Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-22

very strenuous work in the few tasks
which Switzerland regards as most es-
These are field work and shooting. 1t
Is held that II a man can do credit to
himself in the open, on the march, in
camp. in preparation for battle and ii
he can shoot when the time comes to
1ght. he is a pretty good soldier.
These youngsters do not know what
q drill hall is. All their training takes
place out of
All Training Takes doors. They
Place Out of Doors. learn n now 10
how to live properly in the open, how
to carry their knapsacks. how to dig
trenches, how to shoot. how to bear
grueling marches. What they learn of
the precision of the drill ground is
merely incidental and picked up during
marches and other maneuvers. Switzer-
land does not believe that great
amount of this parade ground pre-
cfsion Is necessary.
During this first period Of training,
the recruit has fred 200 actual shots
with the sort Of gun he would use dur
ing war, and his instructors have seen
that he handled his weapon correctly.
AS the weeks of vigorous exercise in
the open have passed he has felt his
strength developing, and has grown
to take pride in it. Finally, toward
the end. he is given two days and a
night Of ceaseless. grinding marching
such test as he might be called upon
to meet in great emergency. He is
shown what hardship is. how he may
endure 1t. how he will recover from it,
1t is six weeks as though he were
actually at war.
That is the major part of the COM
pulsory military service of the young
citizen of Switzerland. When he has
completed 1t, his record is entered in
his book and he is sent home. He is
assigned to a battalion. He is given
his uniform. his gun, his full accouter-
ment. He is now a member of the
elite" Until he is sixty years old he
retains his uniform and gun, and is
| subject to call by his country.
Within year or two years he will
be required to do service with his regi-
ment, and will spend sixteen days, also
| in vigorous field work, with the other
men of his kind in his community who
go to make up that particular part of
the army Of the nation. After that he
reports Tor sixteen days Of service each
two years until he reaches the age Of
| thirty-two. when he becomes a MEM
Der of the landwehr and is called upon
to drill but eleven days in each four
years until he is forty. All this with
variations for the different services
| Then he enters the landsturm, where
he remains. subject to call, If needed,
| until he Is fifty.
Altogether the citizen of Switzerland
gives about six months of his life
| to his coun-
Gives Six Months, try. This six
All Told, to Country. s mentA Ont of
doors in the most manly and health
giving sort of work. Every youngster
is taken away from his mothers apron
strings just as he comes to maturity,
is set upon his feet, taught hygiene,
the virtues of physical exercise, the
possibilities of his own physical
prowess-is Strengthened up. hardened.
The approach of other terms of service
make it necessary that he should keep
in condition, affect the whole of his
life. Aside from the benefit that the
state derives from thus securing for
! itself the equivalent of a strong stand
ing army. it profits through the added
health and efficiency of its manhood.
| All of this training takes place under
the eye Of highly skilled military in
| structors. Switzerland has almost no
regular army but a corps of these Of
hcers acting as instructors and the nom
commissioned officers who act as drill
sergeants and in such minor capacities
1t has such a corps as the experts claim
the United States should develop for
the training of volunteer army, even
though nothing is done toward general
military service.
During all these services of the citi-
zen of Switzerland he receives his sub
sistence and 10 cents day to cover
any incidental expense.
The man who is exempt for any rea-
son from military service not only suf-
fers the humiliation of the brand of
unfitness. but Is subject to three sep
arate taxes in addition to those other
wise borne. He must pay poll tax of
8 francs, a material property tax and a
tax of n per cent on his income. There
are exemptions under certain minimums
| for the benefit of the afflicted and very
poor.
| Az q result Of this system Switzer-
land, with a population of 100000,
| could raise
Can Raise Army Of an army of
100000 in One Day. ed '' and prop
erly equipped soldiers in twenty-four
hours. Back Of these would be another
body of similar size. partially armed
and trained, but not of the first line.