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‘Sleeves Take on S BY ANNE RITTENHOUSE. ¢ ROM short sleeves to long ones 1s a change of sufficlent importance to compel women to stop, look and speculate. From & fragment of an arm cap, a mere wisp of cloth hanging limply from the shoulder, to mediaeval arm coverings of splendor and extrava- gant size is a prodigious leap. It startles and bewilders. No revolution comes overnight, ‘That's & pretty plece of talk. Things melt and slide and boil and bubble under the surface; then there's an explosion. True of physical and political events, it is true, also, of fashions. If one keeps an ear to the ®round as do Indians, much can be anticipated. The seemingly sudden burst of long and ornate sleeves into fashion is a case in po‘l\n Are women sorry that arm cover- ings have changed? I think so. But dressmakers are not. They ab- bor static fashions. They dld their best to put the chemise frock out of the way. They quarrel with women now over the retention of the unim- portant cloche hat in mannish felt. They have put flaring godets at sides of short coats to compel women to give up the jumper jacket with its blas opening in front. They have Invented, or revived, shingled hair with temple locks to make the permanently waved *bob" look out of the picture. Lastly, they have gone to the great day costumes of other days to show women how foolish it 1s to g0 ,0n leaving the arms bare. They argue that distinction and glory are given to a gown by its Women g6 right on wearing their arms bare in this mild weather, but the accepted change is molding new fashions, and dressmakers who are | completing cold weather frocks do not find it dificult to put orna sleeves into tight armholes. The: no protest. Maybe winter weather is more persuasive than fashion. Maybe there is slight feeling, at last, for a change in apparel. Some- one is tired, somewhere, of a coffee sack hanging from the shoulders with a slit for the head to go trough and wide openings for the arms. ‘Women are worried about the 1imp- ness of sleeves rather than by their increased length. If limpness s not retained, it's golng to be a fretful winter for those who are everlast. ingly trying to make a decorative sleeve of width and stiffness go un- der a coat with insufficiently wide sleeves, * ok k% HE fashion for the sleeveless Jacket did not survive. It dled a Quick death, but it may be exploited again in the spring, which is the suit- able season for it. It was a lovely idea; old as human nature, nearly. It gave women & chance to prolong the iine from shoulder.to hips, which is almost necessary to style and grace in the average American figure. In way of parenthesis: what an ad- vance it 1s on methods of the last decade that the clothes makers most stridently Insist through the public- ity channels that French ideas only are now worked out for the Amer- ican figure. It has taken years of sleeves, decorative and costly. preaching and failures to bring the A POPULAR SLEEVE OF CLOTH HAS A CUFF AND PUFF OF BLACK ASTRAKHAN, ONE AT WRIST, THE OTHER BELOW SHOULDER. THIS TREATMENT FOLLOWS THE RULE THAT IF SLEEVES BE TIGHT AND LONG THEY MUST BE ADORNED. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, clothes makers and the comswmers to the practical fact that few French clothes oan be worn “as 1s” by any women but the Latins. The difference between the bodles of the two races, the sharp difference between the carriage and poise of spine and head, the arrangement of curves, makes the clothes of one race utterly unsuited for the other. The French cannot and will not change. They never ha Thelr art, the greatest in the world of drees, iv founded on their own women and their physical characteristics. Many dressmakers In this country have prided themselves that they gave to America purely French clothes, wait- ing until the seasonal exhibitions were finished in order to get the exact clothes the French women wore. What was the result? They took orders from the minority only. Furthermore, the French clothes are held together with a gesture. We require fastenings. We know little of the art of gesturing. We have been taught from the cradle that a lady keeps her hands still. More than that, our weather is not such as to Improve our tempers when we have to hold our clothes together with the hands. It s not to be expected that we will get fashlons elsewhere than from Paris. Why should we? Tap- pIng that source is the cleverest thing we do in clothes. But the lines must be adapted to us. That is our belated cleverness. 