Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and ReferendumSullivan, J. W. (James William)
General
Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and Referendum
Sullivan, J. W. (James William)
Referendum
Swiss jurors are elected by the people and hold office six years. In
French and German Switzerland, there is one such juror for every
thousand inhabitants, and in Italian Switzerland one for every five
hundred. To a Swiss it would seem as odd to select jurors haphazard as
to so select judges.
In most of the manufacturing cantons, councils of prud'hommes are
elected by the people. The various industries and professions are
classified in ten groups, each of which chooses a council of prud'hommes
composed of fifteen employers and fifteen employes. Each council is
divided into a bureau of conciliation, a tribunal of prud'hommes, and a
chamber of appeals, cases going on appeal from one board to another in
the order named. These councils have jurisdiction only in the trades,
their sessions relating chiefly to payment for services and contracts of
apprenticeship.
_A Democratic Army._
In surveying the simple political machinery of Switzerland, the
inquirer, remembering the fate of so many republics, may be led to ask
as to the danger of its overthrow by the Swiss army. The reply is that,
here, again, so far as may be seen, the nation has wisely planned
safeguards. To show how, and as the Swiss army differs widely from all
others in its organization, some particulars regarding it are here
pertinent.
The more important features of the Swiss military system, established in
1874, are as follows: There is no Commander-in-chief in time of peace.
There is no aristocracy of officers. Pensions are fixed by law. There is
no substitute system. Every citizen not disabled is liable either to
military duty or to duties essential in time of war, such as service in
the postal department, the hospitals, or the prisons. Citizens entirely
disabled and unfit for the ranks or semi-military service are taxed to a
certain per centage of their property or income. No canton is allowed to
maintain more than three hundred men under arms without federal
authority.
Though there is no standing army, every man in the country between the
ages of seventeen and fifty is enrolled and subject annually either to
drill or inspection. On January 1, 1891, the active army, comprising all
unexempt citizens between twenty and thirty-two years, contained 126,444
officers and men; the first reserve, thirty-three to forty-four years,
80,795; the second reserve, all others, 268,715; total, 475,955. The
Confederation can place in the field in less than a week more than
200,000 men, armed, uniformed, drilled, and every man in his place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and Referendum — John Shaqi
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