Switzerland

by Frank Fox

Some further indications of Swiss social life will be given by these facts: there are in Switzerland 385 savings banks with 446,247 depositors and £63,000,000 in deposits. The gaol population is about 4170, of whom about one-fourth are serious criminals. Capital punishment is not allowed in Switzerland, nor is imprisonment for debt.

The Swiss army stands to-day at an effective strength of 142,000 for the elite and 7000 for the Landwehr. The efficiency of the Landwehr (reserve) is helped much by the general popularity of rifle shooting as a sport. The Federation has 3958 rifle clubs with 232,225 members. The Government encourages these clubs with subsidies, and spends about £25,000 a year in that way. Since there are 839,114 male voters in Switzerland, it will seem that more than a fourth of the total male population belongs to rifle clubs.

LAUSANNE.

The Swiss are keen politicians and go industriously to the polls for the election of representatives, and for the settlement of the numerous questions referred to their decision by direct vote. In 1912 there was a Swiss referendum on the subject of the new Insurance law against sickness and accidents. Of the 839,114 electors 529,001 recorded their votes.

Switzerland each year attracts more and more the attention of sociologists. Its completely popular system of government, which has solved the problem of carrying on a democracy without extravagance and without bureaucratic inefficiency, its close and effective organisation of military, education, and charity matters, its methods of referring political issues for settlement directly to the people—all are being carefully studied in various countries of the world with a view to imitation. It yet remains to be seen whether methods and policies which work notably well in their native land would bear transplanting; whether, too, they would be as suitable for larger areas and larger populations than Switzerland has. In some respects the Swiss example will doubtless prove useful for imitation (with modifications) in other countries.

But it is fair to question whether the happiness to which the little Swiss people have reached is the ideal with which civilised democracy would be content. The Swiss are happy, but it is a strictly mediocre happiness. They are content because they have a very modest standard of contentment. The people of the country, with all their virtues, are not inspiring; and the life they lead suggests a little too much the life of an excellently-managed institution to be really attractive. At the outset of this volume I ventured to question the justice of some eminent travellers who have abused the Swiss. They, it would seem to me, had formed an extraordinarily heroic idea of the Swiss character, and were disappointed that close examination showed a people who are very estimable, very well-educated, very firm in their patriotism, but not always suggestive of the heroic. Between an unfair depreciation and the idealising of the Swiss nation there is a reasonable middle ground, and from that middle ground the social and political inquirer should approach the study of Swiss sociological institutions.

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• [INDEX]
• Aare, River, [120]
• Aargau, [35]
