Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and Referendum | Page 5

the cantons
except Freiburg, which is governed by a representative legislature. The
extent, however, to which the Referendum is applied varies
considerably. In two cantons it is applicable only to financial measures;
in others it is optional with the people, who sometimes demand it, but
oftener do not; in others it is obligatory in connection with the passage
of every law. More explicitly: In the canton of Vaud a mere
pseudo-referendary right exists, under which the Grand Council (the
legislature) may, if it so decides, propose a reference to the citizens.
Valais takes a popular vote only on such propositions passed by the

Grand Council as involve a one and a half per cent increase in taxation
or a total expenditure of 60,000 francs. With increasing confidence in
the people, the cantons of Lucerne, Zug, Bâle City, Schaffhausen, St.
Gall, Ticino, Neuchâtel, and Geneva refer a proposed law, after it has
passed the Grand Council, to the voters when a certain proportion of
the citizens, usually one-sixth to one-fourth, demand it by formal
petition. This form is called the optional Referendum. Employed to its
utmost in Zurich, Schwyz, Berne, Soleure, Bâle Land, Aargau, Thurgau,
and the Grisons, in these cantons the Referendum permits no law to be
passed or expenditure beyond a stipulated sum to be made by the
legislature without a vote of the people. This is known as the obligatory
Referendum. Glarus, Uri, the half cantons of Niwald and Obwald
(Unterwald), and those of Outer and Inner Appenzell, as cantons, or
demi-cantons, still practice the democratic assemblage--the
Landsgemeinde.
In the following statistics, the reader may see at a glance the progress
of the Referendum to the present date, with the population of
Switzerland by cantons, and the difficulties presented by differences of
language in the introduction of reforms:--
----------------------------------------------------------------------- | No. inhab.
| | Form of Passing | Yr. of Canton. | Dec., 1888. | Language. | Laws. |
Entry -------------|-------------|-----------------|-----------------|------- Zurich
| 337,183 | German. | Oblig. Ref. | 1351 Berne | 536,679 |Ger. and
French. | " | 1353 Lucerne | 135,360 | German. | Optional Ref. | 1332
Uri | 17,249 |Ger. and Italian.| Landsgemeinde. | 1291 Schwyz | 50,307 |
German. | Oblig. Ref. | " Unterwald | | | | " Obwald | 15,041 | " |
Landsgemeinde. | Niwald | 12,538 | " | " | Glarus | 33,825 | " | " | 1352
Zug | 23,029 | " | Optional Ref. | " Freiburg | 119,155 | French and Ger. |
Legislature. | 1481 Soleure | 85,621 | German. | Oblig. Ref. | " Bâle | | | |
1501 City | 73,749 | " | Optional Ref. | Country | 61,941 | " | Oblig. Ref.
| Schaffhausen | 37,783 | " | Optional Ref. | " Appenzell | | | | 1573 Outer
| 54,109 | " | Landsgemeinde. | Inner | 12,888 | " | " | St. Gall | 228,160 |
" | Optional Ref. | 1803 Grisons | 94,810 | Ger.,Ital.,Rom. | Oblig. Ref. |
" Aargau | 193,580 | German. | " | " Thurgau | 104,678 | " | " | " Ticino |
126,751 | Italian. | Optional Ref. | " Vaud | 247,655 | French and Ger. | "

| " Valais | 101,985 | " | Finance Ref. | 1814 Neuchâtel | 108,153 |
French. | Optional Ref. | " Geneva | 105,509 | " | " | " |-------------| | | |
2,917,740 | | |
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In round numbers, 2,092,000 of the Swiss people speak German,
637,000 French, 156,000 Italian, and 30,000 Romansch. Of the
principal cities, in 1887, Zurich, with suburbs, had 92,685 inhabitants;
Bâle, 73,963; Geneva, with suburbs, 73,504; Berne, 50,220; Lausanne,
32,954; and five others from 17,000 to 25,000. Fourteen per cent of the
inhabitants (410,000) live in cities of more than 15,000. The factory
workers number 161,000, representing about half a million inhabitants,
and the peasant proprietors nearly 260,000, representing almost two
millions. The area of Switzerland is 15,892 square miles,--slightly in
excess of double that of New Jersey. The population is slightly less
than that of Ohio.
Switzerland--The Youngest of Republics.
It is misleading to suppose, as is often done, that the Switzerland of
today is the republic which has stood for six hundred years. In truth, it
is the youngest of republics. Its chief governmental features, cantonal
and federal, are the work of the present generation. Its unique executive
council, its democratic army organization, its republican railway
management, its federal post-office, its system of taxation, its
two-chambered congress, the very Confederation itself--all were
originated in the constitution of 1848, the first that was anything more
than a federal compact. The federal Referendum began only in 1874.
The federal Initiative has been just adopted (1891.)[C]