USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of the state of Wisconsin : being a complete civil, political, and military history of the state, from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 25
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The governor appointed, on the 7th of June, H. A. Tenney, state comptroller. Subsequently the law under which the appointment was made was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
An exciting criminal case took place at Portage City in the month of April. John B. Du Bay was charged with killing a
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ber in operation Jan. 1, 1859, ninety-nine, with an aggregate capital of $8,045,000. The whole amount of countersigned notes in circulation was $4,882,442, which were secured by the deposit of stocks and specie to the value of $5,439,576.95.
The whole number of children in the State, between the ages of four and twenty, was 264,078; an increase over 1857 of 22,- 669. Value of schoolhouse property, $863,478.49; and the amount expended for teachers' wages, over $334,000.
The Deaf and Dumb Institution reported fifty-two pupils in attendance, and that the main building required some ten thousand dollars to complete the same.
The Blind Institution reported an attendance of twenty-five pupils, and asked nine thousand dollars for its support, and about thirteen thousand dollars for fencing, grading, school-apparatus, and a workshop for male pupils.
The House of Refuge reported progress in the erection of their buildings, and recommended a change of name, so as to give the institution the name of "State Reform School."
The Hospital for the Insane reported December, 1859, that on the 22d of June they appointed J. Edwards Lee, M.D., late of Pennsylvania Hospital of the Insane, superintendent ; that the portion of the building which had been in course of erection was approaching completion ; and that, as soon as the necessary appropriations could be made for the support of the institution, the house could be opened for the reception of patients.
The whole number of convicts in the State-prison was two hundred and eighty-seven; and the appropriations required for current expenses were thirty thousand dollars.
The governor referred to the land-grants and the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad, and gave his reason for refusing to execute deeds of conveyance of lands to which the company claimed it was entitled ; and said that the company had failed to build the road from Madison and from Portage City according to law, and recommended some action by the legislature in regard thereto. He recommended a change in the interest law, so as to limit the rate to seven per cent. He also reiterated his views in regard to the relative powers and duties of the Federal and State governments, and in regard to the power and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in the Territories by positive enact-
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ment. He recommended a short session, adhesiveness to the laws of the State on special legislation ; and reported that the credit of the State was unimpaired, that the State had been guilty of no repudiation, and that there was no stain upon its honor, although individuals or corporations had been corrupt or unfortunate, and failed of their promises. "Unlike other States, Wisconsin makes no concealment of public crimes, and has no hiding-place for unfaithful servants."
On the 2d of February, Harrison C. Hobart, Moses M. Davis, Nelson Dewey, O. M. Conover, and Carl Schurz were elected by the legislature regents of the State University. On the 3d, Coles Bashford, late governor of the State, sent a communication to the assembly, asking an investigation of the charges that had been preferred against him in the public prints and elsewhere, and that he was prepared to purge himself of each and every charge of corruption which had been made against him, in rela- tion to, or growing out of, the grant of lands to the State for railroad purposes. On the receipt of this communication, a committee of five was appointed to examine and report on the same ; which committee on the 9th of March reported that they had given the memorial consideration, and had taken a large amount of testimony relating to all the charges which had been brought against Gov. Bashford touching the disposition of said grant, and were of the unanimous opinion that the evidence shows that the fifty bonds referred to in the report of the inves- tigating committee were received by Gov. Bashford, as a gratu- ity from the La Crosse Company, after the grant had been disposed of, and without any previous understanding that he was to receive the same, or any favor whatever, from said com- pany ; but the committee strongly disapproved of the accept- ance of said gratuity, or a similar acceptance by any public officer, of favors from those having business-relations of an official character with him. The committee, however, believed it due to Gov. Bashford to say, that they could not find that he was influenced, in his official action in the disposal of the grant, by any favor from the La Crosse Company; nor do they believe that he ever intended it should influence his action in the dis- charge of his official duties ; and in conclusion they stated that the evidence during the investigation showed that he was actu-
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ated by good motives in the disposition of the grant, and that, in regard thereto, he meant to guard and protect every interest of the State which might be affected by it.
