The receipts of wheat at Milwaukee for 1866 amounted to 12,664,448 bushels, constituting that city the largest primary wheat depot in the world. The number of acres returned for taxation was 17,714,259, at an assessed value of $92,211,405. The mining, lumbering, and manufacturing interests of the State are second in importance to agriculture alone. Millions of dollars are invested in these pursuits, controlled by a class of citizens among the most enterprising and industrious. The energy displayed by the inhabitants during the past few years in projecting and carrying out successful enterprises of internal improvement, is considerable, and will soon envelop the whole State in a network of muchneeded railways. Among the most important now projected and to be completed at an early day, are the Tomah and St. Croix; Portage and Superior; Milwaukee and Fond du Lac; the Manitowoc and Mississippi; the Oshkosh and Mississippi; the Sugar River Valley, from the State line, via Madison, to Portage; the St. Croix and Superior, extension of the line from Sheboygan to Fond du Lac; the lines from Green Bay to the Mississippi; Mineral Point to Dubuque; Monroe southwest to the Mississippi; between Omro and Oshkosh; from Madison, northwest, via Baraboo; and Milwaukee to West Bend. The completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad will develop the rich country north and west of Lake Superior, and consequently is of great importance. All of these lines traverse rich portions of this State, throwing open its remotest parts. The citizens along the routes of many of them, alive to their utility, are freely contributing large sums of money, and urging them on by every possible means to a speedy completion. The number of railroad companies making reports is nine, having a total length of 1,731 miles. Capital actually subscribed......... Number of through passengers... Number of way passengers.. Total number of passengers.. Number of tons of freight carried... Receipts from passengers. Receipts from property.. Receipts for mails... $14,099,400 00 260,523 1,897,053 2,157,576 104,203 $4,311,064 67 9,411,361 34 183,257 51. It is reported practicable to construct a line of navigation by Rock River to Lakes Horicon and Winnebago, with at least the capacity of the Erie Canal, thereby furnishing to the people along its route facilities for the transportation of heavy freight, which would be of incalculable advantage to them. It is deemed by the engineers in charge, that the Wisconsin can be rendered perfectly navigable, by such methods of engineering as have been tried on similar streams elsewhere and found successful, or, should this in the end prove impracticable, that a canal of large capacity can be bat along its valley at a cost so small as to warrant the undertaking. The public schools of Wisconsin are prosper ous in a high degree; taxes are liberally voted: a good class of buildings is found, and a better one is in progress, well furnished with all the articles necessary in schools; an increased ari continually increasing demand for better qualfied teachers exists; a greater interest is taken in education by the people; associations for the mutual improvement of teachers are springing up; the best methods of teaching are sought. There are seventeen academies in the State, having 90 teachers and 2,200 students: nine colleges, having 55 professors and 1.439 stdents; also, two hundred and twenty-eight private schools, having 8,000 pupils. In the number of normal schools for training teachers Wisconsin takes the lead of all the States in the Union, six having been projected-one in each Congressional district in the State. The number of children in the State between the ages of four and twenty... Number attending public schools. Number of teachers employed. The whole amount expended by the people in support of common schools was... The amount of the school fund at the close of the fiscal year was.. The total receipts for the fiscal year, being for sales of lands, dues, loans paid, taxes, etc., amounted to...... The disbursements were...... $1,190,259 19 2,141,892 17 $29.412 4 $420,580 7 The amount of land belonging to the fund is 463,463.93 acres. The school fund is composed of: 1. Procesk of all lands granted by the United States support of schools; 2. All moneys accruing from forfeiture or escheat, and trespass pen. ties on school lands; 3. All fines collected in the several counties for breach of the peas. laws; and 4. All moneys paid as an exemption from military duty. Wisconsin has manifested a liberal spirit iz providing for the destitute and unforturste and in establishing such reformatory instr tions as the criminal require. Asylums have been established for the insane, the deaf and dumb, and the blind, a reform school for juvenil offenders, and a State prison. The trustees of the Insane Hospital report that the number of patients in the institution. October 1st, was 177. Of which number ninety-six were males, and eighty-four females. The current expenses of the year amounted to $41,205.03. The farm, worked principally by the patients, has yielded a profit during the past two years of over $6,000. The whole number of pupils in attendance, Juring the year, upon the Wisconsin Institute for the education of the deaf and dumb, has been 104. Number in attendance, October 1, 1866, 84. The trustees received from the State and other sources during the fiscal year $20,678.80, and have expended $24,070.28. the managers have erected three smaller buildings, at a cost of about $41,000. They have purchased 120 acres of land for farming purposes at a cost of $7,500. The current expenses for the year amounted to $24,026.14. The condition of the State Prison is satisfactory. The convicts have earned during the year $32,450.96. Increase of supplies and materials during Total credits... Amount expended for support of the Total cost to the State during the $5,555 61 $38,006 57 39,263 45 $1,256 88 Number of convicts, September 30, 1865.. 97 received during the year... 145 discharged " confined, Sept. 30, 1866.... 