8o much for discussion. practical description. The confusion of the fashion mak- ers this winter is evident in the way they grasp at straw: The public must select a few styles and make them dominant factors. The array of sleeves offered In the passing show of clothes Is suggestive of a parade of international flags. What- Icver sleeve one likes can be chosen. No one in authority says “yea” or “nay. There's the sleeve of black lace that starts at the hat brim and, fall- Ing over the shoulders, runs down the arm to end in a snug wristlet. Curious and charming fs this inven- tion, which was suggested by the Spanish mantilla. Spain, you know, is rivaling Indo-China as a source of fashion Inspiration, and it day stand the test of popularity longer. * X % % HE Spanish flounce Is a prevail- ing feature of fashion. So are Spanish earrings, embroidered shawls, tortoise shell combs. Boleros are re- vived, 80 is the plaited shirt of the bull-fighter; 80 the low-heeled slipper. None of these things are new to our eyes in America, for dress- makers have been advancing them timidly for a year; but they are now famillar sights. So are Spanish furni- ture and literature and paintings and dancing. The lace vell that makes a sleeve is a gladdening sight to the econo: mist. It enables her to turn a dance frock into an afternoon ome. Theré’'s the Russian sleeve, wide at wrist and heavily weighted with Now for & twin on the other wrist, 50 one has a muff. It is quite the fashion to |an exaggerated band of fur. There's | Pol - . OCTOBER 28, 1923—PART 5 THESE IMPORTANT CUFFS ARE ADOPTED BY SMART DRESS. MAKERS. THERE'S THE DEEP LACE CUFF OF THE VENETIANS WORN WHEN LACE WAS INVENTED; THE CHINESE ELBOW CUSHION OF COLORED SILK AND EMBROIDERY; THE TIGHT WRISTLETS OF BLACK AND GOLD EMBROIDERY, CHINESE FASHION, WITH SILK TASSELS IN THE TWO COLORS. keep one’s hands warm, Chinese fash- fon. It's the first trick the manne- quins show when exhibiting coats. Veritable muffs, however, are re- turned to use. In the French collec- tions shown last August, from which are drawn the inspiration for our winter fashions, the girls who pa- raded the salons in the new clothes carried small and large fur muffs for the first time in a decade. This Is significant. Get out the muff you put in eamphor and give it a bit of the sunshine. This Russian sleeve is a first cousin to Chinese and Persian arm cov- erings for the early wource of ciothes in these three countries was about the same. ‘The Polish sleeve differs in that it opens from shoulder to hem, and it reaches to the knees. It is a first cousin to the sleeve of the Vene- tians. It Is most decorative when made of metal cloth, of velvet em- broidered with white crystals or col- ored with silk threads In florid design. It hangs free from the shoul- der or fs held at the wrist, as one wills. As far as the season goes, the sh s is the only kind ap- pearing in evening gowns. The ut- termost exposure of arms and back is the rule in that realm of dres yet the chest continues to be wholly or partially protected. Have the epi- demics of bronchial influensa been responsible for the continuance of this fashion? ‘When the neck s cut away to show more than the collarbone in front it takes the shape of a square, the back remaining U-shaped, and a deep, unmistable U at that. Vanished is the small cap sleeve of tulle or lace put In evening gowns by those who did not countenance theé entirely bare arm. There's no substitute for it. The elongated shoulder, which forms a slight pro- tection to the top of arm, is another obliterated fashion. Shoulder seams are short this season; sleeves are snugly fitted to a small armhole; the underarm seam is as long as the figure permits. These are among the important changes in fashion, al though we continue to say that old clothes will do. L HE bodite of an evening gown 1is brought up to a point on the shoul- der in the Edwardian manner. Un- like the clothes of the ladies who made thé Prince of Wales' court 8o gay, the front decolletage is & modest arrange- ment. Those who shrink at bareness of shoulder, back and arms have the ubiquitous scarf at their disposal. It serves the same purpose as it did for our respected ancestors, whose street gowns would easily serve as ball gowns today. The scarf is of much importance this autumn for the street and for low afternoon and evening gowns. Dress- makers arrange it of two colors, of transparent fabrics, as an accessory for each gown. Often it is fringed with silk threads at the hem or embroidered with