The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-20
SWISS HAVING HARD. PROBLEM ID REMAIN
 WHOLLY NEUTR RAJ.
Newspapers Are Divided, But for Most Part Are Patriotic in Their
 Course

Berne, Switzerland, June 30-(Corre- spondence.)-It is doubtful whether any country in or out of the war, whether under the iron hand of the censor or not and whether pro-ally or pro-German in it's sympathies, has as peculiar and conglomerate a problem as Switzerland with its newspapers in three languages.
 A strong undercurrent of patriotism, thorough going conviction that what ever the rights and wrongs of the war may be or where they may lie, the duty of the Swiss newspapers is first and foremost to Switzerland has thus far tended to restrain them from dividing ir- retrievably into two camps. This has been especially true of the older and more conservative papers, both those printed in German and those in French. But the uncropping of Germanophile or Francophile journals, many of them war mushrooms, has been a strain not only on Swiss neutrality, but on the inner peace and good temper of the country.
 The Swiss press can be divided roughly into four groups. The first consists of the old-tine, conservative papers, both French and German, which have striven desperately to be neutral. The second class embraces many of the Franco phile papers published in western Swift zerland. They are frankly anti-German, and campaign against the enemies of France
 The third class includes the Germano- phile papers, many in number, though small in influence, which outdo even the Pan-German papers of Germany in their bitterness, especially against Amer ca, and which operate along the well known German physiological lines when trying to influence public opinion. That is to say, the metaphorically produce the effect of bull in China shop when attempting to plead the German cause, chiefly because they try to Jam pro-German arguments and the justice of the German cause down their readers throats.
 The fourth class comprises the so- cialist papers of Switzerland, which are violently anti-German anti-Swiss, anti French and, in general, anti-everything.
 The Francophile papers are much gen tier in their anti-Germanism than are the Germanophile papers in their anti entcnteism. All the papers are nor mally at least bound to print the war reports of both sides, but the French language papers conduct their anti-Ger- man work by cleverly writetn headlines that tend to cast doubt on the truth of the German reports, and that gener- ally are teeming with sarcasm, often good natured.
 The Germanophile papers on the con- trary-most of them are German owned or subsidized-employ heavy ponder ous style of attack. Their editorials are generally bitter, and so often as not are full of transformation.
 To the credit of the majority of the Swiss be it said that they-and this in- cludes a majority of the German-speak- ing Swiss-have hearty contempt for both "phile" types, especially the Ger manophile.
 Neutrality is almost a holy word in Switzerland; certainly a word to con- jure with. In no other phase of the public life of the country does it come more nearly being violated than through a portion of the press. Another unfor- tunately smaller portion numerically, up- holds neutrality as staunchly as the Swiss army or government.