Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1422

 1066 SWITZERLAND

francs. The debt of Berne Canton was 50,789,000 francs; of Zurich, 30,412,000 francs ; while Bale-C, Schaffhausen, and Appenzell-A. -Rh. were free of debt. In most of the towns and parishes heavy municipal duties exist.

Defence.

There are fortifications on the south frontier for the defence of the Gothard ; others have been constructed at St. Maurice on the west side of the Canton of Valais, and it is proposed to erect also defensive works at Martigny.

The fundamental laws of the JRepublic forbid the maintenance of a standing army within the limits of the Confederation. The Federal army consists of all men liable to mihtary service, and both the army and the war material are at the disposal of the Confederation. In cases of emergency the Confederation has also the exclusive and undivided right of disposing of the men who do not belong to the Federal army, and of all the other military forces of the cantons. The cantons dispose of the defensive force of their respective territories in so far as their power to do so is not limited by the constitutional or legal regulations of the Con- federation. The Confederation enacts all laws relative to the army, and watches over their due execution ; it also provides for the education of the troops, and bears the cost of all military expenditure which is not provided for by the Legislatures of the cantons. To provide for the defence of the country, every citizen has to bear arms, in the use of which the children are instructed at school, from the age of eight, passing through annual exercises and reviews. Such military instruction is voluntary on the part of the children, but is participated in by the greater number of pupils at the upper and middle-class schools.

Every citizen of the Republic of military age, not exempt on account of bodily defect or other reason, is liable to military service. On January 1, 1897, the number thus liable to serve was 527,074, and the number actually incorporated was 242,529. Those who are lial)le but do not perform personal service are subject to a tax, half the amount of which goes to the Confederation. The contingent of recruits in 1898 numbered 18,339. Recruits are primarily liable to serve in the ini'antry, the best fitted physically and by education and pecuniary means being selected for other arms. In the first year of service every man undergoes a recruit's course of training, which lasts from 42 to 80 days, and during the remainder of his service in the Elite, he is called up every other year for 16 days' training; rifle practice and cavalry exercise being, however, annual. The Landwehr forces are also called together periodically for inspection and exercise, and once or twice a year the troops of a number of cantons assemble in general muster.

The troops of the Republic are divided into three classes, viz. : — 1. The Elite (Auszug), consisting in general of all men able to bear arms, trom the age of 20 to 32.