• Achaens, [20]
• Adelboden, [147]
• Adler Pass, [172]
• Agricultural and pastoral products, [186]
• Alamanni, [21], [27], [28]
• Albristhorn, Mt., [147]
• Alcohol monopoly, [192]
• Aletsch, Great, [99], [135]
• Allalin Pass, [172]
• Alliance of France and Switzerland, [42], [46]
• Alp pastures, [88], [89]
• "Alpine" character, the, [1], [11]
• Alpine climbing, [96], [102], [105], [106], [145], [150]
• clubs, [99], [104], [138], [141], [144]
• flowers, [114], [153], [163]
• aconite plant, [162]
• alyssum, sweet, [158]
• anemones, [156]
• arabis, [158]
• arnica montana, [158], [162]
• asters, [158]
• campanulas, [158]
• crocus, [154], [163]
• edelweiss, [158], [161]
• forget-me-nots, [156]
• gentian, [155], [158], [162], [163]
• geums, [158]
• gypsophila, [158]
• hepatica, [155]
• louseworts, [158]
• "marmot's bread," [158]
• orchis, [158]
• primrose, [155], [158]
• primula, [158]
• rampions, [158]
• ranunculi, [156], [158]
• rhododendrons, [156]
• rock roses, [158]
• roses, [156]
• saxifrages, [156]
• sedums, [158]
• semper vivum, [158]
• soldanella, [155]
• thyme, wild, [158]
• toadflax, [158]
• grass, [154]
• lakes, [18]
• meadows, [153], [163]
• spring, [156]
• storm, [149]
• sunset, [112]
• villages, [86], [87]
• Alps, the, [96], [100-108], [119], [120]
• Andes, [105]
• Arar (Saône), [24]
• Argentina, glaciers in, [99]
• Army, Swiss, [53], [192]
• Arnold, Matthew, [66], [68]
• Association for the Protection of Plants, [162]
• Asylum, Switzerland as an, [181], [183]
• Attinghausen, [35]
• Augsburg, [26]
• Augustus, Emperor, [26]
• Austerities of Calvinism, [75], [77]
• Australian aborigines, [15]
• Alps, [97], [98], [105]
• Autun, [25]
• Avalanches, [122], [123], [124], [126], [128], [134]
• Grund-Lawine or Ground-Avalanche, [130], [131]
• Lawinen-Dunst, [133]
• Schlag-Lawine or Stroke-Avalanche, [129]
• Staub-Lawine or Dust-Snow-Avalanche, [128], [131]
• Aventicum (Avenches), [27]
• Baden, [176], [177]
• Basel, [70], [74], [114]
• Council of, [70]
• Bath-resorts, [176]
• Bertold V., [34], [119]
• Berne, [34], [119], [120]
• Bernese Oberland, [158]
• Republic, [120]
• Bertha, the "spinning Queen," [33]
• Bétemps Hut, [172], [173]
• Beza, [77]
• Bibracte, [25]
• Bienne, [17]
• Lake, [18]
• Blanc, Mt., [96], [102], [104], [105]
• Blaser, Sergeant, [43]
• Bob-sleighing, [169], [175]
• Bonderchrinde, [147]
• Bonderspitze, Mt., [147]
• Boniface IV., Pope, [2]
• Bonivard, François, [117], [118]
• Boswell, [79], [80]
• Bourg St. Pierre, [163]
• Britannia Hut, [139], [172]
• Bronze Age, [17], [20]
• Brunhilde of Burgundy, Queen, [29]
• Brunnen, [38]
• Buckle, [75]
• Bullinger, [73], [74]
• Burgundian Kingdom, [25], [33]
• Burgundians, [27], [28]
• Byron, [31], [64], [65], [68], [117], [118]
• Caesar, [23], [24], [25], [33], [43], [103]
• Calvin, [70], [71], [74], [75], [76], [77], [118]
• Campbell, [39]
• Carline thistle, [162]
• Cassius, [23]
• Catherine the Great, [79]
• Cattle on Alp pastures, [88], [89]
• Celtic immigrants, [21]
• Celts, [10], [21]
• Chamois, [167]
• hunting, [166]
• skin, [167]
• Champéry, [147]
• Character, Swiss, [194]
• of mountain peoples, [6]
• Charlemagne, [29], [30], [33], [162]
• Chateaubriand, [66]
• Chillon, Castle of, [31], [117], [118]
• "Chillon, Prisoner of," [117]
• Christian League, [71]
