WISCONSIN. 



779 



investigation of the whole question, and specially in 

 view ot the fact that 55,441 persons ten years old and 

 over, in Wisconsin, are unable to write, and nearly 

 50,000 are not to be found in any school from year to 

 year, that while the instructional agencies now em- 

 ployed should be developed to the highest degree of 

 efficiency, the Legislature should enact a law that 

 every child within the bounds of the State shall re- 

 ceive, in the public schools or elsewhere, at least the 

 elements of a good common-school education. 



The charitable and penal institutions of Wis- 

 consin are organized on the most liberal basis, 

 and are conducted with great credit to the 

 State. In 1873 the snm disbursed for these 

 purposes exceeded half a million dollars, or 

 nearly one-half the total receipts into the gen- 

 eral fund. A genera] supervision of the man- 

 agement of these institutions is mainly exer- 

 cised by a State Board of Charities. 



The Institute for the Blind receives blind 

 persons, susceptible of intellectual culture, be- 

 tween the ages of eight and twenty-one years. 

 The number of pupils instructed during the 

 year was 77, of whom 38 were females; the 

 actual average attendance was 56. The ex- 

 penditures for the year were $19,898. 



The Institute for the Deaf and Dumb admits 

 deaf persons from ten to twenty-five years of 

 age, with no charge for board or tuition. The 

 whole amount disbursed for current expenses 

 in 1873 was 135,355. There were 148 pupils 

 at the date of the report, October 15th. 



The insane of the State are cared for in the 

 State Hospital, on the northern shore of Lake 

 Mcndota, about seven miles from Madison, and 

 the Northern Insane Hospital, situated on the 

 shore of Lake Winnebago, four miles north of 

 Oshkosh. The State Hospital was opened in 

 I860, since which time 1,865 have been ad- 

 mitted, of whom 574 have been discharged re- 

 covered, 383 improved, and 370 unimproved. 

 The Northern Hospital for the Insane was 

 opened before its completion in April, 1873. 

 Up )o October 15th, 220 had been admitted, 

 and 209 were inmates at that dnte. 



The State-prison at Waupun had October 1, 

 1 S 7-'I, 180 convicts, of whom 36 were under 

 sentence for life. The disbursements during 

 the year for this institution were $97,594. 

 The convicts are occupied in various industrial 

 pursuits, from which a considerable income 

 accrues to the State. A "prison -church" 

 and a " prison - school " are organized in the 

 institution, which afford valuable religious and 

 secular instruction to the convicts, who have 

 gn-:itly profited by the advantages thus of- 

 1mA. 



The Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys is 

 situated on Fox River, jnst west of the village 

 of Wankesba. It was organized as a House 

 of Refuge, and opened in 1860. There were 



362 inmates during 1873, and 281 at the close 

 of the year. The expenditures amounted to 

 $41,472. 



Several important judicial decisions were 

 rendered during the year, bearing upon ques- 

 tions of importance to the people of Wisconsin. 



In September, the United States Circuit 

 Court at La Crosse granted an injunction re- 

 straining the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad 

 Company from building a bridge across the 

 Mississippi River at La Crosse, at a point se- 

 lected by the company, but disapproved by 

 the Secretary of War. In delivering the opin- 

 ion of the court, Judge Drummond said : 



The principal question is, whether the Secretary 

 of War had the authority to declare that the bridge 

 should not be built at the point where the defendant 



j 



horizing and regulating the 

 cross the Mississippi River. 



tho 



across th . 



The Mississippi is a great national highway, the 

 navigation of which is free to all citizens of the Unit- 

 ed States. If bridges are to be thrown across it, 

 there can be no doubt of the authority of Congress 

 to declare that they should be so constructed as to 

 impede in the least possible degree the navigation 

 of the river; or, to say how many shall be construct- 

 ed j or, to prohibit their construction altogether. 

 This authority grows out of the national character 

 of the river, as a great navigable channel of travel 

 and of commerce. It follows from this that Congress 

 can prescribe the place and the manner of construc- 

 tion, so as not to interfere with the navigation, and, 

 when Congress has legislated as to the construction 

 of bridges on the Mississippi, within certain limits, 

 and declared the mode of construction, they can only 

 be built in the wny pointed out by Congress. There- 

 fore, if ny individual or corporation attempts to 

 construct them otherwise^ or elsewhere, than Con- 

 gress has directed, the United States must have the 

 right to prevent it ; and there if no doubt that this 

 can be done through the civil process of the courts. 



The question of the constitutionality of the 

 "Graham Liquor Law," the provisions of 

 which are given in the preceding volume of 

 this work, came up before the Supreme Court 

 of the State in the case of Wisconsin TS. the 

 Mayor of Milwaukee. That official liad been 

 commanded by writ of mandamvi to enforce 

 the law, or show cause why he should not do 

 so. The defense set up was that the act was 

 unconstitutional. The court, however, declared 

 the law constitutional. 



In the case of Olcott, plaintiff in error, n. 

 The County Board of Supervisors of Fond dn 

 Lac County, which had been carried on appeal 

 from the Circuit Court of the United States for 

 the Eastern District of Wisconsin to the Su- 

 preme Court of the United States, the latter 

 tribunal decided in the early part of the year 

 that railways were public highways, and sub- 

 ject to the general control of the State. 



