USA > Wisconsin > The Wisconsin blue book 1919 > Part 5
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FIRST. To the support and maintenance of common schools, in each school district, and the purchase of suitable libraries and apparatus therefor.
SECOND. The residue shall be appropriated to the support and
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN.
maintenance of academies and normal schools, and suitable libraries and apparatus therefor.
SECTION 3. The legislature shall provide by law for the establish- ment of district schools, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable; and such schools shall be free and without charge for tuition to all children between the ages of four and twenty years; and no sectarian in- struction shall be allowed therein.
SECTION 4. Each town and city shall be required to raise, by tax, annually, for the support of common schools therein, a sum not less than one-half the amount received by such town or city respectively for school purposes from the income of the school fund.
SECTION 5. Provision shall be made by law, for the distribution of the income of the school fund among the several towns and cities of the state, for the support of common schools therein, in some just propor- tion to the number of children and youth resident therein, between the ages of four and twenty years, and no appropriation shall be made from the school fund to any city, or town, for the year in which said city or town shall fail to raise such tax; nor to any school district for the year in which a school shall not be maintained at least three months.
SECTION 6. Provision shall be made by law for the establishment of a state university, at or near the seat of state government, and for con- necting with the same, from time to time, such colleges in different parts of the state, as the interests of education may require. The pro- ceeds of all lands that have been, or may hereafter be granted by the United States to the state for the support of a university, shall be and remain a perpetual fund to be called "the university fund," the interest of which shall be appropriated to the support of the state university, and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed in such university.
SECTION 7. The secretary of state, treasurer and attorney general, shall constitute a board of commissioners for the sale of the school and university lands, and for the investment of the funds arising there- from. Any two of said commissioners shall be a quorum for the trans- action of all business pertaining to the duties of their office.
SECTION 8. Provision shall be made by law for the sale of all school and university lands, after they shall have been appraised; and when any portion of such lands shall be sold and the purchase money shall not be paid at the time of the sale, the commissioners shall take security by mortgage upon the land sold for the sum remaining unpaid, with seven per cent interest thereon, payable annually at the office of the treasurer. The commissioners shall be authorized to execute a good and sufficient conveyance to all purchasers of such lands, and to discharge any mort- gages taken as security, when the sum due thereon shall have been paid. The commissioners shall have power to withhold from sale any portion of such lands, when they shall deem it expedient, and shall invest all monies arising from the sale of such lands, as well as all other university and school funds, in such manner as the legislature shall provide and shall give such security for the faithful performance of their duties as may be required by law.
ARTICLE XI.
CORPORATIONS.
SECTION 1. Corporations without banking powers or privileges may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, ex- cept for municipal purposes, and in cases where in the judgment of the legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under gen- eral 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.
SECTION 2. No municipal corporation shall take private property for public use, against the consent of the owner, without the necessity thereof being first established by the verdict of a jury.
3-B. B.
1
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WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK.
[As amended Nov. 1912.]
SECTION 3. It shall be the duty of the legislature, and they are here- by 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 municipal corporation shall be allowed to become indebted in any manner or for any purpose to any amount, including existing indebt- edness, in the aggregate exceeding five per centum on the value 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; except that when such indebtedness is incurred in the acquisition of lands by cities, or by counties having a population of 150,000 or over, for public, municipal purposes, or for the permanent improvement thereof, the city or county incurring the same shall, before or at the time of so doing, 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 a period not exceeding fifty years from the time of contracting the same.
[Added November 1912.]
SECTION 3a. The state or any of its cities may acquire by gift, pur- chase, or condemnation lands for establishing, laying out, widening, en- larging, extending, and maintaining memorial grounds, streets, squares, parkways, boulevards, parks, playgrounds, sites for public buildings, and reservations in and about and along and leading to any or all of the same; and after the establishment, layout, and completion of such improvements, may convey any such real estate thus acquired and not necessary for such improvements, with reservations concerning the future use and occupation of such real estate, so as to protect such pub - lic works and improvements, and their environs, and to preserve the view, appearance, light, air, and usefulness of such public works.
[Sections 4 and 5, as amended by a vote of the people at a General Election, November 4, 1902.]
SECTION 4. The legislature shall have power to enact a general bank- ing law for the creation of banks, and for the regulation and super- vision of the banking business, provided that the vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, to be taken by yeas and nays, be in favor of the passage of such law.