The legislature adjourned March 21, having passed two hundred and twenty-three general, and two hundred and forty- seven private and local laws. In reference to this session, it is said by one of the local papers at the capital, "that, of all we have seen assembled here, none has seemed actuated by a more earnest desire to promote the public good, and none has sur- passed it in the intelligence and general good sense of its mem- bers ; and, while it has sought to reduce the general expendi- tures of the State, it has been generous towards all public charities; and, in providing for the completion of the asylums of the deaf and dumb, the blind, and the insane, and for public libraries in the several towns of the State, has shown that it was governed by wise and enlightened principles of legisla- tion."
Among the most important subjects which this legislature considered and disposed of were the amendments to the Revised Statutes, some sixty-six acts; the mortgage law, authorizing the redemption of lands sold under foreclosure of mortgages by judgment or decree of court; the assessment law, a meas- ure beyond many others difficult to frame, and which it was believed would prove of great value to the State ; to prescribe and limit the rate of interest ; and an act to provide for the government of the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane. Five joint resolutions and twenty memorials were also passed. Of the private and local laws, sixty-four were amendments to charters, twenty-two relative to the city of Milwaukee, twenty- six to State roads, eighteen to school-districts, and others of more or less importance.
The act to provide for levying a State tax for the year 1859 was satisfactory to the people, from the fact that only one hundred and fifty thousand dollars were levied, - about one- third the amount the State had annually paid for the previous six years.
Among the measures that were brought before the legisla- ture was one providing for the erection of the west wing of the Capitol, and appropriating fifteen thousand dollars towards
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the work. Up to this date, the city of Madison had contribut- ed more than one-half the amount expended on the Capitol enlargement. While a general approbation was expressed and felt in regard to the new Capitol, it was nevertheless. thought by many, that in view of the hard times, and heavy taxes of the previous year, it was inexpedient to make any appropria- tion for continuing the work that season. The bill making the appropriation was not introduced.until late in the session. It did not reach the senate until the bill fixing the State tax at a hundred and fifty thousand dollars had passed, and become a law.
The amount of money that had been appropriated by the legislature was $221,575.03, of which amount 863,210 was for the Insane Hospital, $34,775 for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind Institutes, $10,000 for the Reform School, 849,500 for the State-prison, $13,273.17 to the contractor on the east wing of the Capitol, $10,000 contingent fund, and 84,000 for station- ery ..
On the 12th of April, 1859, Hon. Edward V. Whiton, LL.D., chief justice of the supreme court, died at his residence at Janesville, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. A biographical memoir of this distinguished jurist will be found in another part of this volume.
The Democratic State Convention for the nomination of State officers was held on the 24th of August, 1859. F. W. Horn was elected president on the eleventh ballot, Harrison C. Hobart was nominated for governor, and the balance of the ticket nominated as follows: A. S. Palmer lieutenant-governor, A. B. Alden secretary of state, Lion Silverman state treasurer, J. C. Squires bank comptroller, Samuel Crawford attorney-gen- eral, L. C. Draper superintendent of public instruction, H. C. Fleck state-prison commissioner.
The Republican State Convention met on the 31st of August, H. H. Giles president. The following ticket was nominated : governor, Alexander W. Randall ; lieutenant-governor, B. G. Noble ; secretary of state, L. P. Harvey ; state treasurer, S. D. Hastings ; attorney-general, James H. Howe ; bank comptroller, G. Van Steenwyck; superintendent of public instruction, J. L. Pickard ; state-prison commissioner, H. C. Heg.
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At the election in November, the whole Republican ticket was elected. The whole number of votes polled for governor was 122,982, of which number, Gov. Randall received 63,466, and H. C. Hobart 59,516 ; the majority for the former being 3,950.
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CHAPTER XXXV.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOV. RANDALL.
Events of 1860 - Statistics - Legislation - Presidential Election -Congressional Election, &c.
ON Monday, Jan. 2, 1860, the State officers elect were inaugurated at eleven o'clock, 'A.M., at the assembly chamber ; the oaths of office being administered by Chief Justice L. S. Dixon. Quite a number of citizens were present to witness the ceremony. In the evening, an informal levee was held at the Assembly Hall, which was quite crowded with a concourse of citizens to meet and congratulate the new officers. The Governor's Guards, under the command of Capt. George P. Delaplaine, and the Madison Guards, commanded by Capt. Samuel Crawford, appeared in full uniform, armed and equipped, upon the floor, and, after going through with various evolutions, were introduced to the governor and other State officers.
