gated capital-this "plank" having special reference to a long series of alleged grievances assumed to have been endured by the people on account of discriminations in railroad charges and a consequent burdensome taxation upon labor-especially upon the agricultural industry of the State.

The twenty-seventh regular session of the Wisconsin legislature commenced at Madison on the fourteenth of January. The two houses were politically antagonistic in their majorities; the senate was republican, while the assembly had a "reform" majority. In the latter branch, Gabriel Bouck was elected speaker. Governor Taylor, on the fifteenth, met the legislature in, joint convention and delivered his message. "An era," said he, “of apparent prosperity without parallel in the previous history of the nation, has been succeeded by financial reverses affecting all classes of industry, and largely modifying the standard of values." "Accompanying these financial disturbances," added the governor, "has come an imperative demand from the people for a purer political morality, a more equitable apportionment of the burdens and blessings of government, and a more rigid economy in the administration of public affairs."

Among the important acts passed by this legislature was one generally known as the Potter Law," from the circumstance of the bill being introduced by Robert L. D. Potter, senator, representing the twenty-fifth senatorial district of the state. The railroad companies for a number of years had, as before intimated, been complained of by the people, who charged them with unjust discriminations and exorbitantly high rates for the transportation of passengers and merchandize. All the railroad charters were granted by acts at different times of the State legislature, under the constitution which declares that "corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by a special act, exeept for municipal purposes and in cases where, in the judgment of the legislature, the objects of the corporations can not be attained under general laws. All general laws, or special acts, enacted under the provisions of this section, may be altered or repealed by the legislature at any time after their passage." The complaints of the people seem to have remained unheeded, resulting in the passage of the "Potter Law." This law limited the compensation for the transportation of passengers, classified freight, and regulated prices for its transportation within the State. It also required the governor on or before the first of May, 1874, by and with the consent of the senate, to appoint three railroad commissioners; one for one year, one for two years, and one for three years, whose terms of office should commence on the fourteenth day of May, and that the governor, thereafter, on the first day of May, of each year, should appoint one commissioner for three

Under this law, the governor appointed J. H. Osborn, for three years; George H. Paul, for two years; and J. W. Hoyt, for one year. Under executive direction, this commission inaugurated its labors by compiling, classifying, and putting into convenient form for public use for the first time, all the railroad legislation of the State.

At the outset the two chief railroad corporations of the State--the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and the Chicago and Northwestern--served formal notice upon the governor of Wisconsin that they would not respect the provisions of the new railroad law. Under his oath of office, to support the constitution of the State, it was the duty of Governor Taylor to expedite all such measures as should be resolved upon by the legislature, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. No alternative, therefore, was left the chief executive but to enforce the law by all the means placed in his hands for that purpose. He promptly responded to the notification of the railroad companies by a proclamation, dated May 1, 1874, in which he enjoined compliance with the statute, declaring that all the functions of his office would be exercised in faithfully executing the laws, and invoki..g the aid of all good citizens thereto. "The law of the land," said Governor Taylor, "must be respected and obeyed." "While none," continued he,

If

"are so weak as to be without its protection, none are so strong as to be above its restraints. provisions of the law be deemed oppressive, resistance to its mandates will not abate, but rather multiply the anticipated evils." "It is the right," he added, "of all to test its validity through the constituted channels, but with that right is coupled the duty of yielding a general obedience to its requirements until it has been pronounced invalid by competent authority."

The railroad companies claimed not merely the unconstitutionality of the law, but that its enforcement would bankrupt the companies, and suspend the operation of their lines. The governor, in reply, pleaded the inviolability of his oath of office and his pledged faith to the people. The result was an appeal to the courts, in which the State, under the direction of its governor, was compelled to confront an array of the most formidable legal talent of the country. Upon

the result in Wisconsin depended the vitality of much similar legislation in neighboring States, and Governor Taylor and his associate representatives of State authority were thus compelled to bear the brunt of a controversy of national extent and consequence. The contention extended both to State and United States courts, the main question involved being the constitutional power of the State over corporations of its own creation. In all respects, the State was fully sustained in its position, and, ultimately, judgments were rendered against the corporations in all the State and federal courts, including the supreme court of the United States, and establishing finally the complete and absolute power of the people, through the legislature, to modify or altogether repeal the charters of corporations.

