Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1373

 RFLIGTON — INSTRUCTION 1321

III. Principal Tov. On December 1, 1920, the census population of the principal towns was as follows :— Ziirich, 206,120 ; Basel, 135,335 ; Bern, 103,986 ; St. fallen, 69,733 ; Lausanne, 67,858 ; Geneva, 55,738 ; Luzern, 43,696 : Chaux de- Fonds, 37,591; Blainpalais (Genera ), 35,472; Biel, 34,414; Winterthu-. 26,372; Neuchatel, 22,959 ; Freiburg, 20,468 ; Schaffhauvm, 19,954 : Caux- Bires (Geneva;, 19,942 ; Chur, 15,484 ; Petit-Saconnez (Geneva), 15,084 ; Herisau, 14,951; Zhun, 14,023; Lugano, 18,281; Solothurn, 12,970; Beven, 12,702; Locle, 12,441; Norfchach, 11,545; Olten, 11,458; Chatelard (Montreux), 10,697 ; Aarau, 10,606 ; Bellinzona ; 10,170.

Religion

There is complete and absolute liberty of conscience and uf creed. No one is bound to pay taxes specially appropriated to defraying the ex{>enses of a creed to which he does not belong. No bishoprics can be created on Swiss territory without the approbation of the Confederation. The order of Jesuits and its affiliated societies cannot be received in any part of Switzerland ; all functions clerical and scholastic are forbidden to its members, and the interdiction can be extended to any other religious orders whose action is dangerous to the State, or interferes with the peace of different creeds. The foundation of new convents or religions orders is forbidden.

According to the census of December 1, 1920, the number of Protestants amounted to 2,218,589 (57 per cent, of the population), of Roman Catholics to 1,586,826 (41 per cent.), and of Jews to 20,955 (2 per cent. i. Protestants are in a majority in twelve of the cantons, and Catholics m ton. Of the more populous cantons, Zurich, Bern, Vaud, Neuchatel, and Basel (town and land) are mainly Protestant, while Luzern, Fribourg, Ticino. Yalais and the Forest Cantons" are mainly Catholic. The Roman Catholic priests are much more numerous than the Protestant clergy, the former comprising more than 6,000 regular and secular priests. They are under five bishops, viz., of Basel and Lugano (resident at Solothurn), Chr Gallen, Lausanne and Geneva (resident at Freiburg, and Sitten Sum), all of them immediately subject to the Holy See. The government of the Protestant Church," Calvinistic in doctrine and Presbyterian in form, is under the supervision of the magistrates of the various cantons, to whom is also entrusted, in the Protestant districts, the superintendence of public instruction.

Instruction.

In the educational administration of Switzerland there is no centralization. Before the year 1848 most of the cantons had organised a system of primary schools, and since that year elementary education has steadily advanced. In 1874 it was made obligatory (the school age varying in the dilferent cantons), and placed under the civil authority. In some cantons the cost falls almost entirely on the communes, in others it is divided between the canton and com- munes. In all the cantons primary instruction is free. In the north-eastern cantons, where the inhabitants are mostly Protestant, the proportion of the school-attending children to the whole [Herniation is as one to live : while in the ha! I -Protestant and half-Roman Catholic cantons it is as one to seven ; and in the entirely Roman Catholic cantons as one to nine. The compulsory law has hitherto not always l>een enforced in the Roman Catholic cantons, but is rigidly carried out in those where the Protestants form the majority of inhabitants. In every district there are primary schools, and secondary schools for youths