spinner has no facilities for obtaining his raw material at short notice, and therefore always holds a considerable stock in his stores, generally sufficient for a year's consumption. Before our civil war he bought large quantities directly at New Orleans or other Southern ports, acting as his own broker, and thus obtained his supply at a figure lower than the ordinary market rate, which compensated him for loss of interest and rent of warehousing. Another difference between the Swiss and the American manufacturer is the relation in which the employers and the employed stand to each other. The Swiss laborer is never regarded as a "hand," and he himself never forgets that he is a man, on whom the principle of honor has a very strong hold. "In Switzerland the operative who leaves a good master for better wages would be despised by his fellow-workmen ;" on the other hand, the master who aimed at underselling by cutting down wages, would be scouted. Thus the millowner and the operative are influenced by a mutuality of considerate feeling, and selfishness does not rule in the trade. Since our war there has been a decrease of work of 40 per cent, but it appears that only one mill has been stopped, and even in that case the men are paid their wages, and thus receive a retaining fee which binds them morally to their employers, for whom they will work again when business is resumed. In Switzerland the operative spinners and weavers have an advantage many others do not possess; they have small patches of land to cultivate, and never being detatched wholly from agricultural pursuits, they are not mere "specialties" as in England, unfit for every occupation but the one to which they have been trained. The consequence has been that in the recent dearth of cotton there has been no distress in Switzerland. The canton of Glarus is eminent in this manufacture.

"It has at present 206,000 spindles, 2,500 power-looms, several bleaching works and dye establishments, besides 4,000 printing presses of vari ous kinds. In these establishments from 9,000 to 10,000 workmen are employed, and the floating and fixed capital may amount to 40,000,000 or 50,000,000 francs."

Since Switzerland has to compete with the world, and is relatively a poor country, how does it sustain itself in the unequal struggle? It works with old machinery, not being rich enough to buy the new inventions when these are first introduced. The following comparison has been made: A mill for spinning, in full working order, costs in England 25 francs, in Switzerland 50 francs per spindle; one for weaving, in the former country, from 400 to 500 francs, and in the latter from 900 to 1,200 francs per loom. This difference in fixed capital is enormous, nor is that the only disadvantage. In England, on account of the superior machinery, four or five persons can manage 1,000 spindles; in Switzerland, nine or ten are required. In England machine making is a separate trade, largely carried on in every manufacturing town of importance; this is not the case in Switzerland, where the smallest cotton-mill must possess its own mechanical contrivances as an adjunct to itself. England works with steam power, Switzerland with water power; but the first cost of steam power does not equal one-third of the cost of water power. How then does Switzerland stand her ground against such formidable competition? Beəcause her operatives work longer hours, and receive lower wages; and because the habits of her manufacturers are more simple and economical,

and their personal expenditure is less. It is said that they display more tact in their mercantile operations.

The history of the silk industry of Bâle is very interesting. Its rise and progress have been carefully studied by Professor KINKELIN of the University of Bâle, and we take him as our guide in many curious details. In former times "silk ribbons were woven by the gold and silver lacemakers on small one-shuttle weaving looms, and the shuttles were thrown by hand." Silk ribbons were then in scanty use. The lace-makers had a particular guild of their own, in common with other artisans. No one could be a master unless he had been an apprentice for several years, and had been employed abroad as a working journeyman for three years. In the second half of the seventeenth century a great revolution took place in the trade by an invention, which set the shuttle in motion by mechanical means, and which gradually displaced the hand looms. The lacemakers resisted the owners of the ribbon mills, and, to show the character of the age, in several places those mills were burnt by the hangman as works of the devil. But they could not be suppressed either by violence or by superstition, and the lace-makers who, in 1670, worked 359 shuttles in Bale, foresaw the ruin of their trade. The ribbon mills were legalised in 1691 on payment of a tax of one fourth per cent on the money value of the material worked up in a mill during the year. After many contentions between the lace-makers and the ribbon mills, which were appeased by the intervention of the government, the ribbon manufacture became firmly established; but it received a check from an edict of the Germanic Empire prohibiting the fabrics of Bâle, which, however, was removed by the Diet of Augsburg in 1725. It also suffered from the thefts of the workmen, who stole the silk, but that was suppressed by severe punitive laws. This was an era of government regulations, when authority interfered in every trade, as though men of business were incapable of conducting their own affairs. The following rules were enacted: "It was ordered that all manufacturers should inscribe themselves on the books of the committee (of supervision,) and that the non-inscribed should be forbid. den to manufacture; that the manufacturers should pay the wages of their operatives as fixed by the government; that no operatives were to be allowed to work cheaper for a native or foreign manufacturer; that no operative could work at another manufacturer's unless he produced a regular permit or discharge from his former employer." The law also fixed the number of ells each sort of ribbon should contain per piece. No looms could be male except for the citizens of Bâle; their sale to others was strictly prohibited. Foreign workmen could not be employed, and operatives emigrating clandestinely forfeited their civil rights and property. Whoever attempted to inveigle operatives out of the country was fined 50 thalers. The lace-makers at last became paupers, and in 1788 an ordinance was passed for their relief, which imposed a tax on ribbons, that article having caused their ruin. It was never evaded, for at the French Revolution the books of all the manufacturers were scrutinised and stood the test honorably.

