WISCONSIN. 



laws ; 33 joint resolutions ; 61 resolutions ; 438 

 memorials and petitions, and 5 memorials to 

 Congress. 



The important measures passed at this ses- 

 sion may be briefly summarized as follow : 



Six new cities were incorporated, as follow : 

 Baraboo, Port Washington, Monroe, Menomo- 

 nie, Stoughton, and Neillsville. 



The Insurance Commissioner was given dis- 

 cretionary power in the issuance of licenses 

 exempting co-operative life companies from the 

 provisions of the general insurance laws of the 

 State; heretofore, a special act of the Legis- 

 lature was required. Another act passed, pro- 

 vides for the revocation by the Commissioner 

 of the license of any company which adver- 

 tises to do a different class of business from 

 what it really does. 



Continuous lines of railway, of which it is 

 desired to make through trunk-lines, are per- 

 mitted to consolidate for that purpose. The 

 St. Croix land grant was transferred from the 

 Chicago, Portage and Superior Railway Com- 

 pany to the St. Paul and Omaha line, the lat- 

 ter agreeing to pay $75,000 toward meeting 

 the claims of laborers on the former line, and 

 also to pay all expenses in the matter of set- 

 tlement. 



A bill was passed providing that the State 

 militia shall hold annual encampments, camp- 

 equipage to be purchased by the State, and 

 the men to be paid one dollar a day in camp 

 for rations; the State is to furnish transpor- 

 tation to and from encampments; armories 

 owned by companies are exempted from taxa- 

 tion ; battalions are to consist of from three to 

 eight companies, and regiments of eight or 

 more; the maximum number of men to be 

 taken into camp is seventy-five for each com- 

 pany; the uniform fund is made payable on 

 inspection returns, instead of on encampment 

 returns. The number of authorized companies 

 in the State was increased from thirty to 

 thirty-five. 



Some changes were made in the school code. 

 The time for annual school-meetings in towns 

 was fixed for the first Monday in June, the 

 present time being elective and irregular. The 

 compulsory education law was amended so as 

 to have school-boards sit and receive reports 

 of attendance and truancy from the parents, 

 instead of going around and hunting up the 

 facts, as now. The benefits of the free high- 

 school act were extended for five years more, 

 they having now been in operation for five 

 years past. 



The seduction of females under sixteen 

 years of age was made a penitentiary offense, 

 with maximum imprisonment fixed at twenty 

 years. The sale or use of toy-pistols and toy 

 fire-arms generally was prohibited. So also 

 was the importation into the State, of diseased 

 swine and sheep. Severe punishment is fixed 

 for the criminal abuse of children, by parents 

 or guardians; also for the abandonment of 

 children by their father. 



The sale of trout from the State fish-hatch- 

 eries is prohibited. Any person who has had 

 an uninterrupted practice within this State for 

 twenty years, as a physician or surgeon, is au- 

 thorized to serve without a diploma. Strin- 

 gent regulations were adopted regarding the 

 practice of pharmacy. The earnings of mar- 

 ried laborers are exempt from execution for 

 ninety days preceding the filing of suit, or, in 

 lieu thereof, $500 worth of property. Logs, 

 lumber, and telegraph-poles belonging to non- 

 residents, are hereafter to be taxed. Tele- 

 graph companies are to be taxed as follows : 

 One dollar per mile for the first wire, fifty cents 

 for the second, twenty-five for the third, and 

 twenty for the fourth. 



A proposed constitutional amendment, rela- 

 tive to the registry of voters, intended to meet 

 the objections of the Supreme Court to the old 

 law, was agreed to, and will be put to the pop- 

 ular vote next fall. 



It was decided that the first biennial session 

 shall be held on the second Wednesday of Janu- 

 ary, 1883. 



Congress was memorialized to improve the 

 Mississippi and its tributaries ; to build a har- 

 bor of refuge on the east shore of Lake Pe- 

 pin ; to improve the Sturgeon Bay Ship-Canal ; 

 to adopt Pendleton's Civil-Service Reform 

 Bill ; to suppress polygamy, and to settle the 

 claims of this State for certain tracts of swamp 

 and overflowed lands. 



A State tax of half a million dollars was or- 

 dered to be levied for the year. 



Acts were also passed reapportioning the 

 State for legislative purposes and for the elec- 

 tion of Congressmen, and organizing Price 

 County for judicial purposes. The following 

 is the Congressional Apportionment Act : 



First District, the counties of Jefferson, Kenosha, 

 Racine, Kock, and Walworth. 



Second District, the counties of Dodge, Fond du 

 Lac, "Washington, and Waukesha. 



Third District, the counties of Dane, Grant, Green, 

 Iowa, and Lafayette. 



Fourth District, the county of Milwaukee. 



Fifth District, the counties of Brown. Calumet, Ke- 

 waunee, Manitowoc, Ozaukee, and Sheboygan. 



Sixth District, the counties of Adams, Columbia, 

 Green Lake, Marquette, Outagamie, Waushara, and 

 W innebago. 



Seventh District, the counties of Crawford, Juneau, 

 La Crosse, Eichland, Sauk, Vernon, and Monroe. 



Eighth District, the counties of Bayfield, Barren, 

 Buffalo, Burnett, Clark, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, 

 Jackson, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, St. Croix, and Trem- 

 pealeau. 



Ninth District, the counties of Ashland, Chippewa, 

 Door, Florence, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Mari- 

 nette, Oconto, Price, Portage, Shawano, Taylor, Wau- 

 paca, and Wood. 



The aggregate of appropriations made at 

 this session was $675,254.44. 



The direct appropriations in 1881 were $282,- 

 081.38; in 1880, they amounted to $418,953.- 

 05; in 1879, to $299,177.77; and at the regu- 

 lar session of 1878, to about $339,000. 



The causes for the unusually large appropri- 

 ation this year are several. The principal of 