• Christianae Religionis Institutio, [74]
• Cimbri, [23]
• Civilisation, birthplace of, [9]
• of the plains, [11]
• Codex Manesse, [56]
• Communism, general, [160]
• Consistory of Geneva, [77], [79]
• Constance, Lake, [18]
• Constant, Benjamin, [63]
• Constitution of 1848, [120]
• Conway, Sir Martin, [100], [117], [124], [136], [142]
• Coppet, [57], [60], [62], [63], [65], [104]
• Correctional schools, [191]
• Cranbunden, [47]
• Cresta Run, [169]
• Crusades, [34]
• Curchod, Mlle, [57], [58], [59]
• Curling, [169], [175]
• Dairying industry, [91]
• Danger of climbing, [145]
• D'Aubigné, Agrippa, [119]
• De Broglie, Duke Victor, [65]
• De Choiseul, Duchesse, [79]
• Defence against avalanches, [127]
• Dents du Midi, [148]
• Department of Forests, [92]
• De Saussure, Horace, [101]
• Desert Pea, Sturt's, [158]
• Desert plants, [158]
• De Staël, Madame, [12], [57], [60], [62], [63], [64], [65], [66], [164]
• Devil's Bridge, [117]
• De Voght, Baron, [62]
• Diablerets Mts., [148]
• Dr. Schrumm's death, [147]
• Druidical worship, [23]
• Dumas, Alexandre, [12]
• Education, [178], [170]
• Einsiedeln Abbey, [71]
• Elsigfirst, Mt., [147]
• Elsighorn, Mt., [147]
• Emigration, [186]
• Émile, [78]
• Engadine, [26]
• Equalisation of the earth's temperature, [100]
• Erasmus, [70]
• Etruscans, [23], [26]
• European Alps, [98]
• Euthyphron, [7]
• Exhilaration from change of air, [8]
• Farel, [75]
• Favre, Louis, [115]
• Federal Post Office, Swiss, [110]
• States, Swiss, [38]
• Ferdinand of Austria, [72]
• Ferney, [78], [79], [104], [117]
• Fetan, Avalanche record, [132], [133]
• Findelen Glacier, [172]
• Finnemore, John, [167]
• Flemwell, Mr. G., [155]
• Flower-hunting, [161]
• Forest Cantons, [35], [36], [37], [38], [46]
• laws, [127]
• Forests, [92], [186]
• Fouché, [61]
• Franco-Prussian War, [51]
• Free Cities, [34]
• French Directory, [45], [46], [48]
• Reformation, [74]
• Revolution, [42], [44], [48], [78], [118], [120]
• Fresh air, gospel of, [69]
• Funicular railways, [106], [189], [190]
• Gallic Switzerland, [26]
• Géant, Col du, [137]
• Gemmi Pass, [147]
• Geneva, [22], [24], [60], [71], [95], [117], [120]
• Lake of, [119]
• University, [102]
• Genevan Consistory, [118]
• German Empire, [42]
• Gessler, [36]
• Gibbon, [57], [58], [59], [60]
• Glacier colouring, [136]
• Glaciers, [122], [134]
• beauties of, [135], [137]
• Swiss, [98], [99]
• Glarus, [70], [71]
• Canton of, [47]
• Glenarvon, [64]
• Goethe, [78]
• Golf-links, [175]
• Gorner Glacier, [172]
• Grand Muveran, [148]
• Grandson, [41], [119]
• Grauholz, [120]
• Great St. Bernard, [116]
• Gregory VII., Pope, [33]
• Grey, Lady Jane, [74]
• Grimsel, [116]
• Grindelwald Glaciers, [99]
• Gsur, Mt., [147]
• Gymnastic sports, [165], [166]
• Habsburg, House of, [34], [35]
• Hannibal, [103]
• Happiness of Swiss, [194]
• Harbinger of spring, [122]
• Harvest festival, [90]
• Haute Cime, [148]
• Helvetia, [26], [27], [176]
• Helvetians, [22], [23], [25], [26], [28], [33], [43]
• Helvetic Club, [45]
• Consulta, [48]
• Republic, [45], [46]
• Society, [45]
• Henry VI., Emperor, [33]
• Himalayas, [96], [105]
• Hohenstaufen, House of, [119]
• Homeric period, [19]
• Horace, [122]
• Hotel-keeping, [85]
• Hugo, Victor, [12]
• Hungarians, [33]
• Ice Age, [100]
• Ice-hockey, [175]
• Ice-sailing, [169]
