“ Government.—The original constitution of the state, adopted in 1848, and amended in 1869, 1870, 1874, 1877, 1881, 1882, 1902 and 1908, is still in force. An amendment may be proposed by either house of the legislature, and if passed by two successive legislatures by a majority of the members elected to each house must be submitted to the people for ratification by a majority vote. A constitutional convention may be called on the recommendation of a majority of the Senate and Assembly if this proposal receives a majority vote at the next election for members of the legislature. ”

“ The general property tax has long been employed almost wholly for educational purposes only. The state tax on railways and other public service corporations is levied on an ad valorem basis; but telephone companies are taxed by collecting a percentage of the gross receipts. Insurance companies are taxed on premiums and income. In 1908 the constitution was amended to permit a graduated tax on incomes, privileges and occupations. A poll tax is levied for highway purposes in towns and villages, but the general charter law does not provide for the collection of poll taxes in cities. ”

“ Suffrage was originally granted to every male [5] twenty-one years of age or upwards resident in the state for one year preceding any election—if he were a white citizen of the United States, or a white of foreign birth who had declared his intention to be naturalized, or an Indian declared by Congress a citizen of the United States, or a civilized person of Indian descent not a member of any tribe ”

“ As a result of the failure of “wildcat” banks during the Territorial period, a clause was inserted in the state constitution forbidding the legislature to charter a bank or pass a general banking law until the people had voted in favour of banks, and providing further that no bank charter or general banking law should be of any force until a majority of the voters at a general election had approved of it. The people gave their approval to a general banking law in 1852, and state banks were incorporated under it. Private banks and one savings bank were also chartered. ”

“ The eastern elevation is a ridge or cuesta formed by an outcropping hard layer of the ancient coastal plain; and it separates the Wisconsin river basin from the Fox River Valley and the streams flowing into Lake Michigan. Along the Mississippi and the Wisconsin runs a chain of bluffs varying in height from 200 to 300 ft., and in the E. a rocky limestone ridge or cuesta some 30 m. back from Lake Michigan extends from the Door county peninsula, E. of Lake Winnebago and as far south as the Illinois line. ”

“ The mayor, aldermen, treasurer, comptroller, justices of the peace and supervisors must be elected by the people, but the other offices are filled as the council of each city directs. An act of 1909 provides for the adoption of government by commission in any city of the second, third or fourth class which votes for this form of government at an election called by a petition signed by 25% of the voters at the preceding election for mayor. ”

“ A homestead owned and occupied by any resident of the state and consisting of not more than 40 acres of agricultural land outside the limits of a city or village, or one-fourth of an acre within a city or village, together with the dwelling-house and other appurtenances, is exempt from liability for debts other than labourers', mechanics' and purchase-money liens, mortgages and taxes. If the homestead is sold the proceeds from the sale, to an amount not exceeding $5000, are likewise exempt for a period of two years, provided they are held for the purpose of procuring another homestead. ”

“ Before the actual military occupation (1816) by the United States, American traders had begun to enter into a sharp rivalry for the Indian trade. In 1800 Wisconsin was included in the newly organized Indiana Territory; and in 1809 on the admission of Indiana as a state it was attached to Illinois. During the second war with Great Britain, the Wisconsin Indians and French settlers generally sided with the British, and in 1814 many of them participated in Major William McKay's expedition against Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien. ”

“ Climate.—The climate of the whole state is influenced by the storms which move eastward along the Canadian border and by those which move northward up the Mississippi Valley, and that of the eastern and northern sections is moderated by the Great Lakes. The winters, especially in the central and north-western sections, are long and severe, and the summers in the central and south-western sections are very warm ”

“ The legislature consists of a Senate and an Assembly and meets biennially, and when called in special session by the governor to transact special business definitely named in the governor's call. The number of assemblymen cannot be less than 54 or more than 100, and the number of senators must be not more than one-third or less than one-fourth the number of members of the Assembly. ”

“ In 1834 two land offices were opened, and by 1836, 878,014 acres of land had been sold to settlers and speculators. A special census showed a population of more than 11,000 in 1836. The new growth started a movement for a separate Territorial organization for that part of Michigan lying west of Lake Michigan, but this was not finally accomplished until 1836, when Michigan entered the Union. The new Territory of Wisconsin comprised not only the area included in the present state, but the present Iowa and Minnesota and a considerable portion of North and South Dakota. ”

“ Marie, in which has been absorbed the old Wisconsin Central, crosses the state and extends into the Canadian North-West, sharing in the heavy grain traffic of that section, and, like the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, which runs along the Lake Superior shore, is a link in the transcontinental system of the Canadian Pacific, which controls both these roads. The Northern Pacific enters Wisconsin in its north western corner and extends to the Lake Superior country. The Green Bay & Western railway between Winona and Kewaunee has ferry connexion across Lake Michigan. ”

“ The secretary of state is ex officio auditor; and he acts as governor if the regularly elected governor and lieutenant-governor die, are removed from office or are absent from the state. A state superintendent of public instruction is chosen by popular vote for a four-year term. Other administrative officers are a commissioner of insurance (from 1867 to 1878 the secretary of the state was commissioner of insurance; the office became elective in 1881) ; a commissioner of labour and industrial statistics ”