flat flowers in the Peking stitch. It {8 worn once about the mneck, one short end at back, the long end in front. Georgette crepe is the material most frequently chosen. . Elaborate evening gowns suggest acarfs of printed chiffon, or oriental silks, usually with silk fringe crocheted into the hem. Often the dress material 18 used. The array of modern fabrics, fantastic and cheerful, is endless. Tulle Is not used. Once it was the standby of the woman who wanted protection across her bare back. It is chosen for ruffied frocks in the Edwardian fashion by leaders of the minority, but its use ends there. Strange as it may seem, the splen- did Spanish shawl in embroidered crepe is worn with formal evening gowns. It must be draped as a square, not in points. That's a trick to remember. A distinot difference between day and night gowns is ig the arm covering and the length of hem. Clothes are short again for day, sometimes ten inches from the floor and gréwing shorter; but for evening they rub the ankle, sometimes sweeping on the floor at back or sides. The arms, which are unblushingly bare in the electric light, are entirely covered in the sunlight. Sleeves reach the wrist, at least; they often go on to the knuckles. The Polish sleeve goes on to the knees. Coat sleeves for evening and day hours reach the tips of the fingers when fur muff-cuffs are added. Several mod- els in three-quarter coats that serve as part of a tailored sult of severe and traditional cut, are widely opened at wrist and nearly cover the hand. This is not always a pretty fashion. Be careful of it. Also remember this point: It the sleeve, is hand length, be sure that it is wide after it leaves the elbow. If the Chinese sleeve Is accepted, it cannot be modified and adapted with- out awkwardness. * K k% HE majority of gown sleeves for day are taken from medieval or Renalssance periods. The leg-o'- muttin, introduced by Jenny of Paris and extensively adopted over here, goes through a dozen phases. Its most graceful appearance I8 in a come bination of heavy and thin material, such as cloth at top, tight fitting, and silk plaits or streamers of chenille dropping from an embroldered bras- sard to a narrow wristlet to match, An exaggerated slesve of this type that has met with favor is of cloth that fits the arm like & glove with an immense puff of black astrakhan at armhole and wrist. The most delightful fantasy that shows a big bulge on a tight sleeve is the clever use of the mandarin el- bow cushion as a barrel puff from wrist to elbow on a velvet sleeve. These cushions are mot well known in this country. Canny tourissts bring them home, but the French, who are studying China for a hun- dred inspirations, found In such bits of embroidered brocade or silk the chance to make a new fashion, ‘Would that such cushions were in- troduced over here. There might be more comfort in sitting and less rough and reddened elbows. They are melon shaped, put’togather in sections, like the crowns of our new bats, and bearing on the surface the colorful art of China. As black and gold Is the most fa- miliar decorative effect of China, the dressmakers use it lavishly wherever it can appear, but they do it-quite well on & black velvet bishop sleeve, where it serves as a cuff In three sections. Bands of black satin are heavily em- broldered in gold threads, sewed to- gether, cut to points that hang from the wrist, finished with black and gold silk thread tassels. They give quite a fillip to what might be a con- ventional frock. Out of the bewlldering array of new winter sleeves, the woman who avoids trouble and experiment may adopt the immense cuff of lace on a tight sleeve. 1t's as old as costumery, therefore familiar. Its defects are what every woman knows. The Venetlan ladies who adopted this cufr @ splendid way to ex- hibit the new Italian invention, lace, did not carry bundles, nor did they stiok their hands in muffs, 5o possibly they did not get cleaned each day. The present-day woman who is will- plendor and Importance of Renaissance Days ing to undergo this drugery finds such sleeve appendages among the lovely and gracious thing in dress. None make objections to the cir- cular movement on s sleeve. Women may not like it on the skirt; they may gnore it on a jacket and pefuse to accept it -over the hips of & Blouse but they trifle gally with it en an arm covering. Therefore, several types of slecves show it as a variant from the pipe-stem affair, which fash- ion has reinstated. The revival of sleeves long since dead and burled is one of the