822 



WISCONSIN. 



shall, unless herein otherwise provided, begin on the 

 first day of January ; and of the members of the Legis- 

 lature on the first day of December next succeeding 

 their election. Elections to fill vacancies shall be 

 for the unexpired term. When vacancies occur prior 

 to any general election, they shall be filled by appoint- 

 ments, in such manner as may be prescribed nerein, 

 or by general law, which appointments shall expire 

 at such time after the next general election as the per- 

 son so elected to fill such vacancy shall be qualified. 



This proposed amendment is to be submitted 

 to tjhe people at the general election in 1884. 

 If it shall be adopted, it has been questioned 

 whether in 1884 there will not have to be two 

 elections one in October under the old provi- 

 sion, and a second in November under the new. 

 A prohibitory amendment passed the House 

 by a vote of 49 to 14, but it was rejected in 

 the Senate by a vote of 15 to 11. 



Congressional Districts. The following are the 

 new Congressional Districts, formed in 1882 : 



1. Braxton, Brooke, Doddridge, Gilmer, Hancock. 

 Harrison, Lewis, Marshall, Ohio, Tyler, and Wetzel 

 counties. 



2. Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Barbour, 

 Randolph, Tucker, Pendleton, Grant, Hardy, Mineral, 

 Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson. 



3. Boo ^e, Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Kanawha, 

 Logan, Mercer. Monroe, McDowell, Nicholas, Poca- 

 hontas, Ealeign, Summers, Upshur, Webster, and 

 Wyoming. 



4. Mason, Pleasants, Eitchie, Wirt, Jackson, Wood, 

 Calhoun, Eoane, Putnam, Cabell, Wayne, and Lin- 

 coln. 



An election was held in the third district 

 on May 15th to fill the vacancy caused by the 

 resignation of Mr. Kenna, elected to the Sen- 

 ate. The following was the result : Charles P. 

 Snyder, Democrat, 9,621; J. H. Brown, Re- 

 publican and Greenbacker. 8,391. The vote 

 in 1882 was: Democratic, 10,279 ; Republican, 

 5,814; Greenback, 1,454. 



Finances. The estimated receipts for the fis- 

 cal year ending Sept. 30, 1884, are : 



For the State fund ............................. $395,850 00 



Add balance (estimated) on hand ............... 14,465 40 



Total .......... . . $410,315 40 



The estimated charges for that year are ......... 338,780 69 



Leaving a balance of. ....................... $71,614 71 



The assessed value of personal property in 

 1881 was $37,562,854; of real estate, $105,- 

 448,502.37. 



Education. The total value of school prop- 

 erty in 1882 was $1,823,987.16 ; whole number 

 of school-houses, 3,839 ; number of teachers 

 employed, 4,360. 



The catalogue of the State University for 

 1881-'82 shows an increase of students over 

 former years, the number being 177. 



WISCONSIN. State GoTernment. The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 

 ernor, Jeremiah M. Rusk, Republican ; Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Samuel S. Fifield ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Ernst G. Timme ; Treasurer, 



E. C. McFetridge ; Attorney-General, Leander 



F. Frisby ; Superintendent of Public Schools, 

 Robert Graham ; Insurance Commissioner, P. 

 L. Spooner; Railroad Commissioner, Nils P. 



Hanger. Judiciary, Supreme Court: Chief- 

 Justice, Orsamus Cole ; Associate Justices, 

 William P. Lyon, Harlow S. Orton, David 

 Taylor, and John B. Cassody. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature convened 

 on January 10th, and adjourned on April 4th. 



The following is a brief outline of the most 

 important business session : 



The 14th judicial circuit was created out of the 10th. 

 The income of the State University was increased by 

 about $13,000 per annum. The county of Sawyer 

 was created out of portions of Ashland and Chippewa, 

 and Washburn from a portion of Burnett. A bill 

 was passed allowing two or more continuous railway 

 lines running to a particular point to consolidate ; this 

 is a scheme for the especial benefit ot the Northwest- 

 ern and Omaha lines. A bill went through allowing 

 the St. Paul Kail way Company to issue stock on any 

 lines heretofore or hereafter purchased, or on coal 

 lands purchased by it. Another railway bill allows 

 companies to condemn lands for spur tracks running 

 to mills and warehouses. A very stringent tramp law 

 was passed, providing for the incarceration of vagrants 

 for one year in the State prison. A bureau of labor 

 statistics was created. The following villages were 

 incorporated as cities : Kewaunee, Menomonie, Marsh- 

 field, Hartford, De Pere, Tomah, Sparta, Merrill, Ed- 

 gerton. Sturgeon Bay, Black Eiver Falis, Nicolet, 

 Geneva, Mauston, and Colby. The bill regulating 

 the dealing in futures was passed. 



The direct appropriations of the session 

 amounted to $573,470.71, of which the sum of 

 $523,800 was for the charitable, reformatory, 

 and penal institutions. The tax-law provides 

 that a State tax of $110,000 shall be levied upon 

 the taxable property of the State of Wisconsin 

 for the year 1883, and a State tax of $240,000 

 shall be levied upon the taxable property of 

 the State of Wisconsin for the year 1884, in ad- 

 dition to all other taxes and charges authorized 

 to be levied for each year aforesaid. 



Finances. The following were the balances 

 at the close of the month of December, 1883 : 



Generalfund ,.. $482,739 23 



School fund .- . . 83,408 90 



School-fund income 23,501 50 



Normal School fund 52,24905 



Agricultural College fund 8,048 50 



Drainage fund 80,597 84 



Delinquent tax fund 1,300 88 



Deposit fund 11,285 88 



Redemption fund 15706 



St. Croix L. S. K. R. trespass fund 86,783 18 



St. Croix L. S. E. R. deposit fund 408 02 



"Wisconsin farm mortgage fund 6,038 61 



Allotment fund 916 54 



Total $682,379 14 



Schools. At the close of the school year, 

 May 31, 1882, there were in the State 257,429 

 children between the ages of seven and fifteen 

 years. Of these, 223,575, 87 per cent., at- 

 tended public school some time during the year 

 an average of seventy -three days. The num- 

 ber of school-houses in the State was 5,808. 

 The number of city school systems was thirty- 

 one, and the number of school districts and 

 sub-districts, outside of cities, 5,593. There 

 were twelve towns maintaining the township 

 system. There were required for all the pub- 

 lic schools 7,093 teachers. During the year 

 there was spent for teachers' wages $1,437,- 

 439.19 ; building and repairing cost $272,824.- 



