Editing Emil Welti (section)

=== Federal Council ===
In the Federal Council elections in 1863, Welti lost to the incumbent Friedrich Frey-Herosé. After the latter retired at the end of 1866, Welti  became a promising candidate. He received support from the left wing as a supporter of a centralized state. Representatives of the industry around "railway king" [[Alfred Escher]] backed him as a staunch supporter of the [[Gotthard railway]]. In the election of the fifth member of the government on 8 December 1866 Welti received in the first ballot 103 of 159 valid votes, taking office on 1 January 1867.

From the beginning, Welti was one of the most influential figures in the state executive. During his 24-year tenure he represented four different departments: Military Department (1867–68, 1870–71, 1873–75), Political Department (1869, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884), Post and Railway Department (1877–79, 1882–83, 1885–91) and Justice and Police Department (1881). In the years 1869, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884 and 1891 he was Federal President. Because of his appearance and his German-friendly attitude, he was sometimes referred to as "Swiss [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]] ".

As Secretary of Defense, Welti pushed for the merger of the individual cantonal armies into a [[Swiss Armed Forces|national army]]. The necessity became especially evident after the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1871, when the army's weakness was revealed and conflicts of competence with General [[Hans Herzog]]. In the debate on the revision of the Federal Constitution, Welti represented a centralist position. However, the constitutional draft of 1872, which was decisively influenced by him, narrowly failed referendum earning 50.5% no votes. He had to accept federalist compromises, but he was able to enforce his most important concern, the unification of law, in the final constitution of 1874. He kept himself largely out of the  Kulturkampf and took a mediating role.

Railroad policy was another focus. When asked whether the planned Alpine railway should lead through the Gotthard or the [[Splügen]], he could not intervene directly as a representative of the federal government, as the railway was a matter for the cantons and private companies. In negotiations, however, he was able to convince [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] and the [[German Reich]] to support the Gotthard project and to subsidize it. He guaranteed the federal government a right of supervision and codetermination, since he did not want to leave this project of national importance to the private sector alone. In 1878, when the company threatened to fail due to increasing costs, it was able to supply additional subsidies in parliament despite fierce opposition.

For the first time in 1862, the repurchase of private railways by the federal government became the subject of debate, but succumbed to the resistance of the circles around Alfred Escher. The situation changed with the railway crisis in the late 1870s. In 1883, the Confederation could finally have asserted its right of repurchase, but because of the overvaluation of its assets, the price would have been too high. Welti put the financial management of the railway companies under federal supervision. After negotiations with the Nordostbahn had failed, the federal government was able to take over in 1890 a large share of the [[Jura–Simplon Railways|Jura-Simplon-Bahn]].