A POLITICAL PILGRIMAGE
Vrooman, Carl
A Political Pilgrimage What Two Fellow Travelers Discovered in Journeying Through Switzerland By CARL VROOMAN THE PERSONALITY of Switzerland, like that of Italy, is unique. But while the...
...But," he urged, "it takes about ten hours by train, six hours by diligence and two hours and a half by mule to get to Arolla...
...Labor colonies are places where those of us who have failed but who are not yet quite ready for the scrap-heap or the bone-pile are enabled to contribute somewhat to our own support...
...Will they be able to solve these problems...
...We Buy Railroad Tickets AT BASLE a few days later my Yale friend proposed that we get some Cook's circular tickets and devote a fortnight to making a grand tour of Switzerland...
...We discussed with M. Sigg the interesting experiments which have been carried on in several cantons with insurance against lack of employment He said the results had not yet been decisive for or against the system...
...With one or two exceptions Swiss political leader's, or 'bosses' as you call them have gained their ascendency, as have Bryan, La Follette and Wilson, principally by the ability and desire they have shown to serve the people and only secondarily by their efficiency in building up strong * This does not include the railroad debt which is being liquidated automatically every year from the net profits of the roads and which is more than counterbalanced by the value of the railroads themselves...
...Don't worry him," I said, "you forget that here we are not being robbed by an express company as is our custom at home but are being served by that wonderful institution, the Swiss Postal Department...
...The climax came however when on our return to Basle we decided to go over to Arolla for a month's mountain climbing...
...What state are you from...
...Switzerland has perhaps more numerous government activities," he continued, "and yet less 'paternalism' than any country in the world...
...But does not this system develop much rascality and rottenness among government officials...
...I am from the state which started the struggle for the freedom of the slave, and which has generally been in the van of the forces which have been fighting against organized greed...
...Most of their voters have made polities their business and statesmanlike politics has made of every legitimate business a success...
...It checkmates their game to the advantage of all legitimate business...
...He had become so enthusiastic over the Swiss mountains, lakes and people that he actually proposed establishing himself permanently in the country...
...You have paid the regular fee...
...There I met a Yale student, a native of Connecticut who never before had seen anything higher than the Berkshire hills...
...The Croker-Platt type which robs or betrays the people in order to enrich itself and its friends is not to be found anywhere in Switzerland except in the canton of Fribourg...
...Surely you knew this before...
...The result has been that since the advent of the government monopoly, December 23, 1886, the consumption of alcohol has fallen off forty per cent...
...At Lucerne where we took a boat ride up and down the lake several times just for the lazy de-Iightfulness of the trip he seemed annoyed at always having to pay while my ticket gave me the right to ride whenever I liked, "without money and without price...
...If the American people," he continued, "could see what I have Been this summer—political and industrial democracy in practice, they could not fail to realize that our present era of corporation regulation is of interest chiefly as the precursor of a more rational future regime of gradually and conservatively worked out social reconstruction...
...I am very much tempted when I go home to go in for politics myself...
...I could not understand this for a long time but that was because I had not yet achieved their national point of view...
...In some cases men, who are completely "broke" are given fifty or seventy-five cents to have on hand in case of emergency...
...I was so astonished I could only grasp his hand...
...political organizations...
...It has scarcely any corporation- owned 'bosses,' no Napoleons of finance, no oil kings, no robber coal barons...
...But didn't I understand that you were a Harvard man and that you have been studying politics abroad for a couple of years...
...Yes," said the porter, "and so I did...
...Would you like to meet him...
...I suppose that is the last of my pin," he said as he came out, "but it was the easiest and quickest way to get the money...
...One day we started from Martigny to walk across the Tete Noir to Cham-ounix—meaning to return in two days and go on with our party to Zermat...
...Hastening down to the station I discovered not only that the government sold circular tickets at reduced rates but that it had recently introduced a new form of ticket called an "abonnement general," good for continuous travel during two weeks, a month, or six weeks, on all the main railroad and steamship lines in the country...
...The attendant looked at him pityingly and said: "Young man...
...On one occasion he unearthed a perfect mine of information by cross examining a Swiss fellow-traveler while going from Geneva to Berne...