Another act of the session of 1874 abolished the office of State commissioner of immigration, "on and after" the first Monday of January, 1876. The legislature adjourned on the twelfth of March, 1874, after a session of fifty-eight days.

The office of state prison commissioner having, by operation of law, become vacant on the fifth day of January, 1874, the governor, on the twenty-third of that month, appointed for State prison directors, Joel Rich, for tw years; William E. Smith, for four years; and Nelson Dewey, for six years: these to take the place of that officer.

On the sixteenth of June, Chief Justice Dixon, whose term of office would have expired on the first Monday in January, 1876, resigned his seat upon the bench of the supreme court, Governor Taylor appointing Edward G. Ryan in his place until his successor should be elected and qualified. At the November election of this year, the members chosen to the forty-fourth congress were Charles G. Williams, from the first district; Lucian B. Caswell, from the second; Henry S. Magoon, from the third; William Pitt Lynde, from the fourth; Samuel D. Burchard, from the fifth; A. M. Kimball, from the sixth; Jeremiah M. Rusk, from the seventh, and George W. Cate, from the eighth district. Lynde, Burchard and Cate were "reform;" the residue were republican.

At the same election, an amendment to section 3 of article 11 of the constitution of the State was duly ratified and adopted by the people. Under this section, as it now stands, it is the duty of the legislature, and they are by it empowered, to provide for the organization of cities and incorporated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessments and taxation, and in contracting debts, by such municipal corporations. No county, city, town, village, school district, or other municip corporation, shall be allowed to become indebted in any manner, or for any purpose, to ar Junt, including existing indebtedness in the aggregate, exceeding five per centum on the vae of the taxable property therein, to be ascertained by the last assessment for State and county taxes previous to the incurring of such indebtedness. Any county, city, town, village, school district, or other municipal corporation, incurring any indebtedness as aforesaid, shall, before, or at the time of doing so, provide for the collection of a direct

annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof within twenty years from the time of contracting the same.

In 1872, the first appropriation for fish culture in Wisconsin was made by the legislature, subject to the direction of the United States commissioner of fisheries. In 1874, a further sum was appropriated, and the governor of the State authorized to appoint three commissioners, whose duties were, upon receiving any spawn or fish, by or through the United States commissioner of fish and fisheries, to immediately place such spawn in the care of responsible pisciculturists of the State, to be hatched and distributed in the different waters in and surrounding Wisconsin. Two more members have since been added by law to the commission; their labors have been much extended, and liberal appropriations made to further the object they have in view-with flattering prospects of their finally being able to stock the streams and lakes of the State with the best varieties of food fish.

The year 1874, in Wisconsin, was characterized as one of general prosperity among farmers, excepting the growers of wheat. The crop of that cereal was light, and, in places, entirely destroyed by the chinch-bug. As a consequence, considerable depression existed in business in the wheat-growing districts. Trade and commerce continued throughout the year at a low ebb, the direct result of the monetary crisis of 1873.

