cantons the youth becomes a voter at twenty, the legal age for acquiring
a vote in federal affairs, though the range for cantonal matters is from
eighteen to twenty-one.

Similar democratic legislative meetings govern two cantons as cantons
and two other cantons divided into demi-cantons. In the demi-canton of
Outer Appenzell, 13,500 voters are qualified thus to meet and legislate,
and the number actually assembled is sometimes 10,000. But this is the
highest extreme for such an assemblage--a Landsgemeinde (a
land-community)--the lowest for a canton or a demi-canton comprising
about 3,000. One other canton (Schwyz, 50,307 inhabitants) has
Landsgemeinde meetings, there being six, with an average of 2,000 voters
to each. In communal political assemblages, however, there are usually
but a few hundred voters.

The yearly cantonal or demi-cantonal Landsgemeinde takes place on a
Sunday in April or May. While the powers and duties of the body vary
somewhat in different cantons, they usually cover the following
subjects: Partial as well as total revision of the constitution;
enactment of all laws; imposition of direct taxes; incurrence of state
debts and alienation of public domains; the granting of public
privileges; assumption of foreigners into state citizenship;
establishment of new offices and the regulation of salaries; election of
state, executive, and judicial officers.[A]

[Footnote A: J.M. Vincent: "State and Federal Government in
Switzerland."]

The programme for the meeting is arranged by the officials and published
beforehand, the law in some cantons requiring publication four weeks