These old regulations ceased in 1798, when the revolution subverted all that was ancient; but now that Europe is gradually relaxing all old restrictions this sketch of former systems (for they were not confined to Switzerland) may not prove altogether uninteresting to our readers. At present gov

ernment claims no right of interference with the private affairs of the citi zens. Protection, as enforced at Bâle, had at least this good effect-it secured the reputation of the local manufactures; no short lengths, no false or rapidly perishable dyes--in fact, none of the vile frauds now so common in England, and which have compelled parliamentry interference, were then possible. If free trade was then denounced so was free booty. Workmen were not at that time the serfs of the factory. They had their own looms, and worked at home, and had their small piece of land, which their family cultivated, which fostered and perpetuate an independent spirit among the people. This state of things stiil continues to a large extent. "Of the 7,250 ribbon looms 5,000 are in the private dwellings of the operatives in the country or the town, and 2,000 only in manufactories, independently of the 250 looms upon which the ribbon patterns are woven under the eyes of the manufacturers." The silk industry must be carried on in a light, airy, and dry situation, free from vapors injurious to the lungs, which deprive cotton operatives of strength, health, and even life. At Bâle 6,000 looms are still worked by hand, about 500 by water power, and 750 by steam. The looms belong to manufacturers, and each operative pays two per cent of his wages for the use of his loom. Sufficient confidence is reposed in his honesty and faith not to exact from him a deposit for the value of the machine. The wages of silk reelers are from 1 to 2 francs a day; of warpers, from 2 to 3 francs; of lace-makers and weavers, from 4 to 5 francs. Among themselves the workmen contribute monthly to a sick fund, on which they draw when ill at home; or if they enter the hospital the charges are paid out of it.

The Bâle ribbon manufacture is famed for excellence. Dyeing has made considerable progress. The dyers are responsible to the manufacturers for spoiled or damaged goods. There are eight of those establishments at Bâle, the largest employing 300 persons. In 1846 the total value of ribbon manufactured at Bâle was 20,000,000 francs annually, nearly half of all produced in Switzerland, which was 46,000,000 francs. At present the total production is put down at 35,000,000 francs. Bale now competes successfully, even in Paris, against its French rivals, though at a disadvantage of from 5 to 7 per cent of import duty. The Balois keep their own designers in Paris. The French formerly had an advantage in the excellence of their silk, but now they are rivalled by Bale. The prosperity of Bâle is mainly attributed to the honesty of her manufacturers and operatives, all their articles being what they profess to be, in quality and length of the piece, and to the superior education of the work nen, who are admirably schooled. If they are not so quick as the French they are more solid, and their employers are cleverer merchants than the French. At Bâle there is a Society of Public Industry, which maintains three industrial schools, where the arts of manufacture, drawing, and modelling are taught; and also one designated the "French Repetition School," so designated because the pupils, who have been already taught the French language in early youth, there repeat what they have acquired, so that they may not forget. The manufacturing school is free to students. At the drawing and modelling the charge is about one franc per month. Then there is M. RICHTER-LINDER'S school for girls. He only receives those who have been badly trained, or have received no training at all, and out of several hundreds-all of whom must have remained with him

four years before they are discharged—a bad report has not been heard in a single case. M. RICHTER has two establishments-one at Bâle, with 200 Protestant girls, the other in the canton of Lucerne for Roman Catholics. They are taught the domestic economies of the household, to cook, to mend, to clean, and to preserve from injury. They are also instructed in the art of twisting, cleaning, and assorting silk. Religious instruction is imparted. When they leave they receive 300 francs, less the expenses of clothing.

Under the governments of the cantons of Bàle and Zurich, by which it is licensed, is the silk dryers' establishment. It belongs to a company of shareholders, having a capital of 27,500 francs. They weigh the bales of silk when moist and when dry, and determine the legal trade weight. Then there is "The Young Merchants' Union," formed for scientific instruction, taught by professors, who deliver lectures on political economy. Finally, the Bâle silk trade (the vital occupation of the town) gives subsistence to one-fourth of the inhabitants, or 10,000 persons, and indirectly to 30,000 people, if we include the workpeople constantly coming and going from and to the adjacent parts of Switzerland, France, and Belgium, as well as those in the cantons of the Bâle country.

than more.

