e oldest advocate of proportional
representation on the Continent, M. Ernest Naville, I met at Geneva. In
that tiny republic in the heart of Europe, which is the home of
experimental legislation, I found effective voting already established
in four cantons, and the effect in these cantons had been so good (said
Ernest Naville) "that it is only a matter of time to see all the Swiss
cantons and the Swiss Federation adopt it." In Zurich Herr Burkli was
delighted that they had introduced progressive taxation into the
canton, but the effect had been to drive away the wealthy people who
came in search of quiet and healthy residence. Progressive taxation has
not by any means proved the unmixed blessing which so many of its
advocates claim it to be. In New Zealand, we are told, on the best
authority, that land monopoly and land jobbery were never so rampant in
the Dominion as since the introduction of the progressive land tax. One
wondered how the three million Swiss people lived on their little
territory, so much occupied by barren mountain, and lakes which supply
only a few fish. My Zurich friends told me that it was by their
unremitting industry and exceptional thrift, but others said that the
foreign visitors who go to the recreation ground of Europe circulate so
much money that instead of the prayer "Give us this day our daily
bread" the Swiss people ask, "Send us this day one foreigner."

In Italy I saw the most intense culture in the world--no pleasure
grounds or deer parks for the wealthy. The whole country looked like a
garden with trellised vines and laden trees. Italian wine was grown,
principally for home consumption, and that was immense. Prohibitionists
would speak to deaf ears there. Wine was not a luxury, but a necessity
of life. It made the poor fare of dry bread and polenta (maize
porridge) go down more pleasantly. It was the greater abundance of
fruit and wine that caused the Italian poorer classes to look healthier
than the German. In Germany, which taxed itself to give cheap beet
sugar to the British consumer, the people paid 6d. a lb. for the little
they could afford to use; and in Italy it was nearly 8d.--a source of
revenue to the Governments, but prohibitive to the poor. There were no
sweet shops in Italy. England only could afford such luxuries. I
visited at Siena a home for deaf mutes, and found that each child had
wine at two of its daily meals--about a pint a day. It was the
light-red wine of the co