conference was held with a view to the mitigation of some of the horrors of war. On that occasion the institution of national aid societies was organized, and a few Swiss gentlemen were formed into an international committee for the purpose of constituting, on their neutral territory, an intermediary for the aid of similar societies in all countries. This committee soon discovered that their movement was everywhere attracting the attention and winning the warm approbation of all humane people, and determined to place it upon a broader and firmer basis. They requested the Swiss Federal Council to propose to such other governments, as it deemed expedient, that a diplomatic conference should be held in Switzerland, to discuss and, if possible, give the undertaking international character and support. The Federal Council promptly acceded to the memorial of the committee, and the invitation, as desired, was officially extended in the name of the Swiss government. Many of the leading powers accepted the invitation, and accredited delegates to the conference, which assembled the following year in Geneva. This conference was brought to a successful conclusion by the signing of the memorable “Geneva Convention of August 20, 1864,” by the representatives of sixteen governments. Within four months it was ratified and formally acceded to by eight European states, and at the present date has been joined by a grand total of thirty-three states. This convention embraces a wide field of practical philanthropy, being designed to remove soldiers when sick or wounded from the category of combatants, affording them relief and protection without regard to nationality. This protection extends to all persons officially attached to hospitals or ambulances, and to all houses so long as they contain invalid soldiers. Inhabitants of a locality occupied by a belligerent army, and who are engaged in the care of the sick and wounded, are likewise included; provision is also to be made for the return of invalid soldiers to their respective homes. “While the gun-carriage bears its death-dealing burden across the battle-field, in the ruts which rushing artillery wheels have torn up follow quickly the ambulance wagons of this Christian brotherhood, bringing hope and succor to the wounded.” The insignia of hospital and ambulance is the Swiss flag, with its colors reversed, a red cross on a white ground; and individuals in their employment wear a white armlet with a red cross, and every red-cross flag must be accompanied, in time of war, by the national flag of those using it. It is no mean distinction for the Swiss Confederation that its national emblem is so intimately and exclusively associated with this great exhibition of international humanity. It is a grand and elevating education, a wise and philanthropic conception embodying the best principles of social science, and that true spirit of charity which counts it a sacred privilege to minister to one’s fellow-men in time of suffering. To supply material wants, great as this may be, is not all of its mission; it seeks to carry to men’s hearts the message of universal brotherhood, with “peace on earth, good will to men” as its ensign. The United States gave their adhesion to this convention in 1882, and in the conferences had since that date, among the large number of delegates assembled, composed of royalties, nobilities, military and scientific celebrities, no one commanded more respectful attention or contributed more to the deliberations than a lone feminine delegate who bore the credentials of the United States. The name of Clara Barton is known the world over in connection with the burning cross on a snow-white field. To her labors are largely due the widening of the scope of the red-cross activities, and the assimilation of its workings to the advance plans already put in execution in her own country. These plans were chiefly of her own suggestion, and she had been instrumental in their reduction to successful use, for which she found opportunity in the late civil war, and subsequently during the Franco-German war, when she followed the German army into Paris, working faithfully alike in French and German camp; when all the nations of Europe rang with praises for her splendid work. She then first became acquainted with the Red Cross Society, and at once united with it; returning home with the iron cross of Baden on her breast, she organized the Red Cross Society of the United States, and was made its president. Her influence mainly contributed to the favorable action of the United States in joining this convention in 1882.
In 1865, one year after the conclusion of the Red Cross Convention, occurred the initiative of the International Telegraph Union upon the signature of the Convention of Paris. For a time the Union dispensed with a central administration, and at the conference held in Vienna in 1865 the policy of having a shifting administration, as between the capitals where the conferences took place, was seriously considered, but the necessity for a fixed and central administration was finally conceded, and the Swiss Confederation was asked to take charge of it. The central office was organized without delay at Bern. Correspondence was opened with thirty-seven telegraphic administrations, twenty-six of which belonged to the contracting states and eleven to private corporations. The last report from the bureau-director shows the number of state administrations corresponding with the central office to be forty; in addition to these are ten cable or submarine companies and eleven private land companies. The budget for 1888 reports the total expense of this bureau at 84,000 francs, or about $16,500, an incredibly small outlay for so important and responsible a work, involving an extensive line of correspondence and at times the adjustment of very technical questions. The bureau issues an official gazette, Le Journal Télégraphique. To this union the United States do not belong, having no government control over the telegraph companies.
Next came the Postal Union in 1874, and immediately upon the exchange of ratifications of the convention a year later the central office was likewise organized at Bern. Correspondence opened with twenty-one postal administrations, which have now increased to forty-seven; the annual budget is $15,700, making the contributive share of a first-class state only a little over $600 per annum, and about half that sum for a second-class state; certainly a very inconsiderable tax for so essential a service. The chiefs or directors of the two above-mentioned unions possess administrative ability that would readily command in the United States three times the sums paid them. A journal, L’Union Postale, published monthly, in three languages, English, German, and French, is conducted by the bureau, and enjoys a large circulation among those interested in knowing something of this clearing-house process of international mail-matter.
Passing mention may be made of two more limited but very useful conventions concluded in Switzerland,—one for the extermination of phylloxera and the other for the regulation of the transportation of goods by railway. The first had its origin at a conference of persons interested in the culture of the vine, held at Lausanne in 1877, and a convention to establish a union was signed at Bern in 1878 by several states, with the object of promoting joint protection against a disease which had caused such serious losses to vine-growers. Bern was agreed upon as the seat of all future meetings, and this union, which continues to obtain adhesions, is in active and beneficial operation. The Railway Transportation Union is, from the very nature and difficulty of the matters involved, one of slow evolution, but conferences are from time to time held, and its friends do not despair that it will ultimately result in the text of an international union with its bureau at Bern; this union, however, cannot expect to embrace any but the continental states.