On Sunday, February 17th, the Swiss people at a Referendum
voted against the proposal that the Federal Council should be given the power to increase the 48-hours working week. The most active and powerful opponents of the Bill were the Socialists, and many people are calling the defeat of the Bill a Socialist victory. We are not wholly convinced on that point ; but whatever be the correct analysis of the result, it is obvious that decisions by means of the Referendum do not all tend in one direc- tion, as critics• of the Referendum often pretend. It is said that the Referendum is " purely Conservative " in action. The latest test in Switzerland proves conclusively that this is not so. It proves rather that the Referendum, as accurately and scientifically as. is humanly possible, records the real feelings of the people without prejudices: introduced by party cries. The Referendum is therefore a rational and stabilizing element in any nation which introduces it. * * *
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