The election by the Assembly of the Federal Tribunal--as well as of the
federal executive--has met with strong opposition. Before long both
bodies may be elected by popular vote.

Swiss jurors are elected by the people and hold office six years. In
French and German Switzerland, there is one such juror for every
thousand inhabitants, and in Italian Switzerland one for every five
hundred. To a Swiss it would seem as odd to select jurors haphazard as
to so select judges.

In most of the manufacturing cantons, councils of prud'hommes are
elected by the people. The various industries and professions are
classified in ten groups, each of which chooses a council of prud'hommes
composed of fifteen employers and fifteen employés. Each council is
divided into a bureau of conciliation, a tribunal of prud'hommes, and a
chamber of appeals, cases going on appeal from one board to another in
the order named. These councils have jurisdiction only in the trades,
their sessions relating chiefly to payment for services and contracts of
apprenticeship.


_A Democratic Army._

In surveying the simple political machinery of Switzerland, the
inquirer, remembering the fate of so many republics, may be led to ask
as to the danger of its overthrow by the Swiss army. The reply is that,
here, again, so far as may be seen, the nation has wisely planned
safeguards. To show how, and as the Swiss army differs widely from all
others in its organization, some particulars regarding it are here