Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-12-17

trained men from every town of 1000
population; while a county of 10000
inhabitants could thus send 2,400 men
to the front and hold as many more in
reserve.
There is no soldiery in the military
world costing as little per man as the
Swiss.
This difference arises from the
fact that the army of the Swiss Con-
federation is in truth a citizen army
1t is organized on what has been
called the voluntary compulsory sys-
tenn, 70 which the Swiss people have
freely resigned themselves in order to
guarantee the independence of their
country.
The Swiss boy. at the age of ten, is
put into the gymnastic class at school.
and begins learning the elements of
the soldier drill on the school-hOuse
playground. Long before he is old
enough to be called upon for service
he has learned to do the manual ex-
ercises and to go through much of the
drill that afterward fits him for SOL
der.
When a boy reaches II years he is
liable to service-a liability which
continues until he is so years of age.
Even after that he may be liable, if he
is capable of doing any other army
work than soldering. such as acting
as baker or veterinary surgeon.
Yet with all of the universal train
ing, the only people in Switzerland
who make arms an exclusive profess
sion are the COMMUNICATIVE Chief, Sc
lected by the Federal Assembly, and
the General Staff. These form the
brains of the army. The rank and
file belong to the CantonS, just as the
militia do to the state in this coun-
try.
''At the age Of 20 every able-bodied
Swiss youth becomes a unit in the
first line. During the first year of
liability he must serve rs days or
more, and II days for each successive
year he is called to the standard. Ser
vice in the first line continues until
the citizen has reached the age of 80.
Thereafter he becomes a unit in the
Landwehr of First reserve, In which
he remains until he is Al. He must
give 9 days of service during each
four years that he belongs to the
Landwehr. From A to so, he serves
in the Landsturm or Second Reserve.
rich and poor serve side by side in
the Swiss army, and there is none of
the crack regiment idea to be found.
There is only one general and he is
picked from a nation of soldiers; nor
is his remuneration lordly, for his sal
airy is only SO a day. The caste
system has not been permitted to
creep into the Swiss army, for the
very essence of the Swiss military
idea is that all men start from the
must win the race.
Every commune in Switzerland is
required by federal law to maintain,
at public expense, a safe and suitable
target range of not less than 1000
feet. All legally organized shooting
clubs of the commune have the right
to use this range free of charge. The
government gives go cents a year to
each club for member doing a pre-
scribed amount of shooting during the
year. The annual number of shots
fired in target practice in the army
and in the shooting clubs reached
nearly 100000 rounds, two-thirds Of
which practice is done by the shoot
ing clubs.
Though surrounded on all sides by
belligerent millions, whose interests
might be served by asking her to step
out of their paths, Switzerland today
stands an island of peace in a sea Of
war. because she has been prepared to
maintain her neutrality and her free
dom, or at least to exact such a price
for them that none of the nations at
war can afford to pay for their viola
ton