The legislature commenced its twenty-eighth regular session on the thirteenth of January, 1875, with a republican majority in both houses. F. W. Horn was elected speaker of the assembly. The governor delivered his message in person, on the fourteenth, to the two houses. "Thanking God for all His mercies," are his opening words, “I congratulate you that order and peace reign throughout the length and breadth of our State. Our material prosperity has not fulfilled our anticipations But let us remember that we bear no burden of financial depression not common to all the States, and that the penalties of folly are the foundation of wisdom." In regard to the "Potter Law," the governor said, "It is not my opinion that this law expressed the best judgment of the legislature which enacted it. While the general principles upon which it is founded command our unqualified approbation, and can never be surrendered, it must be conceded that the law is defective in some of its details. . . . The great object sought to be accomplished by our people," continued the speaker, "is not the management of railroad property by themselves, but to prevent its mismanagement by others." Concerning the charge that Wisconsin was warring upon railways within her limits, the governor added, “She has never proposed such a war. She proposes none now. She asks only honesty, justice and the peace of mutual good will. To all men concerned, her people say in sincerity and in truth that every dollar invested in our State shall be lawfully entitled to its just protection, whencesoever the danger comes. In demanding justice for all, the State will deny justice to none. In forbidding 2 mismanagement, the State will impose no restraints upon any management that is h nest and just. In this, the moral and hereditary instincts of our people furnish a stronger bond of good faith than the judgments of courts or the obligations of paper constitutions. Honest capital may be timid and easily frightened; yet it is more certain to seek investment among a people whose laws are at all times a shield for the weak and a reliance for the strong—where the wholesome restr ints of judicious legislation are felt alike by the exalted and the humble, the rich and the poor."

The first important business to be transacted by this legislature was the election of a United States senator, as the term for which M. H Carpenter had been elected would expire on the fourth of March ensuing. Much interest was manifested in the matter, not only in the two houses, but throughout the State. There was an especial reason for this; for, although the then

incumbent was a candidate for re-election, with a republican majority in the legislature, yet it was well known that enough members of that party were pledged, before the commencement of the session, to vote against him, to secure his defeat, should they stand firm to their pledges. The republicans met in caucus and nominated Carpenter for re-election; but the recalcitrant members held themselves aloof. Now, according to usual precedents, a nomination by the dominant party was equivalent to an election; not so, however, in this case, notwithstanding the friends of the nominee felt sanguine of his election in the end. The result of the first ballot, on the twenty-sixth of January, was, in the senate, thirteen for the republican candidate; in the assembly, forty-six votes, an aggregate of only fifty-nine. He lacked four votes in the assembly and an equal number in the senate, of having a majority. each house. On the twenty-seventh, the two houses, in joint convention, hiving met to compare the record of the voting the day previous, and it appearing that no one person had received a majority of the votes in each house for United States senator, they proceeded to their first joint ballot. The result was, no election. The balloting was continued each day, until the third of February, when, on the eleventh joint tril, Angus Cameron, of LaCrosse, having received sitxty-eight votes, to Carpenter's fifty-nine, with five scattering, was declared elected.

As in the previous session so in this,-one of the most absorbing subjects before the legislature was that of railroads; the "Potter Law" receiving a due share of attention in both houses. The result was an amendment in some important particulars without changing the right of State control: rates were modified. The law as amended was more favorable to the railroad companies and was regarded as a compromise. The legislature adjourned sine die on the 6th of March. This was the shortest session ever held in the State except one of twenty-five years previous.

On the 16th of February, O. W. Wight was appointed by the governor chief geologist of Wisconsin, in place of I. A. Lapham, whose appointment had not been acted upon by the Senate. On the 24th of the same month, J. W. Hoyt was appointed railroad commissioner for three years from the first day of May Collowing, on which day his one-year term in the same office would expire. At the regular Spring election on the 6th of April following, Edward G. Ryan was elected, without opposition, chief justice of the supreme court for the unexpired term of Chief Justice Dixon, ending the first Monday in January, 1876, and for a full term of six years from the last mentioned date; so that his present term of office will expire on the 1st Monday in January, 1882. An act providing for taking the census of Wisconsin on or before the 1st of July, 1875, was passed by the legislature and approved the 4th of March previous. It required an enumeration of all the inhabitants of the State except Indians, who were not entitled to the right of suffrage. The result of this enumeration gave a total population to Wisconsin of one million two hundred and thirty-six thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine.

