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

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, Bale City, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Ticino, Neuchatel, 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, Bale 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. | " Bale | | | | 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 Neuchatel | 108,153 | French. | Optional Ref. | " Geneva | 105,509 | " | " | " |-------------| | | | 2,917,740 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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; Bale, 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] The form of cantonal Referendum now practiced was but begun (in St. Gall) in 1830, and forty years ago only five cantons had any Referendum whatever, and these in the optional form. It is of very recent years that the movement has become steady toward the general adoption of the cantonal Referendum. In 1860 but 34 per cent of the Swiss possessed it, 66 per