XVIUTTIKK. JOHN GRKKM. KAF. 



WISCONSIN'. 



so-j 



I have willi lliee n sense 

 of hands ii|ilifld and trials rendered less 



'1 In- uiisellish joy which i- to helpfulness 

 Its own great recompense ; 



Thr Knowledge that from thin.', 

 A- fi. m ih' icarmenUof the Master, stol- 

 Calmness and strength, the virtue which makes 

 whole 



And heals without a sign ; 



Yea more, the assurance strong 

 That love, which fails of perfect utterance here, 

 Live- mi to lill the heavenly atmosphere 



With it- immortal song. 



One cannot close a sketch of Whitticr's life 



and work without a thought of gratitude for his 



to thin young country. His humble birth, 



his comparatively wide knowledge of books and 

 of events, the unalterable integrity of mind, the 

 largo faith, the tender affection, the espousal of 

 unfashionable and unfavored causes, the power 

 to put all these in rhyme at once homelyand yet 

 reh'ned, strong and yet not rough, impassioned 

 and yet loving, made John G. Whittier unique 

 among American authors. 



A new and carefully revised edition of his 

 pcems, in four volumes, appeared during the 

 last year of his life. 



WISCONSIN. A Western State, admitted to 

 the Union May 29, 1848 ; area, 56,040 square 

 miles. The population, according to each decen- 

 nial census since admission, was : 305,391 in 

 1H50 ; 775,881 in 1860 : 1,054,670 in 1870 ; 1,315,- 

 497 in 1880, and 1,686,880 in 1890. Capital, 

 Madison. 



Government. The following wero the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, George VV. 

 Peck, Democrat ; Lieutenant-Governor, Charles 

 Jonas ; Secretary of State. T. J. Cunningham ; 

 Treasurer, John Hunner ; Attorney-General, J. L. 

 O'Connor ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 (). K. Wells; Insurance 'Commissioner, W. M. 

 Knot ; Uailroad Commissioner, T. Thompson. 



Finances. The total receipts of the general 

 fund for 1891-2 were $3.224,047.41 ; the disburse- 

 ments were $'2,980,614.32. The heaviest item 

 of increase in the revenue, for the past two years, 

 was in the receipts from railroads, which 

 amounted to $2,360,000, and in the amounts 

 received from counties for the maintenance of 

 State hospitals, which were $402,000. The 

 school fund receipts were $588,640.76. The 

 amount of productive school funds on hand on 

 Sept. :{<), IS;M. was s:t, .;:,:;. <i:;^. 05 ; the amount 

 en hand on the same date, 1892, was $3,358.- 

 502.50. The disbursements by departments 

 were as follows, omitting cents : For salaries, 

 $356.497 ; for permanent appropriations, $83,- 

 845 ; for legislative expenses, $157,181 ; for 

 charitable and penal institutions, $775,040 ; for 

 clerk hire, $109,164 ; for labor about capitol, 

 $.12,898 ; for sundry expenses, $1,406,006. 



Legislative Sessions. The legislature of 1891 

 passed a law redistricting the State into Assem- 

 bly districts. It was asserted that this apportion- 

 ment was made unfairly, and with the intention 

 of making the State representation Democratic, 

 and that the law was void under the constitu- 

 tion. The Attorney-General therefore began an 

 action in the Supreme Court to determine its valid- 

 ily. praying that the Secretary of State be re- 

 strained from issuing and publishing notices of 



the election of members of tho legislature und.-r 

 the law of 1S91. On March 22 tin- roiirt announced 

 itsdccision. The finding \\.-i- unanimous, arid held 

 that the apportionment of the State into ,A 

 bly districts, made by the Democratic legislature 

 o-f 1891, was in violation of the constitution, and 

 therefore was invalid. Section 10 of tin- court's 

 decision adds : " This decision does not impeach 

 the validity of acts otherwise valid of a legisla- 

 ture elected under an invalid legislative-appor- 

 tionment statute." 



In order that a law for the election of another 

 legislature might be enacted, Gov. Peck called a 

 special session of the legislature, which met on 

 June 28. The appointments made by the Gover- 

 nor since the last session were confirmed, and a 

 new apportionment act was passed by both 

 houses and signed by the Governor, the legisla- 

 ture adjourning July 1. It was again claimed 

 by the Republicans that this new act was uncon- 

 stitutional, insomuch as that the division and 

 consolidation of counties was unfairly made, and 

 that the apportionment was not " according to 

 the number of inhabitants.'' The Supreme 

 Court was again required to determine the ques- 

 tion, and the opinion of the court, in the second 

 gerrymander suit, was filed Oct. 14. It decided 

 that the apportionment act passed July 1 was 

 unconstitutional and therefore void. The clos- 

 ing portion of the opinion is as follows : 



" If, as claimed, there has never been any such 

 equal apportionment in the State, then there cer- 

 tainly has never been any legislative construction 

 of the words quoted [according to the number of 

 inhabitants] ; for in order to give any effect to such 

 construction, the words construed must be ambig- 

 uous and capable of two or .more meanings, one of 

 which the legislature has adopted. Where, how- 

 ever, the words are unambiguous, and the legisla- 

 ture has never undertaken to construe them, but 

 simply disregarded them, their action, though often 

 repeated, cannot be allowed to have the effect of 

 t>r<> tantu repealing the constitution." 



On Oct. 10, after the decision of the Supreme 

 Court had been made, Gov. Peck issued a proc- 

 lamation calling the legislature to convene on 

 Oct. 17. In the message that he read to the 

 legislature after its assembling, he expressed 

 surprise at the necessity of calling the legislators 

 together, asserting that the apportionment of 

 Julyl, in his opinion, "appeared to conform to 

 the requirements of the constitution, and to have 

 met every rule of its interpretation so far as had 

 been then declared by the Supreme Court." He 

 further said that, "by the same rules and prin- 

 ciples which have now been announced by the 

 court, no apportionment ever made in the State, 

 since the adoption of the constitution, has been 

 constitutional or valid, and therefore no appor- 

 tionment whatever remains available to the 

 electors of the State." After n three-days' 

 session, a new apportionment act was passed by 

 both houses and signed by the Governor, and the 

 legislature adjourned on Oct. 20. 



Education. The State Superintendent reports 

 that ho has made the apportionment, to each 

 town, city, and village, of the school fund arising 

 from the tax of one mill on each dollar of the 

 assessed valuation of the taxable property of the 

 State. He reports that the number of children 

 of school age in the Sate is 6'23,428 ; the total 