...Did you know that the governmentownership cranks are in control of Switzerland...
...It will cost about ten dollars," he told me, "to express both trunks and our three valises to Arolla but I believe the trip will be worth it" When the porter after attending to the shipping presented us with a bill for $2.85 the Yale man suggested that there must be some mistake...
...Most of their voters have made politics their business and statesmanlike politics has made of every legitimate business a success...
...Curious, isn't it...
...And does the government have a monopoly on spirits, and is it contemplating one on tobacco...
...But he never became enthusiastic over these trips, seeming at once to lose all interest in an enterprise on learning that it was managed by the government...
...The only ones injured are those who try to make illegitimate monopoly profits...
...Cook's tickets," he explained, "will be not only cheaper than tickets bought from place to place but also much less troublesome...
...It is true that the Swiss have less grinding poverty and less vice per capita than any other country in the world with the possible exception of New Zealand and yet one finds numbers of poor people, lazy people and dishonest people as well as much drunkenness in Switzerland...
...While it is evident that the Swiss have disposed of many problems which at present are perplexing the rest of the world it is equally evident that they have many serious problems still confronting them...
...mused my compatriot between puffs at his pipe, "the Swiss are the only people in the world with a larger capital than their indebtedness—and yet, "he exclaimed, suddenly rising and speaking with great earnestness, "what does that amount to...
...we are here to serve the public, not to take advantages of its necessities...
...What Herr Z—Said HE ASSENTED, and we approached the Swiss magnate...
...I do not know...
...The object of this government monopoly is, indeed, not revenue, for Switzerland stands unique among the nations of the world in this, that far from going deeper into debt every year, she now has property called the Federal Fortune amounting to 400,-000,000 francs, or $80,000,000...
...The commune of Obwald in Unterwald with 13,000 inhabitants has lands and forests valued at 11,350,000 francs...
...while still others belonged to the class of grizzled veterans of industry who, being a little the worse for wear, invariably are the first to be laid on the shelf in times of economic depression...
...I could not understand this for a long time but that was because I had not yet achieved their national point of view...
...I have been carrying on some investigations of my own," he said, "and I have discovered that in spite of all the admirable features connected with the Swiss form of government there is one very undesirable feature which the Swiss like the rest of us seem unable to get rid of...
...In addition to this, the separate cantons, communes and municipalities have fortunes amounting up into the millions...
...this is a government institution...
...Their greatest capital is in the civic sagacity, civic energy, and civic purity of their citizens...
...Your government service is excellent, your rates are low, do you have a yearly deficit...
...Kansas...
...No," he said flushing slightly, "it may some time come to that but when I get too old to keep my place in the ranks I hope with the aid of my children that I shall be able to get a little truck farm...
...I recall one especially memorable conversation...
...But why do you ask...
...mused my compatriot between puffs at his pipe, "the Swiss are the only people in the world with a larger capital than their indebtedness—and yet," he exclaimed, suddenly rising and speaking with great earnestness, "what does that amount to...
...Not at all...
...Relief Stations for the Industrial Army AMONTH or so later finding ourselves in Zurich we went to see one of the famous "Relief Stations," where men who are tramping from town to town looking for work find clean quarters, a wholesome moral atmosphere and nourishing food—all at no cost...
...Most decidedly no...
...I thanked him while the Yale graduate departed to walk off an attack of acute mental indigestion...
...This feeling of his gave rise to some very interesting discussions and amusing episodes...
...Their greatest capital is in the civic sagacity, civic energy, and civic purity of their citizens...
...Nearly all the political leaders of all political parties in Switzerland are of this type...
...Oh, government railroads and telegraphs, state monopoly of liquor and all that other balderdash you hear from people who know nothing of economics or—" "Listen for an instant," I replied...
...My Friend Is "Hard Hit" WHILE talking over this trip with the hotel porter he found that by sending our baggage straight through to Arolla we could go by rail and steamer to Frutigen, thence on foot over the Gemmi Pass to the baths of Leuk and from there on again by diligence, rail, and our own feet to Arolla...
...Corruption in politics, wherever it exists on a large scale, is chiefly the result of powerful private monopolies influencing to their own advantage the affairs of state...
