, 1873-02-10
WISCONSIN,.
The LegiBlature-- Introduction Of New
Business INT OF.
Tho Great Railroad Contest Mil
waukoo & st. pani vs. hny
Other Company.


From Our 0Gn Correspondent.
MADISON, Wis.,, Fob. &, 1879.
Yesterday was tho day limited by joint rcBo1u-
tion for tho
INTRODUCTION OF BILLS,
except as thoy may DO reported from Commit
tces. Two sessions woro held in each House, to
givo opportunity get MI tho grist into tho leg
islatlve hopper; and tho tino and ma,,ner Of
tho ovening session Of the Assembly woro un-
procedentcd in my logis1ntivo experience Of
potno fifteen years. Having granted tho .,Ho OF
tho Chamber for addresses before Horticul-
tura1 and Agricultural State Conventions, oil
adjournment from tho morning session
Was takon to tho unhcart1-of hour, for
Legislative meeting, Of 0 O'Clock p. m.;
and, when that titno cano, tho agricultural and
horticultural soycroigns Ind full possosion, and,
in spite Of l1nls from Legislative ofllolnls, woro
not disposod TO givo way till thoy hnd completed
tho programme; and 30 it camo to pass that 1t
was ESQ n. N. before tho Legislature could bo
called to order, md tlen things were by DO means
IN thor usual orderly condition. There wcro 81
bills introduced in tho Senate and 1G5 In the As
Bemb1y; and ono mombor,
AppARESrLy LITTLE "HALunn1oua,"
camo in Just as q motion for adjournment wns
being put, and, hailiug tl,e Speaker as soon ash
reached the middle Of tho chamber, before he
feached hfs Beat. uotioned frantically to tho
member who hna made tho motion to adjourn to
withdraw it, which ho good-naturedly did; and
tho gentleman then ruahcd to hia Beat opened
Lis deBk in haste, and took out couple OF bills,
Of which only tho tit1es had been prepared, OBJ
TUNED leave to road them, had tho printing dis
renscd with, and was happy. Only one moro
bill was introduced, and that was political
joke.
Of bills introduced a 563, OF which l47 were IN
the Senate and 41i in tho Assembly. Last year,
ut this date, GO bills had boon introduced IN tho
Senate and 1Ge in tho Assembly. Up the 10th,
Hbon new business waH cut OF, there Wero lad
in the Senate and 4s9 in the Assembly: The
total last year was $50 In the senato to 307 tho
yoar before; $40 IN the Assembly to ISL tho year
BEFORE tho restriction caused by tho constitu-
Last year tt wae necessary to franc many gen
oral laws to provido for what had heretofore
boon met by spocinl onactmonts. This year many
bills havo bcon introduced simply to show con-
thing, and an unusually large number will DO
consIgnod to m curly grave. The adjournment
Of 1874 took place March %. Whom this Lsgis-
laturo will adjourn cannos bo predicted, and
will depond much Oh tho
LANp-G1ANr CONTEST.
Tho lands granted to tho 5tnto by CongroHs In
1856 and 1864, for tho construction Of . raiiroad
from St.. Crox River OF Lake, between Townships
70 AnQ 1l 10 6u19{lor Auu 1A9-31Af W4lGu 4AAAo
were supposed to have passed to tho United
States by reason Of failuro to build tho rond,
ard which Congress for two or three .years has
been beBought to rcgrank, bnt which tho United
States Courts dcci,lo still belong to Wisconsin,
prove TO be tho worst bono OF contcLton tho
Legislature Inns hal for many yours.
THESE LANDS
kro part Of thoao given to MD the building Of a
road from Madison or Columbus, vla Portage
City, to st. Crox River or Lake, aud thence to
Lake Superior tho granting, OF which to tho
Of 1856, i'll consideration Of sundry bonds given
minority Of tho members as "gratuities, ,"-as
ehown by an investigation in 1856
bon te1 ''taafds'oo' oatdono in IN aser dsys Only
SO much Of tho 1and-grant road was built
h.. tho COMPANY receiving tho landa as eoiuciaod
w4.h limo It was constructing from milwaukee,
to La Crosse. After Bome years. waiting, THAT
part of tho grant from Ton1al to Lake st. Croix
the LaCsceao Company having failed to huil1
road Oh That line-Ecs given to what il now
known Nh tht
WEST WISCONSIN RAILROAD COMPANY.
whereof MossrB D. 4. Baldwin md Jacob Hum
bird aro the master spirits; and they bullt +.
1au1, which, within tho last yoar, thoy have ex'
tended southward TO connect with the Chicago d
Northwestern at Elroy, thus forming tho moas
direct route from your city to st. Paul and the
siduousy, at Washington and elsewhere, to SO:
euro tho removal of tho grant for tic road
from tho st. croix to Lake supe'
rior, which others had controlled, till The
acccptcd time for building hnd passed. Lasi
year, in order to prevent tho lands from being
thrown into market and tho grant lost to tht
State, he organized tho
NORTH WISCONSIN RAILROAD CoatrANy,
and built some twenty miles OF road on the land
grant line. It was generally expected, till few
months ago, that this Company would receive
tho land -grant, and DO authorized to build tht
road TWAS fol that it was fairly entitled b,
what it had done; Tho people along ths In!
for tho early building OF tho road, which the.
hcd been waiting for so long, with half tho landi
nlong its limo withheld from market, and th'
other half held at railroad prices. A bill Was in
asming the grant on thia Company on lib
oral terms, it being maintained tha
the lands wero only Worth S,I &C.. enough to hand
so9 ey y RSs sy for oa09 horanon sne e
MILWAUKEE ST. PAUL COMPANY,
whose predecessor, tho Lacrosse Railroad Com
pany, controlled BY many Of the aamo men ha
corruptly obtained the grant, and then throw;
ed in mortgage after Reorganization, come
nnd bids for tic bestowal Of tho grant, havin
obtained tho support Of tho strong ohppew
vaoy htor'n oS SPSg Offering r. TO cnona bqd foa
for which tho land was granted, and maxim
other better terms for tho State on taxation Q
lands, time Of building, &o than tho first Nort]
Wisconsin BILL The North Wisconsin has cine
submitted two propositions, both lar6ely out
bidding tho Milwaukee propoHal except as t
the nattor Of constructing mor~ road. It
Lust IL
4 yE1lY LIBERAL oFrEn
for tile Btate,-being, In brief, that tho roa
shall 10 built from tho st: 0roix, ,-atarting fron
point near fed Wing or Prescott
and proceeding via River Falls t
Superior sud to Bayfield,, in thro
yoara; that sixty mies shall bo built this yea
On the south end tho road completed from th
starting point to River Falls by Jan. /, 1874, an
twenty miles graded from Superior md frol
bayfield, contemporaneous1y u soon as sixt
miles of tho south end is completed that. who
forty miles Is constructed satisfactorily TO I'll
Governor, patents for $50 sections Of land eha
be- delivered to the Company, and patonta +
200 sections u the completion OF eaoh twen
miles thereafter; that tho land shall be taxed
soon as the title is yeated III the Company
that a tar uf z nor cent Oh gro