se, in _Revue
Politique et Parlementaire_, Feb., 1911; G. Daneo,
La rappresentanza proporzionale nella Svizzera, in
_Nuova Antologia_, Sept. 16, 1910.]

Among reforms that have been much discussed in recent years has been
the extension of the initiative and of the obligatory referendum to
all federal legislation. Both apply as yet only to constitutional
amendments. In 1906 the Federal Council went so far as to submit to
the legislative councils a proposal intended to meet the first of
these ends. The purport of the proposal was that fifty thousand
voters, or eight cantons, should have the right at any time to (p. 434)
demand the passage, modification, or repeal of any sort of federal
law or federal decree. In December, 1906, the project was debated in
the National Council; after which it was referred to the Federal
Council for further consideration. The proposal is still pending, but
its eventual adoption is probable.[637]

[Footnote 637: Dodd, Modern Constitutions, II.,
280-281. For references on the initiative and the
referendum see p. 420. A very satisfactory
appraisal of the operation of these principles in
Switzerland may be found in Lloyd, A Sovereign
People, chaps. 14-15. See also W. E. Rappard, The
Initiative and the Referendum in Switzerland, in
_American Political Science Review_, Aug., 1912.]

IV. POLITICAL PARTIES

*478. Centralism vs. Federalism.*--Until the middle of the nineteenth
century the most fundamental of political questions in modern
Switzerland was that of centralization, and the most enduring of
political cleavages among the people was that which marked off the
"centralists" from the "federalists." There was a time when the
annihilation of the cantons and the establishment of a thoroughly
consolidated state was not only openly advocated but confidently
predicted. With the establishment, however, of the reasonable
compromise embodied in the constitution of 1848 the issue of
centralization dropped pretty much into the background. There
continued to be, and still are, "centralizers;" but the term has come
long since to denote merely men who, with due regard for the
susceptibilities of the cantons, direct their influence habitually to
the strengthening of the central agencies of gove