Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-20

dies got their furs here and especiany Iner
prohibits the bringing of seal into the
United States has broken np this trade, ana
now not fifty seal sacques are solo IN
summer. The customs regulations pro
hibiting any traveller to bring in more than
800 worth of goods have also aHecteo
Switzerland. The merchants say they
would have sold three times as mucn 10
tourists had it not been for this law. ana
that a number Of possible purchasers OF
pearl necklaces and costly furs mad tod
them that they now had to buy IN new
York. At the same time more or less
goods are sold to tourists VINO nope 70 re.
them through the customs house without
declaration.
Fortunes in Condensed Milk.
The Swiss are making fortunes out of the
condensed milk manufacture. They export
ed more than 62,OO0,O0O pounds of such
goods last year, and their sales OF con-
densed milk to Great Britain alone amount
to more than 100000 annually. This
business was founded by an American,
United States consul, who opened factory
here in 1866. He organized a company
with a paid-up capital of $1,000 ana IN
the first year condensed only ABOUT 25,ovV
cans. His friends put more money INTO
the business. 1t steadily grew and by 1850
it had increased to 81. 600, 600, and 1t was
turning out cans by the millions. Branch
offices were established in different parts OF
Europe and later on l believe in the Unlted
States. The business paid right along, ana
similar establishments are now to De 1ouno
in different parts of Switzerland operated
by the Swiss. The farmers bring their milk
to the factories and are paid so much per
the business should not be profitably carried
on in the dairy regions Of the United
States.
The Cheese Business.
Switzerland makes lots Of money out OF
its cheese. 1t exports something like 6o,-
100000 pounds annually, and its receipts
therefrom are more than $s,OOO,OO0. we
ourselves take about 100000 pounds every
year and pay our grocers on the average
So cents a pound for it. The same cheese
sells here for about 16 cents a pound. the
duty is only 6 cents, so you can see that
our grocers are making a good round protit;
I am surprised to find that no Neuchatel
cheese is made at Neuchatel, although Neu-
chatel cheese is known the world over.
Neuchatel is a town of 2O,0O0 people, when
is more noted for watch making than any
thing else. 1t has large house industry
and a number of factories and uses many
American watch cases to inclose SWISS
movements. The only cheese of account
that is exported from Switzerland is the
large round cheese which we know as
most 81 ,0G0,O00 worth every year.
Swiss Industrial Beehives.
Switzerland has been called the play
ground of Europe but it is the workshop
of the Swiss. The tourist business, big as
it is, is a bagatele in comparison with
the other industries. Nearly every town
and city is a beehive of work. 1 have
written of Zurich as one of the most pros
porous factory towns of the continent.
Geneva has only 100000 people, but it is
doing the business of tens of millions, and
all the country around it huns. There are
watch factories, music works and crock
cry establishments here which make guam
titles of goods for export, and also es-
adjustments turning out jewelry and
enameled work.
In Basel, a city of the same size as
Geneva, on the other side of Switzerland,
the industries are equally great. Ribbons
are made there on looms imported from
America, and there are factories of vari-
Gus kinds.
Swiss Watches
One of the queerest Industrial centers is
Chaux-de-Fo Ponds in the Jura mountains
Here the finest of Swiss watches are made
and that largely by hand The town has a
population of $4,000 and half of it's people
are employed in making watches and watch
movements. The work is much divided
each man making one kind of wheel or
part of a movement. Those who prepare
the simplest pieces may get as much as
fifty cents a day, while the finer workmen
will receive two dollars or more. The
town turns out something like 800, 600
watches every year, an output worth more
than 81 600. 900.
1t is in Geneva that most of the enamel
ing of watches is done, many Of our finer
cases being sent there from the United
OF m ha G,1ic t.,d n+,t,r
are also noted for their beautiful construc-
ton. They are spoken of jewels as well
as timekeepers. Most of the watches are
of the cheaper varieties, such as silver and
nickel-about 100000 of each being sent
away every year. We annually import
something like 1900 nickel, 2S,000 silver
and 1000 gold watches from Switzerland,
and in addition more than "a 900 watch
movements.
Swiss Cities.
We are accustomed to think of Switzer-
land as an old country. So it Is. 1t was
a thriving place in the days of the Ro-
mans, even then having its cities and VIII
lagos Later on the barbarians swept over
it, and 1t is from them that come the Swiss
people of today. Many of the cities here
were good business places in the middle
ages. This was the case with Berne and
also with Geneva, where, during the refor-
nation, John Calvin thundered forth his
denunciations of the priests
Knowing these things, one expects to find
the Swiss cities hoary and gray. They are
nothing of the kind. You have to hunt for
antiquities. Geneva had houses in the days
of Julius Caesar, but 1t Is now almost as
modern in appearance as boom town of
South Africa. The city Is French in its
architecture. It's houses are of five and six
stories, divided up into flats often, having
stores on the ground floor and dwellings up
above.
Geneva is well located. 1t is municipal
jewel in a beautiful setting. The mighty
Alps look down upon it, the frosty
head of Mount Blanc rises high above it
and the emerald Rhone rushes through 1t.
1t has wide streets and fine parks
and it makes you think of a fashionable
watering place rather than business town
The stores are like those of a summer re-
sort. Souvenirs are sold in every block
There are windows full Of wood carvings
photographs and paintings. Women &c
, through the streets wheeling carts of pic
ture postal cards, selling them as our Ital.
ian vendors sell fruits. The silk stores
| jewelry stores and watch establishments
are especially fine, and everything is ar.
| ranged to attract the tourists eye.
A Look at st. Gall.
| Have you ever heard of st. Gall? It has
only little more than 10000 people but
| it chews up American cotton by the hun.
, dreds of bales. 1t is one of the chief towns
0P industrial Cu,ft1arlapd cit A.