Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-23

|ENEVA, Nov. 12.-(Special Core
spondcnce Of The Bee)-I am
- making a scouting tour through
I%H Switzerland on the track Of the
- American invasion. This little
mountainous country is the kernel of Eu-
rope, and a rich, juicy kernel it is. 1t is
only twice as big as Massachusetts,, and It
has not as many people as New York, but
1t buys more foreign goods than the whole
Chinese empire, and its people have wants
which correspond to almost every branch
of our manufactures.
But first let me l.ye you a bird's-eye
view of this little land of the Alps. II
you could sail over it in the new flying
machine which DIR. Langley of the Smith
sonian institution is making, you woull
find that 1t is by no means all barren. 1t
is only the snowy peaks of the mountains
that are good for nothing. Fully one-third
of II Is covered with forests, there are
pastures high up in the Alps, and further
down are thousands of small farms and
vineyards.
There are more than 1000, 900 people here
engaged in agriculture. There are 300, 900
peasant farmers. nearly every one Of whom
owns his own land. The country is made
up of villages, with a very few cities of
size. Zurich, the largest, has only $50, 600;
Basel, on the German frontier, has III 900,
while this town of Geneva. on the lake Of
that name, not far from the French Dor
der, is still smaller. l have been to the
capital, the city of Berne. 1t is a sleepy
town OF Ga, 900, while Lucerne, Chaux-de-
Ponds, Lausanne and st. Gall have from
10000 to 10000 each. There are villages
everywhere and little huts scattered
through the nests in the mountains.
The Swiss are among the thriftiest of all
the Caucasians. They believe in making
everything pay It's own way, and every man
here has a profession or business, just as I'm
the United States. Thpre are but few mil
lionaires, and very few paupers, but many
who have money invested in stocks, bonds
and mortgages. Indeed, millions of dollars
worth OF American securities are held by
the Swiss, and a steady stream OF foreign
money pours into Switzerland from outside
Investments. as we'll as from the thousands
of tourists who come here for their sum
mer vacations. Switzerland has thirty-fve
banks, with an average capital of 81, 000, 900
apiece. 1t has 5000 different factories, and
the whole country is a beehive of house
industry.
Every village has its speciality, and the
people OF every section are employed in
making things to sell. Swiss watches are
sold everywhere. and the best watches of
the world today are the Swiss. We make
good timekeepers, but our watchmakers are
machinists. The Swiss are artists, and
the very finest of goods are turned out by
them. Nevertheless, American watches sell
here, and also American watch cases.
At Geneva one of the specialties is music
boxes. Not far away is the town of ChauX-
defends, in which, with its surrounding
country, SOC, 900 watches are made every
year. In the mountains wood carving is
done, and about Zurich there are great silk
weaving works. Near st. Gall they make
vast quantities of embroideries for Europe
and the United States, $4,000 people being
other thusands who work in iron and steel
and other thousands who make cheese and
condensed milk, specialties in which Switz-
erland leads the world.
have said the Swiss are rich. They
have plenty of money to spend for what
they want, but they must have their
moneys worth. This our exporters should
consider in figuring upon the trade of the
country. They should remember that they
will have to sell better goods and cheaper
goods than are now in the market to get
the trade, for they will have to ~displace
the goods now used. They should send
commercial travellers here. There are
thousands OF drummers now on the Swiss
roads from Germany. Belgium and England,
but comparatively few from the United