pertinent.

The more important features of the Swiss military system, established in
1874, are as follows: There is no Commander-in-chief in time of peace.
There is no aristocracy of officers. Pensions are fixed by law. There is
no substitute system. Every citizen not disabled is liable either to
military duty or to duties essential in time of war, such as service in
the postal department, the hospitals, or the prisons. Citizens entirely
disabled and unfit for the ranks or semi-military service are taxed to a
certain per centage of their property or income. No canton is allowed to
maintain more than three hundred men under arms without federal
authority.

Though there is no standing army, every man in the country between the
ages of seventeen and fifty is enrolled and subject annually either to
drill or inspection. On January 1, 1891, the active army, comprising all
unexempt citizens between twenty and thirty-two years, contained 126,444
officers and men; the first reserve, thirty-three to forty-four years,
80,795; the second reserve, all others, 268,715; total, 475,955. The
Confederation can place in the field in less than a week more than
200,000 men, armed, uniformed, drilled, and every man in his place.

On attaining his twentieth year, every Swiss youth is summoned before a
board of physicians and military officers for physical and mental
examination. Those adjudged unfit for service are exempted--temporarily
if the infirmity may pass away, for life if it be permanent. The tax on
exempted men is $1.20 plus thirty cents per year for $200 of their
wealth or $20 of their income, until the age of thirty-two years, and
half these sums until the age of forty-four. On being enrolled in his
canton, the soldier is allowed to return home. He takes with him his