...As we were passing through Geneva the following week he stopped and redeemed his pin...
...I was so astonished I could only grasp his hand...
...The discovery that I still had time to make a trip before the expiration of my ticket, whereas his carfare would amount to about five dollars more made him too furious for words...
...But while the all-pervasive and dominant influence south of the Alps is that of art, in the little Republic to their north the omnipresent, ever-creative national spirit is the spirit of democracy...
...e., the exploitation of one man by another, or in its aggravated form, the exploitation of all men by huge soulless corporate monsters...
...If not, we should not be continually nationalizing new industries as fast as they become monopolies...
...If the American people," he continued, "could see what I have Been this summer—political and industrial democracy in practice, they could not fail to realize that our present era of corporation regulation is of interest chiefly as the precursor of a more rational future regime of gradually and conservatively worked out social reconstruction...
...Tell us, however, has experience proved that it is best for the government to own and control natural monopolies...
...Switzerland has perhaps more numerous government activities," he continued, "and yet less 'paternalism' than any country in the world...
...This method works well because our officials are honest, and our officials are honest partly because there are no great private monopolies here attempting to influence them and partly because in this country the politicians have but a limited control of the government...
...On arriving there we were on the point of wiring our friends at Martigny for funds when we saw a pawn-shop and my friend rushed in and pawned a diamond scarf-pin...
...Her national debt* is only 65,000,000 francs, or $13,000,000, leaving a Federal Fortune free and clear of 335,000,000 francs, or $67,000,000...
...If you get dangerous I'll have you taken to a hospital...
...The profits from the sale of alcohol do not replace taxes...
...Blanc...
...Many a tourist has turned amateur investigator and converted, as I did, his Swiss sojourn into something of a political pilgrimage...
...but we feel that if there is any one lesson which our varied experience teaches us it is this —that only by solving the greater problems of the organization of industry and the distribution of wealth can the question of the unemployed be effectually disposed of...
...We had left behind both our letters of credit and when finally we were able to tear ourselves away and had paid our guide, our porter and our hotel bills, we suddenly discovered that we had barely money enough left to get us to Geneva...
...But this vicious circle has been avoided because in Switzerland with the people themselves lies final jurisdiction...
...I have nothing to do with the charges...
...Of course we have all these institutions and more," said Herr Z—, "but why do you ask...
...I nodded an affirmative...
...I Meet a Fellow Traveler ASTRIKING illustration of the value of this institution came when I went to Interlaken...
...Moreover as a rule no one is allowed to stop at the same station more than once in six months...
...There are thirty-six such stations in the Canton of Zurich alone, all supported at the public expense...
...I said pointing to a Herculean figure just entering the smoking room...
...Do you mean to tell me that the express company only charges $2.85 for transporting that mass of baggage up there...
...The town of Soleme in Schaffhausen has forests, pastures and cultivated lands worth about 6,000,000 francs...
...When once we have healed ourselves of this dread disease— quickly the army of the unemployed, with all its camp followers of vice and crime will fold its tents and silently steal away, and its departure this time will be final...
...The fee was so ridiculously small that he felt called upon to expostulate—though not perhaps profanely as he did when bills were too large...
...Doesn't this sort of thing have a tendency to encourage idleness and thriftlessness...
...Bosses," he replied pensively rather than triumphantly for insensibly of late he had been assuming a more sympathetic attitude toward Swiss political institutions...
...Human nature is human nature after all—no matter what political methods are employed...
...Any one who has had no work for three months, or who refuses to work or who has no traveling warrant, is relegated immediately to the work-house...
...These instances could be multiplied almost indefinitely for nearly every commune and canton has public lands...
...I will offer you," I said, "the same advice that Punch gave to a man about to he married—'don't!' If you feel that you have outgrown New England you are ready for the West...
...This difference you will see is absolutely fundamental...
...Does the government manage an express company and diligence lines in connection with the post-office...
...And do not overlook the fact," he added, as he started for Cook's office, "that this is an instance of a private company improving on the arrangements of your government railroads...
...You don't mean to say," he broke forth, "that you are from the state where the grasshoppers, Populists and cyclones hail from...
