The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-12-06
DRAWING LINES UPON FOREIGN
 UNDES|RABLES
Swiss Government Takes Action to Preserve Neutral
 Character of Country.

Berne, Dec. 6-SWzt1eraAl9d finally has taken initial steps to control the undesirable foreign clement from which she has suffered As no other neutral country since August, 1914. New regulations adopted by the Fed eral Council are intended to make 1t difficult for the agent of one of the warning countries, for the deSerter from any side, for the foreigner without obvious, legitimate means of livelihood and occupation to book, as heretofore, into the little country that is trying desperately to maintain an upright neutrality and ct the same time weather the storm until peace arrives.
 Switzerland hitherto has permitted without any material objection. scores of thousands of strangers to enter al- most as freely aS in peace times Now action has been taken to stop this only because her hospitality has been violated, her neutrality at times even threatened.
 The new rules which will become effective as soon as the Swiss diplo- natfc and consular officials through out the world can be notified, re- Quire that all foreigners entering the country must be equipped with iron clad passports from their own coun- tries, or equivalent papers of identif- cation: that prior to coming to Swtt1- erland all foreigners must furnish to Swiss diplomatic or consular officials adequate reasons for wanting to come here, and that, after arrival, strang- CTS must register with the police of the oity or town they intend to in- habit
 There has always been a daily traf- fic between France and Switzerland in the neighborhood of Geneva, and between Germany and Switzerland near Basel on the part Of laborers and others. Many undesirable foreigners have sm0ggled themselves across the border and have failed to return. Once in Switzerland they have been able to hide because of the lack ef control over foreignera
 That all Is to be changed. Every person crossing the border at othez than the ordinary points where from clad passports will be required win be numbered. If he fails to return the police will be put upon his trail He will have little chance of escaping, 1 for without the right kind of creden- tials, he Is unable to obtain bread. A bread card today is more important even than the money with which to purchase it-and 8 bread card Is is- sued only on presentation of identih- cation papers.
 The hotel at which the newcomer , stops, the pension that takes him in, the private family to whom he may 1 go, are all liable to heavy penalties if they fail to announce his arrival. There remains the problem of the deserters who have managed to flee across the boundary from one army .or another, and of the near deserters those who have come here with the | permission of their respective gov
 ernments-and then have declined to
 return. Swiss law prescrfbes that | these deserters and refractionaries as 1 they are called can not be forcib1y de-
 ported There are in Switzerland
 now, it is estimated, between ten and | fifteen thousand of those gentry. Not
 all of them are bad citizens. Hun- dreds of tllem at least are gainfully oc-
 cupied and are living model lives l Others are undesirable to the point of being out-and-out criminals. Fig 1 ures for Geneva alcne show that out
 of TO, 900 foreigners among its 170,- | 900 population, 1336 are deserters
 and 2452 refractionaries, while 1T
 Zurich these figures are exceeded.
 The agitation for the utilization o4
 the man-power represented by the de,
 serters and refractionaries is St
 strong that 1t will surprise no one tc see steps taken to incorporate tht majority of them into civilian ser
 vice of manual labor in agricul
 ture.