We now pass to the agriculture of Switzerland. The Swiss acre (40,000 square feet) of good arable land in the canton of Berne varies in price from 1,800 to 2,000 francs. On the shores of Lake Leman, between Lausanne and Geneva, it has been sold for about 10,000 franes; and in the vine-growing district of Lavaux, between Lausanne and Villeneuve, for as much as 20,000 to 25,000 francs, and even beyond those figures. "The arable land in the neighborhood of Berne lets, on a twelve years' lease, at from 70 to 95 francs an acre. Deducting cantonal and communal taxes, an estate there bears interest of about 3 per cent, rather less The daily wages of a laboring man is 1 franc to 70 centimes, of a woman 1 franc. The average produce per acre for spelt, the kind of wheat generally grown here, is about 7.740 imperial quarters; for hay and the aftergrowth, from 2 to 2 tons of English measure." A good Swiss cow yields about a gallon and a half daily. Meadows artificially irrigated remain so from three to six years, when they are ploughed and converted into arable. There has been a diminution in the price of cereals in Geneva of one-third, and in Zurich of one-fourth, since the introduction of railways; but none in those cantons which export corn. As Switzerland imports one-third of her consumption, it represents, compared with former prices, a yearly saving of from 9,000,000 to 10,000,000 francs. The import of coal, since the establishment of railways, has risen from 28,000 quintals, the average between 1852 and 1856, to three millions and a half of quintals in 1862.

The revenue of the Swiss Confederation in 1862 was 19,911,656 franes 98 centimes; the expenditure, 19,286,039 francs 83 centimes; surplus, 625,617 francs 15 centimes, but the financial future threatens deficits. Owing to recent treaties of commerce the receipts of customs, the mainstay of the Confederate treasury, have largely diminished, and an increased outlay, to a considerable extent, is imperatively required to correct the waters of the Rhone and the Jura. For those rivers, for the Alpine roads, and for supplying the troops with a new infantry musket, it is calculated that 14,400,000 francs will be required, to be distributed over ten years;

and as this expenditure could not be sustained by the ordinary receipts, Swiss financiers are fearful that they will be driven to a loan. In common with all other European States, the Confederation is heavily burdened by military estimates, and it seems extraordinary, that in so small a population 187,292 men of all arms should be maintained.

The foreign trade of Switzerland does credit to the enterprise of her merchants, and the goodness of her exportable commodities. She sends iron material in large quantities to Germany, and silks to Russia, also cheese. The English treaty of reciprocity has enabled the Swiss to place some of their goods on the same footing as the French. A considerable quantity of their merchandise, destined for China, East and West Indies, Australia, and South America, is sent to England to be transhipped to the United States. Bâle, Geneva, and Zurich, remit annually to the amount of 40,000,000 francs. Switzerland has formed a treaty with Japan. Our civil war has caused a reduction in the cotton fabrics of Zurich to the extent of only one-sixth; but though the manufacture has declined to this extent, M. FIEZ, the head of the Exportation Society of that canton, does not think that any profit has been realised, owing of course to the enhanced price of the raw material. This is a common calamity in which all Europe notoriously shares.

NATIONAL SAVINGS AND NATIONAL TAXATION.

NUMBER I.

WE have attempted in several articles of late to convey to our readers some idea of the amount of our national savings, for the purpose of reaching correct conclusions as to the tax-paying abilities of the country. In doing so, we of course pretended to no refined accuracy, for, in examining such a question, all that can be done is to arrive at certain probabilities by the aids of materials, all of them imperfect and many of them deceptive. Still the inquiry is one of increasing importance, and we propose to pursue the subject further, hoping in the end to have furnished our readers with materials for approximating to a correct conclusion respecting the matters discussed.

Ouly two questions are of much importance to the American people at the present time, to wit: first, What is the minimum expense of an efficient war, and how can that desired end in the management of it be reached? and, second, In what way can the country's annual earnings be best obtained for and applied to the payment of the necessary taxes? The great fact that this war is to be continued, be it long or short, until these States are united again, has been settled by the late election, and it only remains to consider how it can be done with the least detriment to the country and to us as individuals. The latter inquiry is the one we have to deal with; and, as a first step, it is necessary to examine into the amount of our resources, or, in other words, our annual savings.

That we may have a clear appreciation of the matter, it is well to state here what is to be understood by the word "savings." It is used to designate the net surplus which remains for employment and investment