ARTICLE XII.
AMENDMENTS.
SECTION 1. Any amendment, or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the legislature, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment, or amendments, shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature to be chosen at the next general election; and shall be published for three months previous to the time of holding such election and if, in the legislature so next chosen, such proposed amendment, or amendments, shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the Legislature to submit such proposed amendment, or amendments, to the people in such manner, and at such time, as the legislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN.
of the electors voting thereon, such amendment, or amendments, shall become part of the constitution; provided, that if more than one amend - ment be submitted, they shall be submitted in such manner that the people may vote for or against such amendments separately.
SECTION 2. If at any time a majority of the senate and assembly shall deem it necessary to call a convention to revise or change this con- stitution, they shall recommend to the electors to vote for or against a convention at the next election for members of the legislature. And if it shall appear that a majority of the electors voting thereon, have voted for a convention, the legislature shall, at its next session, provide for calling such convention.
ARTICLE XIII. 2020847
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.
[Section 1, as amended by a vote of the people at the General Election, November 7, 1882.]
SECTION 1. The political year for the State of Wisconsin shall com- mence on the first Monday in January in each year, and the general elections shall be holden on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Mon- day in November. The first general election for all state and county officers, except judicial officers, after the adoption of this amendment, shall be holden in the year A. D. 1884, and thereafter the general election shall be held biennially. All state, county or other officers elected at the general election in the year 1881, and whose term of office would otherwise expire on the first Monday of January in the year 1884, shall hold and continue such offices respectively, until the first Monday in January in the year 1885.
SECTION 2. Any inhabitant of this state who may hereafter be en- gaged, either directly or indirectly in a duel, either as principal or ac- cessory, shall forever be disqualified as an elector, and from holding any office under the constitution and laws of this state, and may be punished in such other manner as shall be prescribed by law.
SECTION 3. No member of congress, nor any person holding any office of profit or trust under the United States (postmasters excepted) or un- der any foreign power; no person convicted of any infamous crime in any court within the United States; and no person being a defaulter to the United States, or to this state, or to any county, or town therein, or to any state, or territory within the United States, shall be eligible to any office of trust, profit, or honor in this state. -
SECTION 4. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide a great seal for the state, which shall be kept by the secretary of state, and all official acts of the governor, his approbation of the laws excepted, shall be thereby authenticated.
SECTION 5. All persons residing upon Indian lands within any county of the state, and qualifled to exercise the right of suffrage under this constitution, shall be entitled to vote at the polls which may be held nearest their residence, for State, United States or county officers. Pro- vided, that no person shall vote for county officers out of the county in which he resides.
SECTION 6. The elective officers of the legislature, other than the pre - siding officer shall be a chief clerk and sergeant-at-arms, to be elected by each house.
SECTION 7. No county with an area of nine hundred square miles, or less, shall be divided, or have any part stricken therefrom without sub- mitting the question to a vote of the people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the county, voting on the question, shall vote for the same.
SECTION 8. No county seat shall be removed, until the point to which it is proposed to be removed shall be fixed by law, and a majority of
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WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK.
the voters of the county, voting on the question, shall have voted in favor of its removal to such point.
SECTION 9. All county officers whose election, or appointment is not provided for by this constitution, shall be elected by the electors of the respective counties, or appointed by the boards of supervisors, or other county authorities, as the legislature shall direct. All city, town and village officers, whose election or appointment, is not provided for by this constitution, shall be elected by the electors of such cities, towns and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof, as the legislature shall designate for that purpose. All other officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this con- stitution, and all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed, as the legislature may direct.
SECTION 10. The legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant, and also the manner of filling the vacancy, where no provision is made for that purpose in this constitution.
[Article XIII, as amended by addition of Section 11, by a vote of the people at the General Election, November 4, 1902.]