• Increase of warmth of climate in Europe, [98]
• Influence of mountains, [2], [3]
• Iron Age, [17], [21]
• Italian civilisation, [27]
• lakes, [114]
• Jardins refuges, [163]
• Jesuits, the, [50]
• Johnson, [79], [80]
• Jura, Mount, [24]
• Kandersteg, [147]
• Keller, Dr. Ferdinand, [18]
• Kinzig Pass, [47]
• Knox, John, [75]
• Kopp, [37]
• Korsakow, General, [47]
• Kosciusko, Mt., [150]
• Lake-dwellers, [14], [17], [19], [20], [21]
• Lake-dwellings, Early, [16], [18], [21]
• Lake forces, [15]
• Lake prompting to community life, [16]
• Landgrave, Phillip of Hesse, [73]
• Lausanne, [22], [117]
• novelists at, [56], [57], [60]
• League of Thirteen Cantons, [42]
• Leman, Lake, [18], [117]
• Lemanic Republic, [45]
• Leopold, Duke, [37], [39]
• Les Plans, [148]
• Loetschberg Railway, [115]
• Lombardy, [114]
• Londinium, [27]
• Longfellow, [109]
• Lucerne, [38], [113], [114], [115], [116], [120], [121]
• Luther, [71]
• Luxeuil, [28], [29]
• Lyons, [26]
• Machiavelli, [32]
• Märjelen Sea, [135]
• Mary of England, Queen, [74]
• Massena, [55]
• Mediterranean civilisations, [20]
• Meilen, [17]
• Melchthal, [36]
• Mendelssohn, [111]
• Middle Ages, [30], [31], [44], [181]
• Milan, [115]
• Milchsuppe, the, [72]
• Minnelieder, [56]
• Missionaries from Ireland, [28]
• Monte Rosa Glacier, [172]
• Montreux, [78], [117]
• Morat, [41], [119]
• Lake, [18]
• Morgarten, Battle of, [37], [38]
• "Mottoes for Mountaineers," [139]
• Mountain's birthday, [97]
• Muller, [36]
• Municipal Gymnasium, [179]
• Muotta, [47]
• Naefels, [47]
• Battle of, [40], [41]
• Nancy, [41], [119]
• Nantes, [29]
• Napoleon, [42], [45], [48], [49], [61], [62], [103]
• Napoleonic Constitution, [48]
• National costume, [94]
• service, [92]
• Natural beauties of Switzerland, [109]
• Necker, Madame, [57], [59], [60], [61]
• Necker, Mr., [59]
• Neuchâtel, Lake, [17], [18]
• Neuenegg, [120]
• New Zealand lakes, [15]
• Nibelungen, [56]
• Nouvelle Héloïse, [78]
• Obermann, [66]
• Ochs, Peter, [45]
• Orcitrix, [22]
• Origin of Inequality, [78]
• Palu Glacier, [99]
• Panixer Pass, [47]
• Papuans, [15]
• Pas d'Éncel, [148]
• Pas de l'Écluse, [24]
• Pastoral and agricultural products, [186]
• Peasant life, [84], [85], [89]
• Peoples of the plain, [10]
• Peter of Savoy, [31]
• Pfahl-bauer (pile-builders), [18]
• Pilatus, [113]
• Piso, [23]
• Polar glaciers, [134]
• Pont de Nant, [163]
• Population of Switzerland, [185]
• Pragel Pass, [47]
• Prehistoric Switzerland, [20]
• Primarschule, [178]
• Progymnasium, [179]
• Public revenue, [191]
• services, [110], [188]
• Radbot of Habsburg, [35]
• "Ranz des Vaches," [91], [92]
• Récamier, Madame, [63]
• Reding, [46]
• Referendum, [50], [193]
• Reformation, [70-77]
• Republic, French, [46]
• Helvetic, [45], [46]
• Lemanic, [45]
• Reuss, [119]
• Valley, [47]
• "Revivalist" preachers, [95]
• Rhætia, [26]
• Rhætians, [21]
• Rhine, [25]
• Glacier, [99]
• River, [120]
• Rhone, River, [24]
• Rifle clubs, [193]
• Rifle-shooting, [164], [165], [166]
• Rigi, [113]
• Ritter, Mr., [17]
• Rochers de Naye, [163]
• Rockies, [105]
• Roman Empire, Disruption of, [27]
• Gaul, [23]
• roads, [26]
• summer resorts, [27]
• Romans, [23], [26]
• Rosa, Monte, [135]
• Roumanians, [26]
• Rousseau, [56], [66], [70], [78], [79]
• Royal Chapel of the Savoy, [31]
• Ruskin, [11], [68]