ex- traordinary happenings of this sca- son. Far too numerous are these resurrections to describe them in a small space. But the old device of putting a flaring flounce at the wrist fs in evidence everywhere. It's & clever way to lengthen a sleeve that for some maliclous reason has grown too short. The status of a slceve does not govern its use. It Is put impar- tlally on those for work and those for gayety. It is formed of fur for a day or evening coat, sometimes nearly half as long as the arm; again it is a mere trifle, a suggestion of the fashion. Rarely does it go on the sleeve of a jacket that belongs to & suit. It s kept for frocks and top coats. There is something gay and spir~ ited in all these circular devices, especially so against a background of pipe stems and pencils. They give the festal effect of flags fying from straight towers. (Copyright, 1923.) THIS JENNY SLEEVE HAS A HOST OF FOLLOWERS THIS SEASON. HERE IT IS SHOWN IN BLACK VELVET WITH TIGHT BRAS- SARD ENDING IN METAL EMBROIDERY. FROM WHICH FALLS + A DEEP PLAITING OF THIS SILK. IT ENDS IN AN EM. BROIDERED WAISTBAND. Switzerland Is the “Innocent Bystander” in World Disturbance francs he had deposited, less the 10 francs fine he had to pay for the as- sault. The other case is that of a German who went to Switzerland for his vaca- BY FRANK G. CARPENTER. GENEVA, Switzerland. ARIFT, Thrift, Horat! Hamlet's cry is the cry of the Swiss, and never has it sounded more loudly. Be- fore the war these people were rope. Every men, woman and child, figuratively speaking, had more than $1,100 in his or her jeans. - The na- tional wealth equaled more than $5,600 for every family and the coun- try had a tourist trade which brought in more than 2 hundred million dol- lars & year. It had a large forelgn commerce surpassing that of the United States by more than 200 per cent per capita and it was making money hand over fist. Its national dobt was & bagatelle, and the general debt was only 1 cent for every 32 of the wealth of the nation. The interest was easily cared for by tax- atlon and the government had an an- nual surplus. Then came the war and Switzerland sssumed the position of the innocent bystander in the midst of the mob, and as usual she was hit by the bricks. She was surrounded by Italy, Austria, Germany and France and al- though she dld not fight she had to keep an army about her whole border. She had to feed and care for it, and at the same time her citizen soldlers were taken out of the industries. The result was that when the war closed the Swiss debt had increased 1,600 per cent and the taxes mounted sky-high. During the war the people made money by supplying the fighters. The farmers added to their savings, and those whd Invested in stock received 10 per cent. Two hundred of the most important stock companies doubled their incomes and their divi- dends were doubled as well. The Swiss are natural savers, and they invested thelr profits in their own se- curities buying back one hundred mil- lion dollars owned by outsiders, and at the same time they loanéd money at high rates right and left, to their international neighbors. ok X % ITH the dawning of Deace Swiss thought they had the world by the tail. Their money was good and their credit was better. They slapped thelr pocketbooks and walked with a strut, snd for a time looked down with contempt on the falling currencies of the nmon-l &< the about them. They did so not lonm. Thelr investments in Germany, Italy and Austria fell. They found their ‘own good money, strange to say, & ourse instead of a blessing. It was worth so much that the nations sbout could not buy the Swiss golden francs; they had to stop buying Swiss ds and that is the condition today. ‘While in Germany a few months ago T heard two storles which {llustrate in a small way what has taken place. One relates to a blustering German tourist who in 1914 was stopping at Zurich. He had & fuss with a waiter who spoke sneeringly of the kalser, and he there- wupon slapped the man in the face. The Swisa waiter brought sult, and as the German Nad to leave to take his place in the srmy before the suit could be tried, his lawyer made him give a de- posit of 500 francs, then about 400 marks, before he was allowed to depart, The German forgot all abeut the de- posit, but the bank at Zurich has now transferred to his account in Berlin 7,000,000 marks, an amount which before the war would have been worth $1,750,. 