The thirteenth annual session of the State legislature con- vened Jan. 10, 1860, and adjourned April 2, 1860, holding a session of eighty-two days. Butler G. Noble, lieutenant- governor elect, being president of the senate, J. H. Warren chief clerk, and Asa Kinney sergeant-at-arms. In the assem- bly, William P. Lyon was re-elected speaker, L. II. D. Crane chief clerk, and Joseph Gates sergeant-at-arms.
Gov. Randall, in his message, said that the difficulties and embarrassments under which the State had labored had been outgrown. He gave some statistics from the annual report of State officers, and trustees of benevolent and humane insti- tutions ; viz., that there was a balance in the State treasury, Sept. 30, 1859 (the end of the fiscal year), belonging to the gen-
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eral fund, of 811,205.11; and, up to that date, all demands upon that fund had been promptly paid on presentation, and that the State owed no floating debt. He referred to the demand against the State by James Ross, state printer, which had been audited by the secretary of state, the legality and correctness of which was denied by the state treasurer, and which, therefore, he re- fused to pay. The amount claimed, and unpaid for the above reasons, was 838,762.16, of which $16,884.06 were claimed from the general fund. The aggregate receipts into this fund dur- ing the calendar year ending Dec. 31, 1859, were $534,051.28, and the aggregate disbursements, 8490,522.96: of the amount expended, the sum of 8176,875.65 was for charitable institutions, Capitol extension, and State-prison ; and the sum of $124,768.85 was for charitable institutions, certified accounts, &c., belonging to accounts existing previous to Jan. 1, 1859. In reference to this he said, -
"It is a matter of congratulation, that the finances of the State are in so sound a condition. Unlike most new States, Wisconsin has paid for her public improvements, without creating a permanent State debt for such purposes. The school fund, on the 1st of October last, amounted to $3,001,- 207.30, producing, on interest at seven per cent, 8210.090.81; and the amount to be appropriated in March next is $245,272.41. The University fund at the same date amounted to $300,725.22 ; and the interest therefrom, 821,- 050.76 ; which amount is the income of the University, adding $501.04, the balance in the treasury. The swamp-land fund amounted to $988,712.88, and the interest, 869,209.90. The number of acres of land in the State, assessed last year, was 17,411,418; and the equalized valuation, $6.78 per acre; the aggregate valuation of personal property is $13,607,893 ; and the total value of all property as equalized, $168,620,233. The total taxation levied last year was one and four-tenths mills on the dollar valuation, pro- ducing in the aggregate the sum of $234,310.11 of revenue."
This was two hundred thousand dollars less than the previous year, and less than any year for the previous six years. He reported the number of persons of school age for 1859 at 278,- 871; the average length of time schools had been taught, five and one-half months; number of school districts, 4,331; value of schoolhouse property, $1,185,181; wages paid to male teachers 822.93, and female 814.29; and the whole amount paid for teachers' wages, at $536,860.
The whole number of banking associations doing business
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Jan. 1, 1859, was ninety-nine, with an aggregate capital of $8,045,000. Fifteen new banks had been organized during the year, with an aggregate capital of 8575,000. On the 1st of January, 1860, the whole number of banks was one hundred and eight, with a capital of $7,760,000; amount of notes issued and in circulation, 84,609,432, which were secured by deposit of specie and public stocks, valued at $4,975,120.
The buildings for the State Hospital for the Insane, he said, would not be prepared for patients before the following spring ; that the trustees estimated the amount of money required for the year 1860 at 828,096, and for the extension of the build- ings 820,000; that work on the State Reform School was pro- gressing, and that the sum of 815,029.84 would be required that season, according to the estimates of the commissioners; that the buildings of the Deaf and Dumb Institution were nearly completed, and that 824,500 were required for the support of schools, and repairs, for paying indebtedness on main building, and for sewerage, drainage, fencing, &c. The estimates for the support of the Institute of the Blind, for current expenses, were $19,200, and there were twenty-two pupils in the insti- tution. The number of convicts in State-prison, Jan. 1, 1860, was one hundred and eighty-two. He recommended the erec- tion of the west wing of the Capitol, and an appropriation for laying the walls immediately. His views on the interest question were given at some length: he urged a change in the law, re- ducing the rate, and concluded his message by expressing his feeling on the question of slavery at length, saying that peace- able and legal remedies alone could relieve us of slavery exten- sion and slavery agitation.
