Evening star., 1923-10-28

gether have not half as many people
as Detroit and they equal only two
thirds the inhabitants of Boston.
The whole country is not quite twice
as large as Massachusetts, and it's
total population numbers about the
same as Chicago.
And now who are the people that
inhabit this wonderful country? Like
the Americans, they are a polyglot
nation, and that means a strong one.
They are the result OF intermarriages.
more or less frequent, of the Ger
mans, the French and the Italians
And I may say that they have the
best elements Of the three great ma
tions from which they come The
country is bounded by Germany on
the north and east, Italy on the south
and France on the west. The people
come of these three stocks. Here In
Geneva, on the edge of France, the
most common language is French;
on the north and east every one
speaks German, and over the divide,
in the italian section, the common
tongue is that Of Italy. Most OF the
people can speak French and Ger
man, and many Italian as we'll
French, German or Italian may be
used in addressing the parliament
and all public documents are issued
In the three tongues. One sees
French and German signs over the
stores and there are newspapers in
all of the languages
The people are we'll educated.
Everybody can read and does read
There are schools everywhere and all
kinds of schools. The nation is known
for its high educational qualifications
and students come here from all over
the world to attend the universities
and also to teach their children Ger
man and French.
The Swiss is noted for his common
sense and coolheadedness. He dis
cusses public matters with his neigh
bors and he is not afraid OF a new
thing. He votes for the old. how
ever. until he is. sure just what the
new is. For this reason there is no
danger Of the nation going bolshevik,
although the socialists are growing
in numbers.
We pride ourselves on being the
great republican nation Of the world.
The Swiss had established the inde-
pendence of some of their cantons
more than 500 years before our re-
public was started. 1t was 200 years
before Columbus was born that Will
liam Tell shot the apple off the head
OF his boy, but had he killed him
he had second arrow ready for the
heart Of Gessler, his oppressor. Some
of the authorities say that is not
true. but many Of them doubt even
the Bible. At any rate, 1t was just
about that time, along somewhere in
the thirteen hundreds. that a thou
sand or so Swiss defeated an Austrian
army of ten times their number and
thereupon established a republican
government in three important Swiss
cantons.
Today the equality OF the people is
absolute and they are the most demo-
cratic and Independent in Europe.
They have carried republicanism
further along than we have and have
ironed out many of the troubles with
which we are dealing. AS far as I
can learn, there Is no graft and no
pork barrel and the Swiss parliament
Is more respected than ours. The
people keep track of public affairs
and every one goes to the polls. The
parliament is chosen from all classes,
but most of the members are of mod
crate means and of simple life. AS to
just how the country is governed I
may write in the future.
Copyright. 1928. Carpenters World Traveis.a