900. This is as payment for the 500 tion in 1916. The franc was then a little above par, and the German asked some of his Swiss friends to lend him 600 francs which he would pay back in marks as soon as conditions were nor- mal. So far he still owes the debt. i1f he had to pay it now, it would take 8,400,000 marks instead of the 480 marks he expected to pay. As a result of conditions like this in Germany, Poland, Csechoslovakia, Italy, Austria and France, as well as in some other countries in Europe, the Swiss have practically no trade on the con- tinent.. They must pay their wages in 80id francs, and the nations about can- not afford francs to buy. Moreover, most of the goods made by the Swiss are what are known as luxury products, the purchase of which is now prohibited in many countries by law and by the high exchange in almost all. The g0ods sold largely represent the labor and skill of the Swiss. Switzerland ,buys raw cotton of the United States, and from it makes the thread for the laces she sells to us. A pound of cot- ton worth 20 cents may thus become & pound of lace worth a hundred dollars. She buys & handful of raw steel, a little copper and sinc, and perhaps a nugget of gold as big as a bean. It goes through the hands of her watchmaker and it comes out a chronometer worth hundreds of dollars. She turns steel into fine machinery and watch springs. Think of & ton of steel turned into watch springs and you get some idea of what the Swiss sell. . Today manufactures of this kind are at a discount. The world cannot afford to buy them and the Swiss trade h: 80 fallen off that many of the factories are idle and thousands of the skilled laborers lack work. x ¥k k. x EFORE the war, the Swiss had a foreign trade of $96 per capita, ‘while the United States had a foreign trade of only $17 per capita. Those are the figures for 1913. At the close of the war in 1919 the Bwiss foreign trade was $314 per capita. This was the highest of any nation.. The Dutch came next at $267, the Canadians next at $287 and then came the British and the Belgians, with the United States only $107 per capita. The trade now has dropped to below $30 per head and the outlook is dark. Moreover, before the war Switzerland was getting & large sum of money from tourists. The country is the playground of Europe, and the nations have no money to play. The Swiss franc is so high that the Germans who formed more than half of the tourist trade of the past cannot afford to enter Switser- land, and the same is true, too, of the Russians, French and Italians. As for the Austrians they have barely enough to keep body and soul together. About one twenty-fifth of the business of the Swiss is the hotel and travel business. She has tens of millions invested in the “SWITZERLAND IS A LAND OF APRON-WORKERS. EVEN IN GENEVA, ITS RICHEST CITY, MUCH OF THE BY GIRLS, HAULING IS DONE > hotels and in the past season none of these has been full. She can accommo- date at one time more than & third of & million tourists, but from half to two- thirds of the accommodations have been vacant and that largely on account of the rates. I find prices everywhere high. Here at Geneva they charge me 32 for a dinner and $1.60 for lunch, while my room and bath cost me just about $4 a day. Notwithstanding, I bave 2 placard in my room saying: “The remuneration of the hotel staff for personal service is mot in- cluded in the bill. In the event that Suests do not wish to contribute th amount themselves, the hotel office will be glad to act for them.” Think of paying from eight to ten dollars for stopping at a Swiss hotel, and then being asked to hand over the wages of the mald who makes your bed, the boy who blacks your ‘boots and the waliters who hand you the dishes containing food at high prices. Iam told that there are some exceptions, but this notice regarding tips, which is signed by the Swiss Hotel Proprietors Assoofation, is hung up In almost every hotel. It makes one feel like the Texas tourist, who having been held up for fees all over Europe, entered & Liverpool ho- tel washroom just before leaving for the United Stat He started to wash his hands when over the spigot he saw these words: “Please tip the basin!" “I'll be hanged if I will,” said he. “T'll go dirty first!” And he left. This thrift among the Swiss verbial. It permeate nation leads all others in its savings accounts. In & population of less than 4,000,000, 8Bwitzerland has 2,600,- 000 savings bank depositors and the total sum they now have in the bank amounts to almost one-half billlon dollars. The canton of Geneva stands at the head as to the number of depositors and the amounts of savinga, and