Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/556

 528 SWITZERLAND era. The legislative power is vested in the federal assembly, which consists of a national council and a council of states (Ger. $tande- rath ; Fr. conseil des etats). The national coun- cil consists of deputies of the people, in the ratio of about one for every 20,000 persons, so that every canton and every independent half canton has the right of electing at least one councillor. On the basis of the census of 1870 the council consists of 135 members. The national council is elected for the term of three years, and every citizen who is 20 years of age has the right of voting, and any voter, not a clergyman, is eligible. Natural- ized citizens may be elected after being citi- zens for five years. The council of states has 44 members, two for every canton and one for every half canton. The members of the national council are paid out of the fed- eral treasury, those of the council of states by the cantons. The executive power is exer- cised by a federal council, consisting of seven members, who are chosen for a term of three years by the federal assembly (the national council and the council of states in joint ses- sion). They d i vide among themselves the seven departments of foreign affairs, of the post and telegraphs, of justice and police, of finance, of war, of the interior, and of commerce and duties, each member taking one department and being at the same time the substitute in a second department. The president and vice president of the federal council, who are also president and vice president of the confedera- tion, are chosen for one year only, and by the council itself from among its own members, and are not reeligible till after the expiration of another year. The federal court, which is also chosen by the federal assembly for a term of six years, consists of nine members and nine substitutes, and has its seat at Lausanne. The constitution may at any time undergo a revision in the regular way of legislation ; if the two councils disagree, or if 50,000 citizens demand it, the question of a revision has to be submit- ted to a direct vote of the people. The re- vised constitution, in order to become effec- tive, must be adopted by a majority of all citi- zens of Switzerland as well as by a majority of the cantons. The cantonal constitutions may be divided into two classes : 1. Pure democracies, in which the rights of sovereign- ty are exercised by a general assembly of all citizens, which meets once a year, mostly in April or May, votes upon laws, fixes the taxes, and elects the cantonal officers. The execu- tive is called Landrath, and consists of the cantonal officers and the councillors elected by the several political communities. This is the constitution of Uri, Appenzell, Unter- walden, and Glarus. 2. Representative de- mocracies, in which the people elect a legisla- tive assembly, called the grand council, which chooses from its own number the executive, called little council. In many cantons the people have the right of vetoing every bill passed by the grand council. In most of the cantons the members of the grand council re- ceive no pay. Instead of printed law books, some of the smaller cantons used until recent- ly written traditions; but now nearly every canton has its printed code of laws. Many old Germanic elements are to be found in Swiss law ; the Roman law has had a predom- inating influence only in a few border can- tons. The institution of the jury, which was first tried in Geneva, has since been intro- duced into several other cantons. The federal capital is Bern. The finances of Switzerland are in a very favorable condition. In 1873 the entire revenue, the greater part of it de- rived from duties and the postal system, was $7,152,704, and the expenditures were $7,154,- 712. Since 1848 duties are levied only on the frontiers of the republic, and not, as be- fore, on the limits of each canton. A por- tion of the customs dues, as well as 'a great portion of the postal revenue, are paid over to the cantonal governments, in compensation for the loss of such former sources of income. In extraordinary cases, the federal government may levy a rate upon the various cantons after a scale settled for 20 years. The public debt at the close of 1873 amounted to $5,650,000, and the federal property to $5,691,000. The aggregate income of all the cantons in 1868 amounted to $8,320,000, the aggregate ex- penditures to $8,630,000. Schaffhausen and Appenzell Inner Rhodes had no public debt ; many other cantons formerly without debt have of late contracted one for the purpose of building railways. In the majority of can- tons the public property exceeds the debt. In 1868 the aggregate property belonging to the cantonal governments amounted to $54,- 770,000, and the aggregate debts to only $33,- 660,000. The military establishment of Switz- erland is based upon purely democratic prin- ciples. The fundamental laws of the republic forbid the maintenance of a standing army within the limits of the confederation. Every able-bodied citizen is actually a defender of the republic. The federal army consists of citizens from 20 to 44 years of age, and is divided into three classes according to age. The first class, comprising men from 20 to 34 years of age, constitutes the active field army ; the second class, 34 to 40 years, the reserve army ; and the third class, 40 to 44 years, the sedentary militia. The constitution of 1874 considerably extends the federal control in military matters. Both the army and the war material are at the disposal of the confed- eration, which in cases of emergency has the exclusive right to dispose of the men who do not belong to the federal army. All the laws relative to the army are enacted by the con- federation, which also provides for the educa- tion of the troops. The Thun military acade- my furnishes the army with the highest class of officers and with instructors for the lower grades. There are special schools for different