...If politicians were allowed to run the government here as they do in many other countries the advent of government ownership would mean merely a change from monopolistic control of politicians to politician control of monopolies...
...They are a mild form of charity but their inmates none the less are paupers...
...It has scarcely any corporation-owned 'bosses,' no Napoleons of finance, no oil kings, no robber coal barons...
...When any of them are ill they are sent at once to the splendid public hospitals...
...I would not for a moment attempt to deny that there is a good deal of truth in what you say," I responded, "but I think perhaps you have overlooked one or two important distinctions...
...Curing a Social Disease AT GENEVA we called on M. Jean Sigg—the Genevan representative of the Federal Workingmen's Secretary...
...In fact the work of this "political experiment station of the world" is of such incomparable importance that a first-hand knowledge of its methods and institutions has become as invaluable to the student of politics as is a personal acquaintance with the masterpieces of Italian painting to the student of art...
...They are divided among the cantons and are added to the existing educational funds and a goodly percentage each year is devoted to fighting intemperance or to charities made necessary by intemperance...
...I had a most interesting conversation with him the other day...
...Tell me," he demanded, "your telephone and telegraph service is cheap, and your express charges, diligence, steamer and railroad fares are low...
...After presenting him I said: "Herr Z——, does Switzerland own her own telegraphs, telephones and railroads...
...Surely," he continued, with a gleam of hope in his eye, "you don't believe in those half-baked, a million-times-exploded socialistic vagaries of the government-ownership cranks...
...I do not harbor the delusion that Switzerland is a paradise...
...others were men in the prime of life, genuine "out of works" anxiously looking for regular employment...
...But let me make myself plain on another point," I continued...
...And what is that...
...This plan is a complete success—it is beneficial to rich and poor alike...
...A Little Lesson in Public Finance DURING the latter part of the season the Yale man never seemed to tire of questioning all sorts and conditions of men about the practical workings of Swiss institutions...
...I asked of the superintendent "Not at all," he replied, "in fact quite the contrary...
...Reprinted from "The Arena" for November, 1908...
...Its results have attracted the attention of students the world over and tempted travelers to a more than passing inquiry...
...But this is not the whole story...
...This question is but an outward symptom of a deep-seated social disease—i...
...I hope so but even more do I hope that the United States and the rest of the world will be able to put to practical use the splendid discoveries which the Swiss already have made in the realm of state-craft...
...In addition to all these palliative measures," he continued, "Switzerland by constantly increasing its facilities for technical education has been increasing the industrial efficiency of its workers and decreasing their liability to loss of employment...
...But we are told by many college professors and most newspapers and magazines in America that were our government to enter business, not being as economical and sagacious as a private company, it must do one of two things, give inferior service at high rates, or run at a loss and make up the deficit in taxes...
...When our tickets were examined on the train he glanced at mine in a suspicious inquiring sort of way but I merely remarked that I had got hold of a new combination and would know after a few days trial whether or not it was a success...
...There is but one remedy for this—monopoly control of government must give way to government ownership and control of monopolies...
...At Glarus we went to see the government salt mines and at other places inspected government coal mines, cement-factories, gun-powder factories, etc...
...This secretary who is paid by the government and elected by the labor unions has done much good work in a variety of ways, such as collecting statistics, advising the unions as well as their individual members and helping to settle labor troubles by arbitration...
...Very early in our acquaintance I discovered in him a constitutional prejudice against certain categories of ideas which he termed "advanced", and especially against any suggestion that squinted in the direction of an extension of the sphere of government...
...At Rorschack on Lake Constance where we made a little side trip to St...
...I am very much tempted when I go home to go in for politics myself...
...Yes but I am sorry to say that here is a young man to whom all this is not only unexpected but startling...
...Will they continue to progress in the future as they have in, the past...
...Didn't I tell you," he demanded, "to send our luggage to the Hotel Mont Collon at Arolla in the Valais...
...But our government does nothing of the kind," said the other...
...But on the average our government enterprises make a handsome profit and lessen our taxes enormously.' "Well and good," interrupted the Yale man doggedly, "with some of your government concerns, but you will hardly pretend, I think, to be proud of the fact that your government helps pay your taxes from the profits of an alcohol monopoly—it is the devil's own business...
