856 



WISCONSIN. 



Insane. At the State and county insane hos- 

 pitals and asylums the population on Dec. 1 

 was as follows : State Hospital for the in- 

 sane, 533 ; Northern Hospital, 608 ; Milwaukee 

 Hospital, 243 ; Brown County Asylum, 92; Co- 

 lumbia, 53; Dane, 100; Dodge, 87; Fond du 

 Lac, 105; Grant, 103; Green, 71 ; Iowa, 100; 

 Jefferson, 100 ; La Crosse, 102; Manitowoc, 90; 

 Milwaukee, 121 ; Outagamie, 93; Racine, 75; 

 Rock, 77; Sank, 51; Sheboygan, 83; Vernon, 

 100 ; Wai worth, 71 ; VVinnebago, 70 ; total, 3,131, 

 In addition to the maintenance of the State hos- 

 pitals, the State also gives aid to county asylums. 



State Prison. Concerning prison labor, the 

 governing board of this institution says : " Dur- 

 ing the year ending Sept. 30, 1890, the number of 

 convicts daily employed on contract in the manu- 

 facture of boots and shoes was 64'26 per cent, of 

 the whole number in the prison, and the earning 

 of the convicts for the year was $60,220.10. 

 The board is convinced that any change from 

 this method of employing the prisoners would 

 be to the detriment of all the public interests in- 

 volved, would in no respect improve the present 

 condition or prospects of the convicts, or result in 

 any appreciable advantage to private enterprises 

 or organized trades." 



Railroads. The report of the State Rail- 

 road Commissioner for the year ending June 30, 

 shows that the cost of constructing the railroads 

 in the State was $224,052,218, including equip- 

 ments. Their total capital stock in 1890 was 

 $112,431,124. their funded debt $140,852,100, 

 and their unfunded debt $7,364,211. The total 

 gross earnings for the year were $26,451,564, and 

 the operating expenses $16,737,745. 



Political. The first State ticket in the field 

 this year was nominated by the Prohibitionists 

 in convention at Madison on July 22, and 

 contained the following names: For Governor, 

 Charles Alexander; for Lieutenant - Governor, 

 William R. Nethercut ; for Secretary of State, 

 George McKerron ; for Treasurer, Robert Fargo ; 

 for Attorney - General, Byron E. Van Keuren ; 

 for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Henry 

 Lummis ; for Railroad Commissioner, John Q. 

 Black ; for Insurance Commissioner, Andrew 

 Peterson. In addition to the usual anti-license 

 resolutions, the following appear in the platform : 



We favor a liberal public education in the English 

 language, enforced and supervised by the State, as 

 embodied in the Bennett law. 



We declare that no citizen should be denied the 

 right of suffrage pn account of sex. 



We protest against the exclusion of the Bible from 

 the public schools, and request its restoration. 



The Republican State Convention met at Mil- 

 waukee on Aug. 20, and renominated Gov. Will- 

 iam D. Hoard. The following persons were se- 

 lected as his associates upon the ticket : For 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Joseph B. Treat ; for Sec- 

 retary of State, Edwin I). Coe; for Treasurer, 

 Albert B. Geilfuss ; for Attorney-General, James 

 O'Neill ; for Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Lorenzo I). Harvey ; for Railroad Com- 

 missioner, Syver E. Brimi ; for Insurance Com- 

 missioner, David Schreiner. The platform is 

 largely devoted to local , issues, upon which the 

 following declarations are made : 



The Republican party, in convention assembled, 

 declares its devotion to the common school as the 



chief factor in the education of the people, and pledges 

 itself to support, strengthen, and defend it. 



It recognizes as valuable auxiliaries in the work of 

 popular education the private and parochial schools 

 supported without aid from public funds, and dis- 

 claims absolutely any purpose whatever to interfere 

 in any manner with such schools, either as to their 

 terms, government, or branches to be taught therein. 



We believe that the compulsory education law 

 passed by the last Legislature is wise and humane in 

 all its essential purposes, and we are opposed to its 

 repeal ; but at the same time we assert that the parent 

 or guardian has the right to select the time of the year 

 and tne place, whether public or private and wherever 

 located, m which his child or ward shall receive in- 

 struction, and we pledge ourselves to modify the ex- 

 isting law so that it shall conform to the foregoing 

 declarations. 



On Aug. 27 the Democratic State Convention 

 met at Milwaukee and nominated the following 

 ticket : For Governor, George W. Peck : for 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Carl Jonas ; for Secretary 

 of State, Thomas J. Cunningham ; for Treasurer, 

 John Hunner ; for Attorney-General. James L. 

 O'Connor ; for Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Oliver E. Wells ; for Railroad Commis- 

 sioner, Wilbur M. Root. The platform contains 

 the following : 



We oppose any division or diversion of public- 

 school funds to sectarian uses. 



Favoring laws providing for the compulsory at- 

 tendance at school of ail children, we believe that the 

 school law in force prior to the passage of the Bennett 

 law guaranteed to all children of the State opportu- 

 nity for education, and in this essential feature was 

 stronger than the Bennett law. The " underlying 

 principle " of the Bennett law is needless interference 

 with parental rights and liberty of conscience. The 

 provisions for its enforcement place the accused at 

 the mercy of the school directors and deny his right 

 to trial by jury and according to the law of the land. 

 To mask this 'tyrannical invasion of individual and 

 constitutional rights, the shallow plea of defense of 

 the English language is advanced. The history of 

 this State, largely peopled with foreign-born citizens, 

 demonstrates the fact that natural causes and the ne- 

 cessities of the situation are advancing the growth 

 of the English language to the greatest possible ex- 

 tent. We therefore denounce that law as unneces- 

 sary, unwise, unconstitutional, un-American, and un- 

 democratic, and demand its repeal. 



On Sept. 5 a State convention of the Union 

 Labor party, composed chiefly of delegates from 

 the labor organizations of Milwaukee, met in 

 that city and made the following nominations : 

 For Governor, Reuben May ; for Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Nelson E. Allen ; for Secretary of 

 State, William M. Lockwood ; for Treasurer, 

 Alfred Mannheimer : for Attorney - General, 

 Michael Shiel ; for Superintendent of Public 

 Schools, Joseph II. Steward ; for Railroad Com- 

 missioner, Belia S. Bishop ; for Insurance Com- 

 missioner, Charles Hatch. Resolutions were 

 adopted embodying the demands of the laboring 

 classes and approving the Bennett law. 



In the canvass the principal subject of discus- 

 sion was the Bennett law, which the Democrats 

 alone, of the four parties in the field, had de- 

 nounced. (For the provisions of this law, see 

 " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1889, page 827.) 



In addition to the repeal of this law, the Dem- 

 ocrats were pledged to retrench State expenses, 

 to cut off many commissions and minor offices 

 created by the Republicans in recent years, and 

 to secure a change in the law whereby balances 



