provides that the Confederation has control of the Federal army and
of the war matériel, the cantons being only allowed certain defined
rights within their respective territories. By art. 20 the limits
of the jurisdiction of the Confederation and of the cantons are
defined. The Confederation has the sole right of legislation in
military matters, but the execution of these laws is in the hands of
the cantons, though under Federal supervision, while all branches
of military training and arming are handed over to the Confederation;
on the other hand, the cantons supply and keep up the equipment
and the uniforms of the soldiers, though these expenses are reimbursed
by the Confederation according to a certain scale fixed by
Federal regulations to be made later on. Art. 21 enacts that, where
military considerations do not stand in the way, the military units
are to be formed of men of the same canton, but the actual raising
of these units and the maintenance of their numbers, as well as the
nomination and the promotion of the officers, belong to the cantons,
subject to certain general principles to be laid down by the Confederation.
Finally, the Confederation has (art. 22) the right of using
or acquiring military drill grounds, buildings, &c., belonging to the
cantons on payment of moderate compensation according to principles
to be laid down in a Federal law. It will thus be seen that
the Swiss army is by no means wholly in the hands of the Federal
authorities, the cantons still having a large share in its management,
though the military department of the Federal executive has the
ultimate control and pays most of the military expenses. In fact
it has been said in jest that the coat of a soldier belongs to his canton
and his rifle to the Confederation.
b. After much discussion and careful consideration of the opinions of many experts, the Federal law of 1907 was enacted, by which more uniformity was introduced into administrative matters and the whole system remodelled, of course according to the general principles formulated in the Federal Constitution of 1874 and summarized under a.
The following is a bird’s-eye view of the actual organization of the Swiss army. Every Swiss male citizen is bound to render personal military service between the ages of twenty and forty eight. Certain classes are exerript, such as high Federal officials, clergymen (not being military chaplains), officials of hospitals and prisons, as well as custom-house officials and policemen and officials of public means of communication, but in the latter case only those whose services would be indispensable in time of war, e.g. post office, telegraph, telephone, railway and steamer employes (all exempted before 1907)—custom-house men, policemen and the officials last named must have had a first period of training before they are exempt. Those who are totally disqualified for any reason must, till the age of forty, pay an extra tax of 6 francs a head: plus 112 francs on every 1000 francs of their net property, and 112 francs on every 100 francs of their net income, the maximum tax that can be levied in any particular case being 3000 francs a year (property under 1000 francs and the first 600 francs of income are free from this tax, which is only levied as to its half in case of the men in the Landwehr): this tax is equally divided between the Confederation and the cantons, its total yield in 1905 being about £171,000. The cantonal authorities muster in certain fixed centres their young men of twenty years, who must appear personally in order to submit themselves at the hands of the Federal officials to a medical examination, a literary examination (reading, arithmetic, elementary Swiss geography and history, and the composition of a short written essay), as well as (since 1905) pass certain elementary gymnastic tests (a long jump of at least 8 ft., lifting at least four times a weight of about 37 ℔ in both hands at once, and running about 80 yds. in under 14 seconds), different marks being given according to the degree of proficiency in these literary and gymnastic departments. Those falling below a certain standard—bodily, mental or muscular-are exempted, but may be “postponed” for not more than four years, in hopes that before that date the desired standard will be attained. If not totally disqualified (in that case they pay a tax) they may be incorporated not in the territorial army, but in the auxiliary forces (e.g. pioneers, hospital, commissariat, intelligence and transport departments). The cantons (under Federal supervision) see that the lads, while still at school, receive a gymnastic training, while the Confederation makes money grants to societies which aim at preparing lads after leaving school for their military service, whether by stimulating bodily training or the practice of rifle shooting, in which case rifles, ammunition and equipment are supplied free—in all these cases the attendance of the lads is purely voluntary. In some cantons the young men, between the ages of eighteen and twenty, are required to attend a night school (in order to rub up their school knowledge) for sixty hours a winter for two winters, the teacher being paid by the Confederation and the lads being under military law. Naturally the lads from the large towns and the more prosperous cantons do best in the literary examination and those who belong to gymnastic societies in the gymnastic tests, though sheer bodily untrained strength avails much in the lifting of weights. In 1906 26,808 young men of twenty years of age were examined (this is exclusive of older men then first mustered). Of this number 14,045 (52⋅4%) were at once enrolled as recruits, 3497 (13%) were “postponed” for one or two years, and 9266 (34⋅6%) were exempted wholly—these ratios vary but little, for the standard is kept rather high, partly owing to considerations of expense, so that a young fellow of twenty who becomes a “recruit” at once may be taken to be distinctly above the average in bodily and mental qualities. By the new law of 1907 the army is divided into three (not, as previously, four) classes—the Auszug or élite (men from twenty to thirty-two), the Landwehr (men between thirty-three and forty) and the Landsturm or réserve (men between forty-one and forty-eight). The recruits serve for different periods during their first year according to the arm of the service into which they are incorporated—infantry and engineers sixty-five days, artillery and garrison troops seventy-five days and cavalry ninety days, while those in the auxiliary troops serve but sixty days. Soldiers in the Elite are called out seven times during their term of service for a period of eleven days a year (fourteen days for the artillery and garrison troops), while the Landwehr is only called out once for a training period of eleven days. Cavalry men serve ten years in the Elite (no service in the Landwehr), and during that period are called out eight times for a training period of eleven days a year. Between the ages of twenty and forty each soldier must attain a certain proficiency in marksmanship (at least 30 points out of 90 in 10 shots). while there is an annual inspection (by cantonal officials) of arms uniform and equipment. The Confederation also makes money grants to rifle societies, which in 1906 numbered 3732, had 220,951 members (all soldiers between twenty and forty must be members), and received Federal grants to the amount of about £13,500. Rifle and uniform become the full property of the soldier after he has completed his full term of service. Officers serve in the Elite till thirty-eight years of age, and in the Landwehr till forty-four (in the case of officers on the staff the service lasts till forty-eight years of age), while they remain in the Landsturm till fifty-two years of age. The Swiss army is made up (according to the new law of 1907) of a staff, composed of all the commanding officers on active service from the rank of major upwards (in this as in all the following cases the actual number is to be fixed by a Federal law), the general staff, the army service corps (post office, telegraph, railways, motor cars, chaplains, police, courts of justice, secretaries, &c., and the auxiliary services), while the soldiers proper are divided into a number of classes-infantry (including sharpshooters and cyclists), cavalry, artillery (including the mountain batteries), engineers (including sappers and railway labourers), garrison troops, the medical, veterinary (veterinary surgeons and arriers), commissariat and transport services (drivers and leaders of laden horses and mules). On the first of January 1907 (still under the old system) the numbers of the Swiss army were as follows: the Elite had 139,514 (of which 104,263 were infantry, 5183 cavalry, 18,544 artillery and 5567 engineers), and the Landwehr 93,163 (including 67,955 infantry, 4378 cavalry, 13,332 artillery and 4313 engineers—making thus a total of 232,677 men between the ages of twenty and forty-four years of age 57,221 infantry, 9561 cavalry, 3I,866 artillery and 9880 engineers). To this total must be added 44,294 men in the armed Landsturm (forty-five to fifty years of age) and 262,138 auxiliary troops (pioneers, workmen in military establishments, medical, commissariat and transport departments, police, firemen, clerks, and men at a military dépot). The total of the Landsturm and the auxiliary services is 306,432, so that a grand total is 539,109 men (under the old system officers served in the Landwehr till forty-eight, and in the Landsturm till fifty-five). The total expenses of the Swiss army rose from £928,000 in 1896 to £1,400,000 in 1906. Rifles are manufactured in Bern, ammunition at Thun and at Altdorf, uniforms are made in Bern, and the cavalry remount depot is at Thun, which is also the chief artillery centre of Switzerland. There is a. department for military science at the Federal Polytechnic School at Zürich, one section being meant for students in general, and the other specially for officers. (W. A. B. C.)
History
The Swiss Confederation is made up of twenty-two small states, differing from each other in nearly every point—religious, political, social, industrial, physical and linguistic; yet it forms a nation the patriotism of whose members is universally acknowledged. History alone can supply us with the key to this puzzle; but Swiss history, while thus essential if we could thoroughly grasp the nature of the Confederation, is very intricate and very local. A firm hold on a few guiding principles is therefore most desirable, and of these there are three which we must always bear in mind. (1) The first to be mentioned is the connexion of Swiss history with that of the Empire. Swiss history is largely the history of the drawing together of bits of each of the imperial kingdoms (Germany, Italy and Burgundy) for common defence against a common foe—the Habsburgs; and, when this family have secured to themselves the permanent possession of the Empire, the Swiss League little by little wins its independence of the Empire, practically in 1499, formally in 1648. Originally a member of the Empire, the Confederation becomes first an ally, then merely a friend. (2) The second is the German origin and nature of the Confederation. Round
