Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-13
SWITZERLAND In ARMS,
COMMERCE PARALYZED
Worlds Playground, Hemmed in
and Besieged, Marks Time
During War

Hundreds of thousands of our people are
lust now recalling Swiss tours Of the past
Switzerland was the worlds playground
"A Babel OF sightseers with nation OF no.
tel and pension keepers in cunning at
tendance which amounted TO positive genius
The Hausers and Sellers and Pyffers-
here were whole dynasties of ministry; no.
tel princes who might furnish Presidents
forI the republic, that democracy OF "Iou-
risme" with Lucerne as its center
The Switzer was born to cater for visi-
tors Neutral of neutrals. he leaned to no
nation and spoke the tongues of all, The
twenty-five cantons have four native
languages. and lived by running the coun-
try as n scenic enterprise-a titanic earl's
court of summer and winter games.
But the great war wrought magical
change. For the first time in generations
Switzerland now has her peaks and valleys
to herself. Eotels are closed, mountain
railways and lake steamships stopped. The
older guides have cmigrated.
Switzerland. the fortress Of Europe, is
today hemmed in and besieged, with an
army of half "a million maSsed on the Rhine
n the chief zone of danger. Watch Is kept
in the passes high explosive Is ready in
the tunnels that give access to the warning
nations outside. II is the emptlest, heaviest
Of seasons.
What tourist ever thought OF Switzerland
az a military nation? Yet democracy in
arms this nation has been ever since Tell
defied the Austrian tyrant. The Swiss army
is a militia force. All male citizens are
liable to serve for twenty-five years after
attaining the age of twenty Eleven years
IN the elite. or active army, passing thence
into tho Landwehr, or first reserve, behind
which stands the Landsturm, whose age
runs from seventeen 10 tifty-hve.
THE SWISS ARMY SYSTEM
arN-i1a tot od
tax. as well a supplement arranged on a
sliding scale. according to property or in
come. Each canton recruits and maintains
its own troops. The Federal Council pakes
laws and trains and arms these units. No
officer of higher rank than colonel 10 ap-
pointed until the army is modified on a
war footing.
II Is the cheapest and most efficient Of
all armies. costing but 200 francs per head
per annum. Here militarsm makes no fuss.
There are no elaborate war colleges like
Sandhurst. st. Cyr and West Point; the
young Swiss officer picks up what he can
in few weeks at Thun or Basle.
But then rifle shooting is the national
hobby. There are 1000 shooting clubs in
the republic with more than 250,000 mem
bers. and they receive substantial federal
grants, besides encouragement and support
from their native canton
The whole land is one stupendous strong
hold, which the garrison army can make
impregnable at short notice. Switzerland
is sadly on watch today, her tourist reve-
nue. stopped and whole year of it--say
200, 600, 900 Enthusiastically spent upon mill
tary preparation.
Specially trained Alpini guard the high
Alpine roads-at Airolo in the SOUTH east
on the Oberalp west on the Furka Pass,
central and north at Andermatt a village
In a grand cirque OF peaks, and itself 5000
feet above Lake Lucerne.
Here your "hotelier" of yesteryear is
transformed. He's now an alert artillerist,
his walters in uniform hauling howitzers
with block and tackle up a slope on which
a goat could scarce find footing.
Guns roar from the granite cliffs with
terrific reverberation. Long files of men
crawl up the snowhelds, or ascend an awful
precipice roped together and led by guide
OF classic repute-another Melchor Andsr-
egg, another Imboden to whom aiguille and
glacier are known as the fine-footed
chamois knows them.
IN MOUNTAIN FASTNESSES
What fearful theatre OF war is this
mountain fastness between Andermatt and
Hospenthal Here is Switzerland's artillery
camp. Each dizzy wall pokes a muzzls
out. The paths are alive with mules and
men, staggering up and down with muni
tions OF war.
SO the great forts are held The ST. Goth
ard against Italy, those OF St. Mauric,
| against France and Luciensteig agains
| Austria. the ancient oppressor. 1t is a sac
but resolute Switzerland. defending her per
petual neutrality and with no illusion,
about the guarantee Of FIVE great Powers.
| And what Of the Swiss themselves? How
do their, sympathies lie as between the bel
| ligerents? Well. they've been hotly divided
| from the first through conflict OF race feel
ing, as well as trade and political interests
| This Is no homogeneous land. remember
Seventy people out OF 100 speak. read ant
think IN German. Only 20 per cent tall
| French and 10 per cent Italian or Ro
ma nseh, the curious dialect OF the Engadin,
\ yalleys, And there are 100000 foreigner
ESesident In the Republic. II has for cen
nE1(Z 1e9n 2 3pspepolitan ssyIum-lovei,