On the 2d of April, the legislature adjourned. In reference to the session, " The Madison State Journal " said, -
" Quite a large number of bills remained in the general file unacted upon. Of these, the most important were those providing for the reduction of the rate of interest taken by banks, and authorizing the State University to issue bonds to satisfy the loans which it had made, and which are nearly matured. The failure of the others is not a subject of much lamentation. Of the wisdom or the folly of the acts of the session just closed, it is as yet impossible to speak with any degree of certainty. That verdict can only be rendered when they have been published and tested. If it does not turn out that some unwise laws have been enacted, the late legislature has been more fortunate
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than its predecessors : if it is not found that some good and wholesome acts were passed, we shall be much disappointed. The new assessment law, we class among these. It is doubtless the most important measure of the session ; and it is believed that it will be received with very general satis- faction by the people, and be found in its practical operations to distribute the burdens of taxation in a more fair and equitable manner than any previous law upon this difficult subject."
The session was a long one, -much longer than the amount of business to be transacted would seem to warrant. The diffi- culties, however, originated, not through lack of ability, but in consequence of the unfortunate disposition of the people of the State, to send up to the capital annually, with a few excep- · tions, an entirely new body of men to the assembly. Thus it happened that the great mass of the members of that house were wholly destitute of experience; and six or eight weeks would pass away before they were sufficiently familiarized with the forms and routine of legislation to begin upon the real business of the session. Every session, the legislature, under that system, had to pass through a long novitiate, and become versed in rules and parliamentary tactics, by a series of animated contests on such momentous questions as the chaplaincy, the mode of taking newspapers, and the distribution of postage- stamps, before they were prepared to do any thing better. The necessity of some change by which half of the members of this popular branch should hold over, as the members of the senate did, was beginning to be generally felt.
The legislature passed three hundred and eighty-six laws of a general nature, and one hundred and three private and local laws. In addition to the assessment law alluded to, some of the other important acts were, to amend the law relative to the enlargement and completion of the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers ; an act to provide for the government of the Wisconsin Hospital for the Insane, and repealing the law of 1859; to provide for levying a State tax (8150,000) for the year 1860; to provide for letting the public printing by contract, and to establish maximum prices for the execution thereof; and many others. Forty-eight of the general laws were amend- ments to the Revised Statutes; twenty-nine, amendments to general laws ; and ten, to private and local laws; twenty-one,
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appropriation bills; twenty-three in reference to appeals ; forty relative to courts; twenty-one, to lands; ten repealing certain laws; twenty-three, to roads ; nine, to railroads; thirty-four, con- ferring certain powers on the secretary of state; and forty-five, on taxation, and extending the time for collection of taxes. Of the private and local laws, forty-six were amendments to incor- porations, thirty-one authorizing banks to reduce their capital stock, seven incorporating and amendment charters to insur- ance companies, &c.
On the 20th of May, 1860, the trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum elected Dr. John P. Clement as medical superintend- ent; and he appointed Dr. John Favill as his assistant. The first patient was admitted to the hospital on the 14th of July of this year. It had been ascertained that the number of insane persons in the State, of both sexes, exceeded two hundred ; and the trustees were obliged to apportion the few that could be accommodated, among the counties presenting the most urgent cases, from one to three each, while many counties were neces- sarily excluded entirely. In view of the pressing demand, the medical superintendent, with the executive committee of the board of trustees, consisting of Dr. A. I. Bennett, Simeon Mills, and Thomas Haad, set about re-arranging and economiz- ing the apartments ; and so successful were they in their efforts, that, on the seventeenth day of December of the same year, eighty-nine patients had been received, and only eleven dis- charged.