• Rütli, [36]
• Saas, [143]
• Saas Fee, [139], [172]
• Safe climbs, [147]
• St. Columban, [28], [29], [70]
• St. Gall, [29], [70]
• St. Gall, Monastery of, [29]
• St. Gothard, [116]
• St. Gothard Pass, [47], [114]
• St. Gothard Railway, [115]
• St. Jacob, Battle of, [116]
• St. Moritz, [169]
• Salt monopoly, [187]
• Salvation Army, [118]
• Saracens, [33]
• Savoy, Duke of, [117], [119]
• Saxon invasion, [10]
• Schauenberg, General, [120]
• Schiller, [78]
• Schopenhauer, [5]
• Schwartzhorn, [150]
• Schwyz, [35]
• Selkirks, [105]
• Sempach, [39]
• Senancour, [66]
• Senate conspiracy against Napoleon, [61]
• Shelley, [67], [68]
• Simplon, [116]
• Railway, [115]
• Skating, [164], [174]
• Ski-ing, [164], [169], [173], [174],
• Ski-runners, [171]
• Smith, Mr. Albert, [104]
• Social Contract, [78]
• Socrates' method, [4]
• Soleure, [22]
• Solothurn, [72]
• South Seas, [97]
• Sports, Swiss National, [164]
• Spring season, [175]
• Stansenhorn, [114]
• Statutes of Geneva, [76]
• Stauffacher, [35]
• Stephen, Sir Leslie, [105]
• Stockjoch, [172]
• Stone Age, [17], [20]
• Straits of Sunda, [97]
• Strübel, Glacier, [147]
• Summer season, [176]
• sports, [175]
• Sumptuary laws, [94]
• Susanfe, Pass of, [148]
• Suwarow, General, [77], [103], [116]
• "Swiss Admiral," [55]
• Swiss Alpine Club, [98]
• army, [53], [192]
• character, [194]
• character in the Middle Ages, [32]
• cheese, [86]
• colonists, [82]
• cosmopolitan book-shops, [94]
• courage, [31], [40]
• fisheries, [187]
• Guard, [43], [44], [82]
• a handicapped people, [12]
• heterodoxies, [69]
• industries, [187]
• League, [42]
• mercenaries, [43], [44]
• mercenary service, [41], [70]
• military organisation, [50], [51], [53]
• milk, [86]
• "navy," [55]
• newspapers, [93]
• prowess, [32], [41]
• railways, [189]
• Reformed Church, [78]
• Republic, [34], [35]
• system of government, [49]
• thrift, [82]
• Symonds, John Addington, [84], [89], [112], [129], [130], [150], [165]
• Tartarin de Tarascon, [104]
• Technical schools, [180]
• Tell, William, [36]
• Tennis courts, [175]
• Tennyson, [9]
• Teutonic invasion, [21]
• Switzerland, [26]
• Thiele, River, [17]
• Thingor, Abbot of, [116]
• Thucydides, [24]
• Tigurini tribe, [23], [24]
• Tissot, Dr., [69]
• Titanic, [128]
• Tobogganing, [164], [169], [170], [171], [174]
• Tourist traffic, [188]
• Town life of the Swiss, [93]
• Trade, total, [187]
• Trelawney, [67]
• Troncain, Dr., [69]
• Tuileries, [82]
• defence of, [43], [44]
• Turnfests, [165]
• Turnvereins, [165]
• Universities, [190]
• Unterwalden, [35]
• Uri, [35], [36]
• Uri, Lake, [47]
• Vatican, [72]
• Vaud, Canton of, [111], [119]
• Vaudois Alps, [148]
• Verdun, Treaty of, [33]
• Versailles, Palace of, [69]
• Vespasian, [27]
• Vevey, [78]
• Vienna Congress, [49]
• Vindonissa, [177]
• Voltaire, [12], [66], [70], [72], [78], [80], [164]
• Von Wengi, Nicolas, [72]
• Warm Age, [100]
• Williams, Colonel, [55]
• Winkelried, Arnold, [39], [40], [81]
• Winter season, [176]
• Wordsworth, [68]
• Wülpelsburg, [35]
• Yodel, [92]
• Young Egyptian Party, [182]
• Zahringer dynasty, [34], [119]
• Zermatt, [111], [158], [143], [172]
• Zermatt Breithorn, [145]
• Zinal, [143]
• Zug, [72]
• Zurich, [18], [22], [38], [47], [71], [114], [116]
• Congress, [49]
• Lake, [17], [18], [55]
• Zwingli, [70], [71], [73]