WISCONSIN. 



719 



3,133 miles, including 112 miles of narrow- 

 gauge track, but not including 325 miles of 

 sidings. There were 233 miles of track laid 

 during the year. There were carried 2,717,500 

 passengers, an increase of 284,654; and 4,347,- 

 379 tons of freight, an increase of 170,168. 

 The earnings amounted to $13,655,578, an in- 

 crease of over $2,000,000 ; and the expenses 

 $7,583,493, an increase of $550,000, the net 

 increase in earnings being $1,620,493. The 

 net earnings amounted to nearly five per cent, 

 of the total stock and indebtedness. The Board 

 of Immigration reports about 21,000 foreign 

 settlers in 1880. 



The Sturgeon Bay Canal' is not yet com- 

 pleted, though it has been opened to com- 

 merce. In 1880, 553 vessels passed through 

 it. On the improvements in the Fox and 

 Wisconsin enough has been done to prove 

 that a navigable channel can be established 

 between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi 

 Kiver. 



The sales of public lands have been largely 

 increased during the year ; 82,000 acres were 

 disposed of by sale, and 64,000 patented to 

 counties. The lands now held by the State, 

 inclusive of about 82,000 acres reserved from 

 sale, amount to 1,455,202 acres, and embrace 

 many thousands of acres of excellent farming 

 lands. Considerable progress has been made 

 in prosecuting the State's claims for additional 

 swamp lands. 



The returns of the principal farm products 

 raised in the State in 1879, and growing in 

 1880, as reported to the Secretary of State by 

 the town assessors, show the following aggre- 

 gates : 



Wheat. Product of 18T9, 21,040,238 bushels; growing in 

 1880, 1,737.921 acres. 



Corn. Product of 1879, 27,530,121 bushels; growing in 

 1880, 949,785 acres. 



Oats. Product of 1879, 27,197,579 bushels growing in 

 1880, 988,898 acres. 



Barley. Product of 1879, 4,246,452 bushels ; growing in 

 1880, 212,626 acres. 



.Kye. Product of 1879, 1,869,250 bushels ; growing in 1880, 

 138,181 acres. 



Potatoes. Product of 1879, 5,994,923 bushels; growing in 

 1S80, 88,784 acres. 



Cranberries. Product of 1879, 67,339 bushels ; growing 

 in 1880, 17,804 acres. 



Clover-seed. Product of 1879, 263,311 bushels. 



Timothy-seed. Product of 1879, 48,989 bushels. 



Flax. Product in 1879, 17,597,859 pounds ; growing in 

 1880, 44,451 acres. 



Hops. -Product of 1879, 1,667,612 pounds; growing in 

 1880. 5,173 acres. 



Tobacco. Product of 1879, 9,050,954 pounds; growing in 

 1880. 13,359 acres. 



Butter. Product of 1879, 22,703.549 pounds. 



Cheese. Product of 1879, 16,407,145 pounds. 



(Number of cows, 1880, 399,434.) 



These statistics are said to be far from com- 

 plete. The culture of flax appears to be quite 

 successful, and may lead to the establishment 

 of mills. Tobacco-growing, which was for- 

 merly confined to a small portion of the State, 

 has been greatly extended, and is already an 

 important commercial interest. The value of 

 the crop of 1880 is nearly $1,500,000. 



In a case involving the right of a qualified 

 voter who had not registered to vote, the Su- 



preme Court delivered an opinion to the effect 

 that an elector possessing the qualifications 

 specified in the Constitution can not be de- 

 prived of his right to exercise the franchise by 

 an act of the Legislature. 



In the opinion of the Supreme Court, in 

 Barnard vs. Backhaus, known as the " wheat- 

 gambling case," the principles governing the 

 case are stated as follows : 



Contracts in writing for the sale and delivery of 

 grain at a future day, for a price certain, made with a 

 oonajide intention to deliver the grain and pay the 

 price, are valid in law. But when such contracts are 

 made as a cover for gambling, without intention to 

 deliver and receive the grain, but merely to pay and 

 receive the difference between the price agreed upon 

 and the market price at such future dayj they come 

 within the statute of gaming and are void in law. To 

 uphold such a contract, it must affirmatively and 

 satisfactorily appear that it was made with an actual 

 view to the delivery and receipt of the grain, and not 

 as an evasion of the statute of gaming, or as a cover 

 for a gambling transaction. 



The returns of the enumerators to the Cen- 

 sus Bureau make the population of Wisconsin 

 1,315,480: divided into 680,106 males, and 

 635,374 females; 910,063 natives, and 405,417 

 foreign-born, 1,309,622 white, and 6,858 col- 

 ored the latter including 16 Chinese, and 3,- 

 118 Indians and half-breeds. 



The Republican State Convention met at 

 Madison, on May 5th, to select delegates to the 

 National Convention. The Convention was 

 divided, in its choice of a Presidential nomi- 

 nee, between Blaine, Washburne, and the other 

 prominent candidates. The resolutions read 

 as follows : 



The Eepublicans of Wisconsin, in State Convention 

 assembled, reassert their adherence to those principles 

 of liberty and nationality by which the Republican 

 party of the United States has given a higher direc- 

 tion and a sustained progress to the civilization of the 

 Western world. 



They declare it to be the duty of the nation to pro- 

 tect every citizen whomsoever, and wherever he may 

 be within its borders, in a free and honest ballot for 

 national officers ; and that the peace of the United 

 States should abide with each of its citizens, however 

 humble, and wherever he may go or dwell within the 

 limits of this proud Union. 



They rejoice that the resumption of specie payments, 

 making our paper dollars tne absolute equivalent of 

 the coin of the precious metals, and accomplished by 

 the Republican party, has brought our country to a 

 new era of prosperity; and arc resolved that the 

 principle of convertibility shall be unfalteringly main- 

 tained. 



They accord to President Hayes the profound ad- 

 miration and respect which he merits, for the honesty 

 and purity of his Administration ; and heartily approve 

 and endorse his course in presenting a determined 

 front against attempts of the dominant party in Con- 

 gress to curtail the just powers of the national Gov- 

 ernment. 



And recognizing the eminent character and fitness 

 of the gentlemen whose names are prominently men- 

 tioned in connection with the Republican nomination 

 for President, and believing the National Republican 

 Convention will decide wisely and for the highest in- 

 terests of the country, they do not regard it as proper 

 to instruct their delegates to that Convention ; but, 

 having full confidence in the wisdom and judgment 



