ns; vegetables,
215,000.

These figures are most impressive, it is asserted, in relation to fats,
the scarcest thing in Germany. Fat, it is claimed, is the only food
seriously lacking now in the diet of the German people. Imports of this
food, the British declare, furnish one-fourth of the daily German fat
ration.

NATIONS WHO SUFFER FROM EMBARGO.

There are five neutral countries whose positions were anything but
enviable during the war, and it is perhaps worth interpolating a little
something about them at this particular point. Norway, Sweden, Holland,
Denmark and Switzerland were the neutrals at the time the embargo was
placed on foodstuffs.

Switzerland, as all the world knows, is one of the most picturesque
countries in Europe, and is a republic in the west central part of the
continent, bounded on the north by Baden, Wurtemburg and Bavaria; on the
east by the Tyrol, on the south by Italy and on the west by France.
There is no national tongue, three languages being spoken within the
boundaries of the republic. Where it comes in contact with the French
frontier, the French language is largely spoken; while Italian is the
language spoken in the southern part, where it is bounded by Italy. In
the northern section the German language is spoken. The country has an
area of 15,992 square miles.

In the main, Switzerland is mountainous, the chief valley being that of
the Rhone, in the southern part. The most level tracts are in the
northwestern section, where there are a number of mountain-locked
valleys. Mountain slopes comprise about two-fifths of the area of the
country, and practically all of the rivers are rapid and unnavigable.
The forests are extensive and consist of large trees. Cereals, along
with hemp, flax and tobacco, are raised, and the pasture lands are
fertile and abundant. Hence, the dairy products, as well as hides and
tallow, are produced in profusion. Fruits of the hardier varieties grow
well and profitably.

A FEDERAL UNION.

The republic consists of twenty-two States or Cantons which form a
Federal Union, although each is virtually independent in matters of
politics. The Swiss Constitution, remodelled in 1848, vests the ruling
executive and legislative authority in a Diet of two houses--a State
Council and a National Council. The former consists of 44 members--two
from each Canton--and corresponds in its functional action with the
United States Senate. The National Council is the more pu