WISCONSIN. 



726 



State bonds unpaid $104,800 



Certificates of indebtedness 2,147,200 



Currency certificates. 57 



Total $2,252^057 



The assessed valuation of the real and per- 

 sonal property of the State, as returned by the 

 assessors, for the year 1869, was $427,627,356, 

 which is more than double the amount of any 

 previous assessment. Had the State tax for 

 1869 been levied upon the assessed valuation 

 of this year, instead of that of 1868, it is esti- 

 mated that the ratio of taxation would have 

 been only a trifle more than a mill on the 

 dollar. The State taxes for the last four years, 

 together with the assessed valuation of the real 

 and personal property of the State upon which 

 the rate of taxation was based, are given in 

 the following statement : 



The number of acres of land sold by the 

 State during the past year was 183,960; while 

 the sales of the preceding year amounted to 

 212,662 acres, and those of 1867 to 163,451. 

 The number of acres held by the State on the 

 30th of September, 1869, are classified as fol- 

 lows: 



School lands 429,847.53 



University lands 11,733.15 



Swamp lands 2,100,742.15 



Agricultural College lands 152,387.12 



Military road lands 12,382.71 



Marathon County lands 39,448.85 



Total acres 2,746,542.04 



The political campaign of this year was in- 

 augurated by the assembling of the Eepublican 

 State Convention at Madison on the first of 

 September. The convention nominated Lucius 

 Fairchild for Governor, Thaddeus C. Pound 

 for Lieutenant-Governor, Eli A. Spencer for 

 Secretary of State, Henry Baetz for State Treas- 

 urer, S. S. Barlow for Attorney-General, G. F. 

 "Wheeler for State Prison Commissioner, and 

 A. J. Craig for Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction. Mr. Breese subsequently became 

 the candidate for Secretary of State. 



The principles of the party were fully set 

 forth in the following resolutions, which were 

 unanimously adopted : 



Resolved, That we acknowledge, with gratitude, 

 the care of that superintending Providence, which, 

 having built us up a great and free nation, and having 

 preserved us amid the perils of revolution and war, 

 lias now crowned the labors of the year with, an 

 abundant harvest, and filled the land with plenty. 



Resolved, That this convention, representing the 

 Union Eepublican party in Wisconsin, in the same 

 spirit which has made that party the uncompromising 

 foe of injustice and oppression, and the steadfast 

 supporter and defender of liberty and Union, renews 

 the pledge it has heretofore given, and reaffirms as 

 cardinal tenets of its political faith the following : 



1. The inalienable right of all men to life, liberty, 

 and the pursuit of happiness. 



2. As enunciated in that wise provision known as 

 the " fifteenth amendment," no discrimination at the 



ballot-box, founded on property, birthplace, creed, 

 or color. 



3. Liberty of speech and of the press as the best 

 guarantees for the security of republican institutions. 



4. Free schools and the diffusion of education 

 among all classes of the people. 



5._The just subordination of State and local au- 

 thorities and interests to the authorities and inter- 

 ests of the, nation. 



6. Prompt acquiescence in the decisions of the 

 people at the ballot-box. 



7. Maintenance inviolate of the national faith as 

 pledged to its creditors. 



8. Such adjustment of the burdens of taxation, by 

 revisions and modifications from time to time of the 

 revenue laws, as will cause them to fall equitably 

 upon all classes of the people. 



9. Eetrenchment and economy in the administra- 

 tion of the national Government. 



Resolved, That it is the well-known aim of the Ee- 

 publican party more clearly to define, and to establish 

 firmly, and forever, that perfect civil and religious 

 liberty which is now guaranteed by our State and 

 national Constitutions, and that we are in favor of 

 the largest measure of individual liberty consistent 

 with the public good, and opposed to any legislation 

 in derogation thereof, except to prevent acts which 

 infringe the equal liberty of others. 

 _ Resolved, That, while the necessary burdens of taxa- 

 tion are great, we require the most rigid economy in 

 the administration of affairs, both of the nation and 

 of the State ; y^et we also know that the strength of 

 the nation is in the national faith; that the loyal 

 millions of this land were in earnest when they de- 

 clared that they would put down the rebellion at 

 whatever cost ; and that they will never consent to 

 repudiate the debt whiqh was incurred to meet that 

 cost. 



Resolved, That we renew the expression of our 

 gratitude to the heroic soldiers of the Eepublic, by 

 whose patriotism, fortitude, and valor, the nation's 

 life was defended, and the supremacy of its flag tri- 

 umphantly asserted, and we again pledge to them, 

 and to the widows and orphans of those who died in 

 the service of their country, our sympathies and sub- 

 stantial support. 



Resolved, That the upholders, in the reconstructed 

 States, at the late elections, of the principles for 

 which the country struggled and suffered in the re- 

 cent great conflict, have our hearty sympathy in their 

 efforts to maintain in their midst, inviolate, through 

 defeat as well as success, the regular organization of 

 the National Eepublican party of the Union. 



Resolved, That we have rea'son to congratulate the 

 country upon the increased revenues arising from a 

 faithful enforcement of the laws, and upon the great 

 economy and saving to the Government, in the col- 

 lection of the same, by the present national Admin- 

 istration, and that we point with pride to the rapid 

 reduction of the public debt by the judicious man- 

 agement of our national finances, at the hands of a 

 Eepublican President and his constitutional advisers ; 

 and that, in view of this fulfilment of his pledges to 

 the people, and his faithfulness to the avowed prin- 

 ciples of the Eepublican party, the Administration of 

 General Grant meets with our cordial indorsement. 



Resolved, That the State administration, in its 

 general conduct of the affairs of the State, has realized 

 the best expectation of its friends, and has earned 

 the approval of all. 



Resolved, That the improvement of the navigation 

 of the Fox and Wisconsin Eivers. and the canal con- 

 necting the same, is a great national work ; that, if 

 completed, it would add greatly to the prosperity not 

 only of this State, but of the entire Northwest, by 

 increasing and cheapening the facilities for marketing 

 our vast agricultural, mineral, and lumber products, 

 and that we therefore favor the early completion of 

 said improvement by the General Government. 



On the 8th of September the Democratic 