...Some of the Swiss towns are so rich that they levy no taxes and at Buches in St...
...For instance...
...But the air was so exhilarating and the mountains so enticing that we could not resist the temptation to spend two or three days climbing the smaller peaks in the vicinity of Mt...
...CURIOUS, isn't it...
...What My Friend Gathered THAT evening as we were having a quiet smoke, the Yale man reopened the discussion...
...According to that the people by means of the Initiative and Referendum are the government and consequently whatever it does for them is self-help and not 'paternalism.' Switzerland has worked out not only a successful political democracy but also to a certain extent a successful industrial democracy...
...All this, I thought, in a country which as someone has said "is the poorest in Europe, from the standpoint of natural advantages...
...He is now engaged in one of the most remarkable engineering feats of modern times—building a railroad up the Jungfrau...
...From what I can learn, every city and canton has its political boss who dominates his party and through it dominates the municipality or canton, just as our bosses rule our cities and states at home...
...The important fact, however, is not that the Swiss governments, national state and municipal, are wealthy but that the wealth of the country is so diffused among the people that, roughly speaking, two-thirds of the heads of families are agricultural landholders...
...Gall in addition to this exemption every citizen receives gratis more than an acre of land which he may cultivate, firewood for the winter, and grazing ground for several cattle...
...Some of them were young fellows taking advantage of this opportunity to see the world, to learn some new tricks in their trades and to prospect for better paying jobs...
...Once in a great while some branch of the government service has had a deficit This is advertised abroad with the greatest publicity By private companies to discourage government enterprises elsewhere...
...Yes, sir...
...That is Herr Z—, a Swiss captain of industry...
...Gall and Appen-zell, before going up to the Falls on the Rhine, again he appeared suddenly disconcerted at being obliged to pay the regular fare while I, like a railroad magnate traveling on a pass, had only to give the conductor a glimpse of my magical "abonnement...
...Do you see that man...
...We are most careful to discriminate between the worker and the 'bum.' The whole mission of these stations is, by putting the men in the way of taking care of themselves, to keep the temporarily idle worker from degenerating into a •burn.' Every lodger is required to show his traveling warrant, a sort of industrial passport which is stamped and dated at each station, thus preserving a complete record of each man's movements...
...The place seemed quite as comfortable as our Salvation Army lodging-houses, and its inmates apparently were an honest, self-respecting lot who regarded the station not as a charitable institution but as a very proper convenience provided by a wise government for the unemployed members of its industrial army...
...Yes, yes...
...I gleefully bought a second-class fifteen-day "abonnement" for eleven dollars and hastened back to the hotel where I found my friend so pleased with his circular ticket for which he had paid about one-third more that I hadn't the heart to say anything about my own purchase...
...I asked one of them if he had ever been in a labor colony...
...True, our rates are low and our service good," answered the Swiss...
...There you will meet kindred spirits, graduates from every state in the East...
...According to that the people by means of the Initiative and Referendum are the government and consequently whatever it does for them is self-help and not 'paternalism.' Switzerland has worked out not only a successful political democracy but also to a certain extent a successful industrial democracy...
...Upon entering its borders the observant traveler finds himself lifted into an atmosphere of intellectual liberty, political equality, and social justice...
...There is a free employment bureau in each station and the management is authorized to supply clothes and shoes to those in dire need...
...Go ahead," be responded, "amuse yourself...
...Men love to be led and so far as I can see the rank and file of the voters are led around by the nose here just as they are in every other so-called 'self-governing' country in the world...
...Reprinted from "The Arena" for November, 1908...
...After our descent from Arolla on several occasions I invited him to go with me to investigate the workings of the cantonal and Federal bands...
...Among the new institutions put into operation there, the most important is the Initiative and Referendum—a system of direct popular control of the law-making power, which has been adopted elsewhere only to a very limited—but steadily increasing—degree...
...Don't get any ticket for me," I shouted after him for in spite of a sneaking feeling that he was right I determined not to give in until I had played my last card...
...Does it have an Inheritance and Income tax, the Initiative and Referendum and Proportional Representation...
...He sneaked out and said nothing but I could see that he was very "hard hit...
Vol. 5 • March 1913 • No. 13