the Genev care so much for the pen- nies t & savings acco may be opened with a deposit as low as four cents. I am told that deposity of less than one franc are often put in by the grown-ups and that the children paste postage stamps in books and send them in to be credited. This saving sense among the Gen- evese has always been famous I think it was Voltaire who writes of & woman who fell into the lake and was drowned. She was taken out ap- parently lifeless. They moved her arms back and forth, but her heart did not beat. A mirror was placed on her lips and no sign of vapor ap- peared. Her pulse did-not throb and her flesh was stone cold. They were about to put her into a cofin when Voltaire, who stood by, asked as to her nationality. He was told she was a Genevese. “Ah,” sald he, “Wait a moment, I am sure I can bring her to life.” And thereupon he took a five-franc phece out of his pocket and laid it in her open palm. The fingers came to with a jerk and the silver was tight in her fist. The woman straightway sat up and put the coin In her pocket. 1 cannot vouch for the truth of this story, but I should hate to risk a twenty-dollar gold plece that way to- asy. LI Tzn thrift of the Swiss is every- where evident. This is the landa of the apron and the patched panta- loon. Neither man‘'nor woman is ashamed of his work or his working clothes. Every laborer has on his blue jeans and every woman clerk has & nightgown-like slip of white cotton, which covers her dress from the neck to the shoe tops. The por- ters and baggage men of the rall- roads, the street cleaners, the gro- cers, the butchers, the bakers and candlestick makers, all have some- thing on to protect thelr good clothes. ‘The mechanics and machinists wear aprons while at their trades and every school boy and school girl has a loose black overdress, which but- tons tight round the throat ana catches the ink spots. Every one seems to dress.simply.. There is no ostentation. You cannot tell whether a man is rich by what he has on and there I practically no paint and pow- der to be seen on the faces of the women walking the street. I am told that Geneva is the city of the rich and that there are hundreds of fam- illes who live on incomes from their investments. They have beautiful vilias and thelr homes are wonders of comfort and beauty, but there is no display for the sake of display, and the people are democratic both in manner and dress. This is so all over Switzerland. | It is especially striking to one fresh from the mad spree of extravagant spending going on in America. We seem to have embarked on a career of national extravagance, We are living beyond our means, buying all sorts of things, from clothes to auto- mobiles, on the installment plan, and, although we hardly know it, are get- ting in debt up to our eyes. The Swiss have always based their living on national thrift. They make money and save it. The peasant believes in standing on his own feet and he thinks himself as good as his neigh- bor. His home may be a hole in the mountains, but he acts upon his own judgment. The truth ig the Swiss have to be sane. Were they -otherwise they could not exist as a nation. Their wealth is one of the wonders of social and political economy. Stop a mo- ment and take a look at the country and people. Just what is Switzer- 1and? And who are the Swiss? As to the first, take & seat in the airplane of your ination and rise to the height of Mont Blanc. Start there on the border of France and fly sastward to the new boundary of Austria. The distance {s not as far as from New York to Boston and you have covered the country. Now iy to the northwest to Basel, on the borders of Germany, and go direct south to People of Little Country Gained and Lost as a Result of the War— A Land of Sound Money and Sane Industry in the Throes of Hard Times—Producing Luxuries With No One to Buy—The Tourist and the Tip—How Voltaire Raised the Dead—the Land of the Apron. What Switzerland Is and What the Swiss Are. the borders of Italy. If you speed the machine you can make that trip in an hour and twelve minutes. Looking down from the airplane, the land reminds one of what one of the sailors of the days of Columbus said to the King of Spain in describ- ing the island of Santo Domingo. He took up a sheet of note paper, squeez- ed it in his fist and threw It, mis- shapen and wrinkled, down on the table. “Your majesty, Santo Domingo is like that.” That would be a ‘good description of Switzerland as seen_ from the air. The land is all hills and hollows, with snow-capped