At the November election, republican and “reform" tickets were in the field for State officers, resulting in the success of the latter, except as to governor. For this office Harrison Ludington was chosen by a majority, according to the State board of canvassers, over William R. Taylor, of eight hundred and forty-one. The rest of the candidates elected were: Charles D. Parker, lieutenant governor; Peter Doyle, secretary of state; Ferdinand Kuehn, treasurer of state, A. Scott Sloan, attorney general; and Edward Searing, superintendent of public instruction. The act abolishing the office of state commissioner of immigration was to take effect "on and after" the close of this administration; so, or course, no person was voted for to fill that position at the Fall election of 1875.

During this administration the principle involved in a long-pending controversy between the State and Minnesota relating to valuable harbor privileges at the head of Lake Superior, was successfully and finally settled in favor of Wisconsin. The influence of the executive was largely

instrumental in initiating a movement which resulted in securing congressional appropriations amounting to $800,000 to the Fox and Wisconsin river improvement. A change was inaugurated in the whole system of timber agencies over State and railroad lands, by which the duties of agents were localized, and efficiency was so well established that many important trespasses were brought to light from which over $60,000 in penalties was collected and paid into the Treasury, while as much more was subsequently realized from settlements agreed upon and proceedings instituted. By decisive action on the part of the governor an unsettled printing claim of nearly a hundred thousand dollars was met and defeated in the courts. During this period also appropriations were cut down, and the rate of taxation diminished. Governor Taylor bestowed unremitting personal attention to details of business with a view of promoting the public interests with strict economy, while his countenance and support was extended to all legitimate enterprises. He required the Wisconsin Central railroad company to give substantial assurance that it would construct a branch line from Stevens Point to Portage City as contemplated by congress, before issuing certificates for its land grants.

The closing year of the century of our national existence-1875, was one somewhat discouraging to certain branches of the agricultural interests of Wisconsin. The previous Winter had been an unusually severe one. A greater breadth of corn was planted than in any previous year in the State, but the unusually late season, followed by frosts in August and September, entirely ruined thousands of acres of that staple.

FIFTEENTH ADMINISTRATION.-HARRISON LUDINGTON, GOVERNOR-1876-1877.

The fifteenth administration of Wisconsin commenced at noon on Monday, January 3, 1876, by the inauguration of State officers-Harrison Ludington, as previously stated, having been elected upon the republican ticket, to fill the chief executive office of the State; the others, to the residue of the offices, upon the democratic reform ticket: the governor, like three of his predecessors-Farwell, Bashford, and Randall (first term)—having been chosen by a majority less than one thousand; and, like two of his predecessors-Farwell and Bashford-when all the other State officers differed with him in politics.

The twenty-ninth regular session of the legislature of Wisconsin began on the 12th of January, 1876, at Madison. The republicans were in the majority in both houses. Samuel S. Fifield was elected speaker of the assembly. On the 13th, Governor Ludington delivered in person, to a joint convention of that body, his message, communicating the condition of affairs of the State, and recommending such matters for the consideration of the legislators as were thought expedient: it was brief; its style condensed; its striking peculiarity, a manly frankness. “It is not the part of wisdom," said he, in his concluding remarks, "to disguise the fact that the people of this State, in common with those of all sections of the Union, have suffered some abatement of the prosperity that they have enjoyed in the past." "We have entered," he continued, "upon the centennial of our existence as an independent nation. It is fit that we should renew the spirit in which the Republic had its birth, and our determination that it shall endure to fulfill the great purposes of its existence, and to justify the noble sacrifices of its founders." The legislature adjourned sine die on the 14th of March, 1876, after a session of sixty-three days. The chief measures of the session were: The amendment of the railroad laws, maintaining salutary restrictions while modifying those features which were crippling and crushing an important interest of the State; and the apportionment of the State into senate and assembly districts. It is a provision of the constitution of the State that the number of the members of the assembly shall never be less than fifty-four, nor more than one hundred; and that the senate shall consist of a number not more than one-third nor less than one-fourth of the number of the members of the