At the Republican convention, held in the month of April, A. Scott Sloan was nominated for chief-justice of the supreme court; and Luther S. Dixon was brought forward as an Inde- pendent candidate for the same office. The latter was elected.
Henry Barnard, LL.D., chancellor of the University, resigned his position in June, 1860. The board of regents, however, did not accept of the same until January, 1861.
On the 10th of October, 1860, Gov. Randall appointed Henry D. Barron, of St. Croix Falls, circuit judge of the north-west judicial district, in the place of Judge Fuller, resigned.
During the year, there was considerable feeling manifested in the eastern portion of the State, by parties who had mort- gaged their farms for the building of railroads. Some of the
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companies who received these mortgages failed to build these roads, but had disposed of, and realized funds on, these evi- dences of debt. The matter went into the courts, and was the cause of much litigation. A meeting of an association, known as the Grand League of Farm Mortgagers, was held at Water- town, Wis., on the 12th of October, to discuss matters relative to the organization. The fall of 1860 was an exciting one all over the State, owing to the presidential election. W. D. McIn- doe, Bradford Rexford, W. W. Vaughan, J. Allen Barber, and H. Lindeman were put in nomination as Republican electors. Samuel Elmore, N. B. Van Slyke, S. J. Ullman, H. D. Barron, and H. S. Pierrepont were electors on what is known as the Breckenridge ticket; and Edward G. Ryan, Charles Dunn, J. C. Fairchild, Emil Rothe, and Benjamin Ferguson, as electors on the Douglas ticket. The contest was a lively one : public meet- ings were held all over the country, and addresses made by the ablest men of all political parties. At the election in Novem- ber, the Republican electors received 86,110 votes ; the Douglas electors, 65,021 ; the Breckenridge electors, 881; and 161 votes for electors who favored John Bell for the presidency. The Republican majority was 21,089 over Douglas. The electors, at a subsequent meeting in the electoral college, cast their votes for Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin. At the same election, John F. Potter, Luther Hanchett, and A. Scott Sloan, Republican candidates for Congress, for the first, second, and third congressional districts, were elected, over J: E. Arnold, J. D. Reymert, and Charles H. Larrabee, Democratic candidates for the same position. The Republican party came strongly into power at this election ; and all the subsequent State elections, until Jan. 1, 1864, were in the interest of this political organi- zation. In the senate of 1862, there were twenty-two Repub- licans and eight Democrats; and, in the assembly, seventy Republicans and twenty-seven Democrats.
CROSCOUP & Y'EST-SC.CHILA
Tr. He. Chandlers
CHAPTER XXXVI.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOV. RANDALL.
Events of 1861-Legislation - The Thunders of Civil War breaking over the State- The President's Proclamation - Gov. Randall's Proclamation - Prep- arations for War.
THE fourteenth session of the State legislature convened on the 9th of January, 1861, and adjourned April 17, and, in pur- suance of a proclamation of Gov. Randall for an extra session, convened again May 15, and finally adjourned May 27, 1861, after a session of one hundred and twelve days. Lieut .- Gov. Noble was president of the senate, I. H. Warren chief clerk, and J. A. Hadley sergeant-at-arms. In the assembly, Amasa Cobb was chosen speaker, L. H. D. Crane chief clerk, and Craig B. Beebe sergeant-at-arms. On the day following, the governor in person delivered his message before the two houses in joint convention. The message is a lengthy one, and gives an excellent synopsis of the governmental operations of the State for the year 1860. It contained also recommendations and suggestions for the consideration of the legislature at that session. Some of the statistics given by him, derived from the reports of State officers and trustees of benevolent institutions, are here given. These statistics may appear to many as super- fluous ; but they are given, as showing the growth and pros- perity of the State from year to year. He says, -
"The aggregate receipts into the general fund during the year 1860 were $416,286.12 ; and the aggregate disbursements from the same fund were 8359,580.29 ; leaving a balance in the treasury, Jan. 1, 1861, of $56,- 705.83. Of the expenditures from this fund, the sum of 8169,809.23 was for the State prison, the various benevolent institutions, payment of interest on State loan, &c .; leaving, as properly, the cost of carrying on the State gov- 368
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