The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-22

Switzerland in the past has seemed country established for the express pur-
 pose of providing them with winter
 sports and healing air-a sort of whiate mans reservation in the mountains peopled with obliging, if somewhat eXact- ing, hotel keepers. Probably for thought full Americans it had another interest, as being the only really democratic state m Europe with a federal constitution not dissimiar to that of the United States,
 and with the privileges Of initiative,
 referendum and recall very fully de-
 veloped. During the war it gained new importance as a. center of propaganda anu
 of news (most of which was at least
 highly colored). The headquarters on the one hand of the International Red cross and on the other of international esplon- age-and finally the one country m
 Europe which nobody really expected would be drawn into the world war, all though Ie guns were laundering along
 all it's limited frontiers. It is indeed a tribute to the reputation which the SWISS Hong ago established for sturdy main tenance of their rights that no one ever seriously contemplated an invasion oy the German armies, although the protect which certainly would have suited them well was discussed in the papers more than once.
 Some part at least of the new inn portance which this little country has achieved during the war has come 10 stay In Berne. the capital city, rom
 which I write, there are Sl foreign lega-
 tions of one kind and another (and we
 must not forget that the number or ma lions in Europe is rapidly increasing); and staffs of these legations are so much
 augmented that house room in Berne IS as scarce as it is in London and Paris.
 The British legation, for instance, has
 grown from two to twenty rooms-and others in proportion. During the war the German legation employed stair ot ooV- in a building surrounded by barped wire entanglements Comment is needleses EN,irt hernnore. Switzerland has always
 heen A chosen cented for various inter national associations and actlvlties' owing to it's central position and to It's aloofness from the diplomatic ntrlgues of Europe. Hence the choice or geneva as the seat of the League of Natlons causes no surprise and as dlrect con sequence of this decision and all that It entails. we find that both Geneva and Berne are receiving congresses and com mittees of international character Tn an ever increasing measure both of numbers l and of importance.
 IT is worth while, in face Of these facts, that those who are interested Tn problems of reconstructlon' potn ihtei- l 1ectual and industrial, should pay 1 some attention to the state of affairs l existing in Switzerland after the war. Only within the last few months nave | the frontiers really been reopeneo 10 l the swarms of visitors who used to 1 form so large portion of the SWISS 1 nopu1ation A visit to the Swiss pass l mort office in London. reveals at once 1 the fact that this reopening or the doors is very popular; yet most people 1 started on their journey with certain amount of apprehens.on-awfu stories l having been current of lack or coal ] lack of food. lack of trains. tlresome nolice ,supervision, ard so forth-and indeed it seems scarcely posslole Una any country which has been so hemmed in by war as Switzerland could have emerged in anything ike l a normal condition.
 l good deal will happen between Boulogne and the Swiss frontier to confirm these apprehensions. France
 is not a pleasant place for travenng g
 in at present-passports, customs, lack
 of heat late trains and shortage ot
 taxis in Paris-all these things are, of
 course. irritating. But when we ar
 rive at the Swiss frontier there are
 the same polite officials who put iit-
 tle chalk marks on all our bags Wlth-
 out opening anything-the same pleas
 ant coffee and rolls and the same
 steam heated train. The fact that It
 is not. as it once was, superheated, Ia
 an added attraction. As for the DO
 lice supervision" about which stern
 notices are exhibited everywhere, all
 l that is arranged between the porter lu
 the hotel and bis "friend in the DO
 lice station"
 |. Has Switzerland, then. escaped alto
 gether unscathed from the war! Iha'