SECTION 11. No person, association, co-partnership, or corporation, shall promise, offer or give, for any purpose, to any political committee, or any member or employe thereof, to any candidate for, or incumbent of any office or position under the constitution or laws, or under any ordinance of any town or municipality, of this state, or to any person at the request or for the advantage of all or any of them, any free pass or frank, or any privilege withheld from any person, for the traveling accommodation or transportation of any person or property, or the trans- mission of any message or communication. No political committee, and no member or employe thereof, no candidate for and no incumbent of any office or position under the constitution or laws, or under any ordinances of any town or municipality of this state, shall ask for, or accept, from any person, association, co-partnership, or corporation, or use, in any manner, or for any purpose, any free pass or frank, or any privilege withheld from any person, for the traveling accommodation or transportation of any person or property, or the transmission of any message or communication. Any violation of any of the above provisions shall be bribery and punished as provided by law, and if any officer or any member of the legislature be guilty thereof, his office shall become vacant. No person within the purview of this act shall be privileged from testifying in relation to anything therein prohibited; and no person having so testified shall be liable to any prosecution or punishment for any offense concerning which he was required to give his testimony or produce any documentary evidence. The railroad commissioner and his deputy in the discharge of duty are excepted from the provisions of this amendment.
ARTICLE XIV.
SCHEDULE.
SECTION 1. That no inconvenience may arise by reason of a change from a territorial to a permanent state government, it is declared, that all rights, actions, prosecutions, judgments, claims and contracts, as well of individuals, as of bodies corporate, shall continue as if no such change had taken place; and all process which may be issued under the authority of the territory of Wisconsin previous to its admission into the union of the United States, shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the state.
SECTION 2. All laws now in force, in the territory of Wisconsin, which are not repugnant to this constitution, shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitation, or be altered or repealed by the legisla- ture.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN.
SECTION 3. All fines, penalties, or forfeitures, accruing to the territory of Wisconsin, shall inure to the use of the state.
SECTION 4. All recognizances heretofore taken, or which may be taken before the change from territorial to a permanent state government, shall remain valid, and shall pass to, and may be prosecuted in the name of the state; and all bonds executed to the governor of the territory, or to any other officer, or court, in his, or their official capacity, shall pass to the governor or state authority, and their successors in office, for the uses therein respectively expressed, and may be sued for and recovered accord- ingly; and all the estate, or property real, personal, or mixed, and all judgments, bonds, specialties, choses in action, and claims or debts of whatsoever description, of the territory of Wisconsin, shall inure to and vest in the state of Wisconsin, and may be sued for and recovered, in the same manner and to the same extent, by the state of Wisconsin, as the same could have been by the territory of Wisconsin. All criminal prosecutions and penal actions which may have arisen, or which may arise, before the change from a territorial to a state government, and which shall then be pending, shall be prosecuted to judgment and ex- ecution in the name of the state. All offenses committed against the laws of the territory of Wisconsin, before the change from a territorial to a state government, and which shall not be prosecuted before such change, may be prosecuted in the name and by the authority of the state of Wisconsin, with like effect as though such change had not taken place; and all penalties incurred, shall remain the same as if this constitution had not been adopted. All actions at law and suits in equity, which may be pending in any of the courts of the territory. of Wisconsin, at the time of a change from a territorial to a state govern- ment, may be continued and transferred to any court of the state, which shall have jurisdiction of the subject matter thereof.
SECTION 5. All officers, civil and military, now holding their offices under the authority of the United States or of the territory of Wisconsin, shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices, until they shall be superseded by the authority of the state.
SECTION 6. The first session of the legislature of the state of Wiscon- sin, shall commence on the first Monday in June next, and shall be held at the village of Madison, which shall be and remain the seat of govern- ment, until otherwise provided by law.
SECTION 7. All county, precinct and township officers shall continue to hold their respective offices, unless removed by competent authority, until the legislature shall, in conformity with the provisions of this constitution, provide for the holding of elections to fill such offices respectively.
SECTION 8. The president of this convention shall, immediately after its adjournment, cause a fair copy of this constitution, together with a copy of the act of the legislature of this territory, entitled "An act in relation to the formation of a state government in Wisconsin, and to change the time of holding the annual session of the legislature," ap- proved October 27th, 1847, providing for the calling of this convention, and also a copy of so much of the last census of this territory, as ex- hibits the number of its inhabitants, to be forwarded to the President of the United States, to be laid before the congress of the United States, at its present session.