peaks, with many gorges and canyons, with heraand there a plateau and wide valley. Nevertheless, the Swiss have made the Alps bloom like a garden. A large part of the country is still cov- ered with forests as carefully cared for as the trees on your lawn Another large part is pasture from which the stones have been picked, so that the sweet grass grows among the large rocks; and on farther down in the foothills and valleys are thou- sands of small farms and vineyards. About one-third of the land is in cul- tivation. * ok ok X \HE Alps are here in two ranges, with a stretch of tableland run- ning between the Juras and the higher Alps from Geneva to Lake Constance. This strip is about one- fifth of the country. Jt has a bed.of rich soll and it is intensively culti- vated. It is the backbone of Swiss | agriculture ana the chief industrial and financial center. It has most of The whole,country is one of villages and there are but few very large cen- ters. The largest municipalities are Zurich and Basel at the north, Bern in the center and Geneva at the west. But these four towns bunched to- “THIS SWISS MOUNTAIN WOMAN GETS HER FUEL FROM THE DEAD TWIGS AND ROOTS OF AS CLEAN THE FOREST. THE FORESTS ARE 'WELL CARED FOR AS AN AMERICAN LAWN.” the cities and hundreds of villages. | | gether have not half as many people | as Detroit and they equal only two- | thirds the inhabitants of Boston. | The whole country is not quite twice |as large as Massachusetts and its | total population numbers-about the | same as Chicago. And now who are the people that inhabit this wonderful country? Like the Americans, they are a polyglot nation, and that means a strong one. | They are the result of intermarriages, | more or less frequent, of the Ger- | mans, the French and the Italtans. |And I may say that they have the | best elements of the three great na- tions from which they come. The | country is boundea by Germany on the north and east, Italy on the south and France on the west. The people come of these three stocks. Here in | Geneva, on the edge of France, the |most common language is French: |on the north and east every one speaks German, and over the divide, in the Italian section, the common tongue is that of Italy. Most of the people can speak French and Ger- man, and many Itallan as well French, German or Italian may be used in addressing the parliahtent and all public documents are lssued in the three tongues. One sees {French and German signs over the stores and there are newspapers in all of the languages. The people are well educated. | Everybody can read and does read. | There are schools everywhere and all {kinds of schools. The nation is known { for its high educational qualifications and students come here from all over the world to attend the universitles and also to teach their children Ger- man and French. The Swiss Is noted for his common sense and coolheadedness. He dis- | cusses public matters with his neigh- ibors and he is not afraid of a mew thing. He votes for the old, how- ever, until he fs.sure just what the new is. For this reason there is no danger of the nation golng bolshevik, although the socialists are growing in numbars. We pride ourselves on being the great republican nation of the world. | The Swiss had established the inde- pendence of some of their cantons more than 500 years before our re- public was started. It was 200 years before Columbus was born that Wil- liam Tell shot the apple off the head of his boy, but had he killed him he had a second arrow ready for the heart of Gessler, his oppressor. Some of the authorities say that is not true, but many of them doubt even the Bible. At any rate, it was just about that time, along somewhere in the thirteen hundreds, that a thou- sand or 8o Swiss defeated an Austrian army of ten times thelr number and thereupon established a republican government in three important Swiss cantons. . Today the equality of the people is absolute and they are the most demo- cratic and independent in Europe. They have carried republicanism further along than we have and have ironed out many of the troubles with which we are dealing. As far as I can learn, there is no graft and no ! pork barrel and the Swiss parliament Is more respected than ours. The people keep track of public affairs and every one goes to the polls. The parliament {s chosen from all classes, but most of the members are of mod- erate means and of simple life. As to just how the country is governed I may write in the future, (Copyright, 1923, Carpenter's World Travels.}