Caspar Decurtins (23 November 1855 – 30 May 1916) was a politician (Catholic-Conservative) from the Surselva region, up-river to the west of Chur in the Swiss canton of Grisons.

[1] In the cantonal assembly he took a leadership role within the Catholic-Conservative faction, today seen as the principal forerunner of the Christian Democratic People's Party.

[5] In the national parliament (as in the cantonal one) his was a forceful presence, but he was resolutely non-tribal in his political approach, happy to oppose laissez-faire economic doctrines then in fashion with fellow conservatives, and to work with liberals and socialists in pursuit of social catholic objectives.

[7][8] He joined up with Georges Favon, the radical member from Geneva, to draft and argue for a motion supporting an international law for the protection of workers.

Locally, after 1877 he teamed up with Placi Condrau to campaign for the preservation of Disentis Abbey, which had been threatened with closure, as was the fate of many religious houses in Switzerland at this time.

[2] He was a co-founder of the "Romania" language association and producer of the "Rätoromanischen Chrestomathie", a 13 volume collection of Romansh literature and folk tales.

The book was introduced to the school replacing a German version of "Robinson Crusoe" which Decurtins dismissed as "lightweight" ("zu seicht").

It turned out that the prescriptive cantonal reforms included Robinson Crusoe, internationally admired at the time for his civilising credentials.

Decurtins led support for the Sigisbert text in a sustained campaign that culminated in a mass meeting in the public assembly place in the main square at Ilanz (in the local language, "plaz cumin").