In spite of the fact that Switzerland has no available coal,[74] manufacture is pre-eminently the industry of the state. During the long winters the Alpine herdsman and his family whittle out wooden toys from the stock of rough lumber laid by for the purpose. Farther down in the valley-lands the exquisite brocades and muslins are made on hand-looms, or by the aid of the abundant water-power. Each industrial district has its special line of manufacture, so that there is scarcely an idle day in the year.
In the cities and towns of the lowland district, watches, clocks, music-boxes, and fine machinery are manufactured. For many years Swiss watches were about the only ones used in the United States, but on account of the competition of American watches this trade has fallen off. The mechanical music-player, operated by perforated paper, has also interfered with the trade in music-boxes.
Switzerland is provided with excellent facilities for transportation, and this has done about as much for the commercial welfare of the state as all other industrial enterprises. In proportion to its area, the railway mileage is greater than that of the surrounding states. The roads are well built and the rates of transportation are low.
In addition to the ordinary trip-tickets, monthly time-tickets are issued to travellers, allowing the holders to travel when and where they please within the limits of the state on all roads and lake-steamers. These are sold to the traveller for about two-thirds the price of the 1,000-mile book of the American railway. The carriage roads have no superiors, and they penetrate about every part of the state below the snow line; they also cross the main passes of the Alps.
Through one or another of these passes most of the foreign traffic of the state must be carried. To Genoa and Milan it crosses the Alps via the St. Gotthard tunnel, or the Simplon Pass;[75] to Paris it goes by the Rhone Valley; between Vienna and Switzerland, by the Arlberg tunnel; and to Germany or to Amsterdam through the valley of the Main.
As a result of this most excellent system of transportation, Switzerland is thronged with visiting tourists at all times of the year; moreover, it has always been the policy of the Swiss Government not only to provide for them, but also to make the country attractive to them. The result has shown the wisdom of the policy. Indeed, the foreign tourist has become one of the chief sources of income of the Swiss people, and the latter profit by the transaction to the amount of about forty million dollars a year.
About all the raw material used in manufacture must be imported. The cotton is purchased mainly from the United States, and enters by way of Marseille. The raw silk is purchased from Italy, China, and Japan. Coal, sugar, food-stuffs, and steel are purchased from Germany, and this state supplies about half the imports. From the United States are purchased wheat, cotton, and coal-oil.
The manufactures are intended for export. The fine cotton textiles sold to the United States are worth far more than the raw cotton purchased therefrom. Silk textiles, straw wares, toys, watches, jewelry, and dairy products are leading exports. The surrounding states are the chief buyers, and none of them competes with Switzerland to any extent in the character of the exports.
Geneva, situated at the head of the Rhone Valley, is the chief trade depot; it is noted especially for the manufacture of watches, of which many hundred thousand are made yearly. Zurich is the centre of manufactures of textiles and fine machinery. The silk-brocade industry is centred chiefly in this city and Basel.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION