Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and Referendum

by J. W. Sullivan

A third form is the parish meeting, at which gather the members of the same faith in the commune, or of even a smaller church district. The Protestant, the Catholic, and the Jewish are recognized as State religions—the Protestant alone in some cantons, the Catholic in others, both in several, and both with the Jewish in others.

A fourth form of local assembly is that of the school district, usually a subdivision of a commune. It elects a board of education, votes taxes to defray school expenses, supervises educational matters, and in some districts elects teachers.

Dividing the commune thus into voting groups, each with its appropriate purpose, makes for justice. He who has a share in the communal public wealth (forests, pastoral and agricultural lands, and perhaps funds), is not endangered in this property through the votes of non-participant newcomers. Nor are educational affairs mixed with general politics. And, though State and religion are not yet severed, each form of belief is largely left to itself; in some cantons provision is made that a citizen's taxes shall not go toward the support of a religion to which he is opposed.

Organization of Canton and Confederation.

In no canton in Switzerland is there more than one legislative body: in none is there a senate. The cities of Switzerland have no mayor, the cantons have no governor, and, if the title be used in the American sense, the republic has no President. Instead of the usual single executive head, the Swiss employ an executive council. Hence, in every canton a deadlock in legislation is impossible, the way is open for all law demanded by a majority, and neither in canton nor Confederation is one-man power known.

The cantonal legislature is the Grand Council. "In the Landsgemeinde cantons and those having the obligatory Referendum, it is little more than a supervisory committee, preparing measures for the vote of the citizens and acting as a check on the cantonal executive council. In the remaining cantons (those having the optional Referendum), the legislature has the power to spend money below a specified limit; to enact laws of specified kinds, usually not of general application; and to elect the more important officials, the amount of discretion [in the different cantons] rising gradually till the complete representative government is reached"[G] in Freiburg, which resembles one of our states. Though in several cantons the Grand Council meets every two months for a few days' session, in most of the cantons it meets twice a year. The pay of members ranges from sixty cents to $1.20 per day. The legislative bodies are large; the ratio in five cantons is one legislator to every 1,000 inhabitants; in twelve it ranges from one to 187 up to one to 800, and in the remaining five from one to 1,000 to one to 2,000. The Landsgemeinde cantons usually have fifty to sixty members; Geneva, with 20,000 voters, has a hundred.

In six of the twenty-two cantons, if a certain number of voters petition for it, the question must be submitted to the people whether or not the legislature shall be recalled and a new one elected.

The formation of the Swiss Federal Assembly (congress), established in 1848, was influenced by the make-up of the American congress. The lower house is elected by districts, as in the United States, the basis of representation being one member to 20,000 inhabitants, and the number of members 147. The term for this house is three years; the pay, four dollars a day, during session, and mileage. The upper house, the Council of States (senate), the only body of the kind in Switzerland, is composed of two members from each canton. Cantonal law governing their election, the tenure of their office is not the same: in some cantons they are elected by the people, in others by the legislature; their pay varies; their term of office ranges from one to three years. Their brief terms and the fact that their more important functions, such as the election of the federal executive council, take place in joint session with the second chamber, render the members of the "upper" house of less weight in national affairs than those of the "lower."

Swiss Executives.

The executive councils of the cities, the cantons, and the Confederation are all of one form. They are committees, composed of members of equal rank. The number of members varies. Of cantonal executive councilors, there are seven in eleven of the cantons, three, five, and nine in others, and eleven in one. In addition to carrying out the law, the executive council usually assists somewhat in legislation, the members not only introducing but speaking upon measures in the legislative body with which they are associated, without, however, having a vote. In about half the cantons, the cantonal executive councils are elected by the people; in the rest by the legislative body.