“ The greater part of the western boundary separating the state from Minnesota and Iowa consists of the Mississippi and St Croix rivers flowing S. and the Saint Louis river flowing into Lake Superior. The Menominee and Montreal rivers form a considerable part of the boundary line on the N. and E., separating it from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The state's lake shore boundary is more than 550 m. long. Included in Wisconsin are the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior, and Washington Island and a group of smaller islands at the entrance to Green Bay on the Lake Michigan side. ”

“ In 1810 the product of lead had been about 400,000 ℔, largely mined and smelted by Indians, but the output was now increased enormously by the American miners who introduced new machinery and new methods, and by 1820 there were several thousand miners in the region, including negro slaves who had been brought north by Southern prospectors from Kentucky and Missouri. In 1818 Illinois was admitted to the Union and Wisconsin was incorporated in Michigan Territory, and at that time American civil government in the Wisconsin region was first established on an orderly and permanent basis. ”

“ Before the next census was taken the revolutionary movement of 1848 in Germany led to the emigration of thousands from that country to Wisconsin, and there was an increase of 886.9% in the population from 1840 to 1850. Norwegians and other Scandinavians, Irish, Poles, Dutch, Belgians and Swiss followed. Germans and Irish are now scattered throughout the state; but the German element predominates markedly in Milwaukee. Norwegians, Danes and Swedes are more numerous in the western and northern counties. There are Finns in Douglas county and Icelanders on Washington Island, in Green Bay. ”

“ Wisconsin then comprised two counties, Brown (east) and Crawford (west) , with county seats at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. Until 1830 the fur-trade, controlled largely by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, continued to be the predominating interest in the Wisconsin region, but then the growing lead mining industry began to overshadow the fur-trade, and in the mining region towns and smelting furnaces were rapidly built. Indian miners were soon driven out of business and were nearly crowded out of their homes. ”

“ Traders had begun to swarm into the country in increasing numbers, and to protect them from the Indians and to control properly the licensed fur-trade a military force was necessary. Perrot built a chain of forts along the Mississippi and a post (the present Galena, Illinois) near the southern boundary of the state, where he discovered and worked a lead mine. ”

“ Executive power is vested in a governor and a lieutenant-governor, elected for two years. The governor's salary (since 1869) is $5000 a year and the lieutenant-governor's $1000. Candidates for either office must be citizens of the United States and qualified electors of the state. The lieutenant-governor is president of the Senate with a casting vote only. A bill vetoed by the governor becomes a law if it is approved by two-thirds of the members present in each house ”

“ A widow is entitled to a dower in one-third of her husband's real estate, and a widower is life tenant by courtesy of all the real estate of which his wife died seized and not disposed of by her last will, unless she leaves issue by a former husband, to whom the estate might descend, in which case her estate passes immediately to such issue. ”

“ Poles are chiefly in Milwaukee, Manitowoc and Portage counties, Belgians and Dutch in Brown and Door counties, German Swiss in Green, Fond du Lac, Winnebago, Buffalo and Pierce counties, and Bohemians in Kewaunee county, where they form almost 50% of the population. Some Italians are massed in Vernon and Florence counties, and there are French Canadians in the north. There were 8372 Indians, of whom 1657 were not taxed, 2542 negroes, 212 Chinese and 5 Japanese in the state in 1900. ”

“ At the census of 1840, with the exception of a few thousand French-Canadians, the population was made up of American-born pioneers from the Eastern states, and in the southern portion of the territory of a sprinkling of men from Kentucky, Virginia and farther south. ”

“ If the owner is a married man his homestead cannot be sold or mortgaged without his wife's consent. The employment of children under fourteen years of age in any factory, workshop, mine, bowling alley or beer garden is forbidden, and their employment at any gainful occupation is permitted only during the vacation of the public school. A child between fourteen and sixteen years of age may be employed at a gainful occupation only upon the recommendation of the school principal or clerk of the board of education. ”

“ The density of the population in 1910 was 42.2 to the square mile. Of the total population in 1900, 1,553,071, or 75.1%, were native born, the increase in native-born since 1890 having been 32.3%, while there was a decrease of foreign-born of 0.6%. The falling off in foreign immigration in the decade 1890-1900 contrasts strongly with the increase of 28.1% in the number of foreign-born in 1880-1890. Of the native-born population in 1900, 84%, or 1,304,918, were born within the state. ”

“ The raising of live-stock, particularly of dairy cows, is an important industry. In 1910, out of a total of 2,587,000 neat cattle, there were 1,506,000 milch cows. The total number of horses in the state was 669,000 in 1910, when they were valued at $80,949,000. ”

“ Manufactures.—The growth of manufacturing has been rapid: in 1850 the value of the manufactures was $9,293,068; in 1860, $27,849,467; in 1870, $77,214,326; in 1880, $128,255,480; in 1890, $248,546,164; and in 1900, $360,818,942. The product under the factory system, excluding hand trades and neighbourhood industries, was $326,752,878 in 1900 and $411,139,681 in 1905. The most important of the state's manufactures in 1900 and in 1905 were lumber and timber products, valued in the latter year at $44,395,766 (Wisconsin being second in rank to the state of Washington) . ”