SECTION 9. This constitution shall be submitted at an election to be held on the second Monday in March next, for ratification or rejection, to all white male persons of the age of twenty-one years or upwards, who shall then be residents of this territory, and citizens of the United States, or shall have declared their intention to become such in conform- ity with the laws of congress on the subject of naturalization, and all persons having such qualification shall be entitled to vote for, or against the adoption of this constitution, and for all officers first elected under it. And if the constitution be ratified by the said electors, it shall become the constitution of the state of Wisconsin. On such of the ballots as are for the constitution, shall be written or printed the word "yes," and on
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WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK.
such as are against the constitution, the word "no." The election shall be conducted in the manner now prescribed by law, and the returns made by the clerks of the boards of supervisors or county commissioners (as the case may be) to the governor of the territory, at any time before the tenth day of April next. And in the event of the ratification of this constitution, by a majority of all the votes given, it shall be the duty of the governor of this territory to make proclamation of the same, and to transmit a digest of the returns to the senate and assembly of the state, on the first day of their session. An election shall be held, for governor, lieutenant-governor, treasurer, attorney-general, members of the state legislature, and members of congress, on the second Monday of May next; and no other or further notice of such election shall be required.
SECTION 10. Two members of congress shall also be elected, on the , second Monday of May next; and until otherwise provided by law, the counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Jefferson, Racine, Walworth, Rock and Green, shall constitute the first congressional district and elect one member. And the counties of Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Calu- met, Brown, Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Marquette, Sauk, Portage, Colum- bia, Dodge, Dane, Iowa, La Fayette, Grant, Richland, Crawford, Chip- pewa, St. Croix and La Pointe, shall constitute the second congressional district, and shall elect one member.
SECTION 11. The several elections, provided for in this article, shall be conducted according to the existing laws of the territory, provided that no elector shall be entitled to vote except in the town, ward or precinct where he resides. The returns of election for senators and member of assembly, shall be transmitted to the clerk of the board of supervisors, or county commissioners, as the case may be; and the votes shall be canvassed, and certificates of election issued as now provided by law. In the first senatorial district, the returns of the election for senator, shall be made to the proper officer in the county of Brown; in the second senatorial district, to the proper officer in the county of Columbia, in the third senatorial district, to the proper officer in the county of Craw- ford; in the fourth senatorial district, to the proper officer in the county of Fond du Lac; and in the fifth senatorial district, to the proper officer in the county of Iowa. The returns of election for state officers and members of congress, shall be certified and transmitted to the speaker of the assembly, at the seat of government, in the same manner as the votes for delegate to congress are required to be certified and returned by the laws of the territory of Wisconsin, to the secretary of said territory, and in such time, that they may be received on the first Monday in June next; and as soon as the legislature shall be organized, the speaker of the assembly and the president of the senate shall, in the presence of both houses, examine the returns, and declare who are duly elected to fill the several offices hereinbefore mentioned; and give to each of the persons elected, a certificate of his election.
SECTION 12. [Section 12 of this article apportioned the state temporarily into senate and assembly districts and is omitted as obsolete.]
SECTION 13. Such parts of the common law as are now in force in the territory of Wisconsin, not inconsistent with this constitution, shall be and continue part of the law of this state, until altered, or suspended by the legislature.
SECTION 14. The senators first elected in the even numbered senate districts, the governor, lieutenant governor, and other state officers first elected under this constitution, shall enter upon the duties of their respective offices on the first Monday of June next, and shall continue in office for one year from the first Monday of January next; the sen - ators first elected in the odd-numbered senate districts, and the members of the assembly, first elected, shall enter upon their duties respectively on the first Monday of June next, and shall continue in office until the first Monday in January next.
SECTION 15. The oath of office may be administered by any judge or justice of the peace, until the legislature shall otherwise direct.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN.
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RESOLUTIONS
Resolved .- That the congress of the United States be and is hereby re- quested, upon the application of Wisconsin for admission into the Union, so to alter the provisions of an act of congress entitled "an act to grant a quantity of land to the territory of Wisconsin, for the purposes of aid- ing in opening a canal to connect the waters of Lake Michigan with those of Rock river," approved June eighteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, and so to alter the terms and conditions of the grant made therein, that the odd-numbered sections thereby granted and remaining unsold may be held and disposed of by the state of Wisconsin as part of the five hundred thousand acres of land to which said state is entitled by the provisions of an act of congress, entitled "an act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant
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