The election by the Assembly of the Federal Tribunal—as well as of the federal executive—has met with strong opposition. Before long both bodies may be elected by popular vote.
Swiss jurors are elected by the people and hold office six years. In French and German Switzerland, there is one such juror for every thousand inhabitants, and in Italian Switzerland one for every five hundred. To a Swiss it would seem as odd to select jurors haphazard as to so select judges.
In most of the manufacturing cantons, councils of prud'hommes are elected by the people. The various industries and professions are classified in ten groups, each of which chooses a council of prud'hommes composed of fifteen employers and fifteen employés. Each council is divided into a bureau of conciliation, a tribunal of prud'hommes, and a chamber of appeals, cases going on appeal from one board to another in the order named. These councils have jurisdiction only in the trades, their sessions relating chiefly to payment for services and contracts of apprenticeship.
A Democratic Army.
In surveying the simple political machinery of Switzerland, the inquirer, remembering the fate of so many republics, may be led to ask as to the danger of its overthrow by the Swiss army. The reply is that, here, again, so far as may be seen, the nation has wisely planned safeguards. To show how, and as the Swiss army differs widely from all others in its organization, some particulars regarding it are here pertinent.
The more important features of the Swiss military system, established in 1874, are as follows: There is no Commander-in-chief in time of peace. There is no aristocracy of officers. Pensions are fixed by law. There is no substitute system. Every citizen not disabled is liable either to military duty or to duties essential in time of war, such as service in the postal department, the hospitals, or the prisons. Citizens entirely disabled and unfit for the ranks or semi-military service are taxed to a certain per centage of their property or income. No canton is allowed to maintain more than three hundred men under arms without federal authority.
Though there is no standing army, every man in the country between the ages of seventeen and fifty is enrolled and subject annually either to drill or inspection. On January 1, 1891, the active army, comprising all unexempt citizens between twenty and thirty-two years, contained 126,444 officers and men; the first reserve, thirty-three to forty-four years, 80,795; the second reserve, all others, 268,715; total, 475,955. The Confederation can place in the field in less than a week more than 200,000 men, armed, uniformed, drilled, and every man in his place.
On attaining his twentieth year, every Swiss youth is summoned before a board of physicians and military officers for physical and mental examination. Those adjudged unfit for service are exempted—temporarily if the infirmity may pass away, for life if it be permanent. The tax on exempted men is $1.20 plus thirty cents per year for $200 of their wealth or $20 of their income, until the age of thirty-two years, and half these sums until the age of forty-four. On being enrolled in his canton, the soldier is allowed to return home. He takes with him his arms and accoutrements, and thenceforth is responsible for them. He is ever ready for service at short call. Intrusting the soldiery with their outfit reduces the number of armories, thus cutting down public expenditures and preventing loss through capture in case of sudden invasion by an enemy.
In the Swiss army are eight divisions of the active force and eight of the reserve, adjoining cantons uniting to form a division. Each summer one division is called out for the grand man[oe]uvres, all being brought out once in the course of eight years.
In case of war a General is named by the Federal Assembly. At the head of the army in time of peace is a staff, composed of three colonels, sixteen lieutenant colonels and majors, and thirty-five captains.