169 66 66 Owing to adverse legislation in 1865, requiring from pupils payment for board, or a certificate from the county judge of the inability of parents to make such payment, the condition Increase during the year......... of the Institution for the Blind is very unsatisfactory. The number of pupils has decreased from fifty-four to eighteen, and the trustees assert that "from one of the most prosperous and efficient schools of its kind in the country, the institution, by the action of this law, has suddenly been reduced to one of the most insignificant." The expenditures for the last fiscal year were, for building shop and other improvements, $7,790.05, and for current expenses, $16,471.74. In addition to the above a "Home" for soldiers' orphans was opened January 1st, before provision could be made for its organization under State control, the necessary means having been furnished in great part by private subscription. The amount received by such subscriptions was $12.834.69. The amount expended for repairs, furniture, and current expenses, was $21,106.67. The property was purchased by the State for $10,000, and the Home became a State institution March 31, 1866, since which time the trustees have received for its support $25,000 from the State, and $404.75 from other sources. Amount expended during the fiscal year, $17,460.20. Balance on hand, September 30, 1866, $7,944.07. On the 1st day of January, 1867, 298 children had been received into the Home, of whom 57 have been removed by parents and guardians, and 5 have died, leaving the number of inmates on that day 236. The Board of Managers of the State Reform School report that the whole number of children received since the opening of the school, July 23, 1860, is 400. Of these, 340 were boys, and 60 girls. The whole number of inmates during the past 209 155 134 Number of inmates, October 1, 1865. 73 72 It is a remarkable fact, which deserves consideration, that of the 229 convicts committed during the past three years, only four per cent. could be called skilful mechanics, while not more than ten per cent. knew the first rudiments of a trade. The Legislature, on the last day of the session, passed "an act to reorganize and enlarge the State University." By this act the university is made to consist of a College of Arts, a College of Letters, and "such professional and other colleges as from time to time may be added thereto, or connected therewith." The College of Arts is designed to do what would be done by an agricultural college. The proceeds of the 240,000 acres of land, granted by Congress to the State in aid of an agricultural college, are to be given to the university. It was made a condition to the validity of this act that the County of Dane, in which the university is located, should guarantee the sum of $40,000 to be used in the purchase and improvement of the experimental farm. This condition was promptly met. The regents have purchased 195 acres of land adjoining the original plot, including various buildings, for an experimental farm, at a cost of $27,054. The total productive fund of the institution is now $168,298.55, the interest of which, together with such sums as may be received for tuition, room rent, etc., will insure an annual income of about $15,000, while the estimated expenditure for each year is about $21,000, leaving the annual income of the institution inadequate to its proper support by about $6,000. There are 17,982 acres of university land and 233,556 acres of agricultural college land belonging to the fund, and as they are disposed of, the deficit will, of course, diminish. One student from each Assembly district will be admitted free of charge for tuition. At the election in November, the whole number of votes given for members of Congress was 134,739, of which 79,323 were for the Republican candidates, and 55,416 for the WRIGHT, Hon. WILLIAM, United States Senator from New Jersey, born in Clarkstown, Rockland County, N. Y., in 1791; died at Newark, N.J., November 1, 1866. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Connecticut, and his father, Dr. William Wright, was a prominent physician and citizen of Rockland County. The subject of this sketch was at school in Poughkeepsie preparing for college at the time of his father's death, and was compelled in consequence to abandon his studies and learn the trade of a harness-maker. The industry and vigor of his character were bere shown, for besides supporting himself, he was able to save by the end of his term the sum of three hundred dollars. With this sum, which was the foundation of the large fortune he subsequently acquired, he repaired to Bridgeport, hired a small store, and soon began to develop those mental resources which have placed him at the head of the manufacturing interests of this section of country. Subsequently, in connection with his father-in-law (the late William Peet) and Sheldon Smith, he established a firm for the manufacture of harness and saddles, having a branch house in Charleston, S. C., and in 1821 they established themselves in Newark, N.J. About 1854, Mr. Wright retired upon a large fortune, the result of his untiring energy and diligence in business. He took no active part in public affairs, except to volunteer his services in defence of Stonington in the war of 1812, until the year 1840, when he was elected mayor of the city of Newark without opposition. He was at that time attached to the Whig party, and a warm friend of Henry Clay. In 1842 he was elected to the House of Representatives as an independent candidate over the regular Whig and Democratic nominees, and was reëlected in 1844, but in 1851 announced a change in his political relations. In 1853 he was elected by Democratic votes to the United States Senate for the full term, in place of Hon. J. W. Miller, and was succeeded in 1859 by the Hon. John C. Ten Eyck. By this body he was appointed chairman of the Committee on Manufactures his large experience in that branch of industry being recognized by his associates. He was also an efficient member of the committee to audit and control the expenses of the Senate. Mr. Wright's previous business pursuits, of course, did not permit him to join in the debates on the floor of the Senate; but his views were always intelligent and decided, and as a member of the committees, both while in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, he was active, intelligent, and influential. In 1863 Mr. Wright was again elected to the United States Senate, a successor of the Hon. J. R. Thompson, who died the previous summer, and whose unexpired term had been temporarily filled by the Hon. R. S. Field and the Hon J. W. Wall. For the last year or more Mr. W.'s health was so much impaired that he was unable to devote much time to his senatorial duties. WÜRTEMBERG, a kingdom in Germany, King, Charles, born March 6, 1823; succeeded his father, June 25, 1864. Area, 7,840 square miles; population, in 1864, 1,748,328. The revenue for the financial period from 1864 to 1867 was 51,226,785 florins; surplus revenue over expenditures, 34,077 florins. The army consists of 29,392 men. The public debt, on September 8, 1866, amounted to 84.406.940 florins. In the German-Italian war, Würtem berg took sides with Austria, and furnished its contingent to the 8th Federal army corps. It concluded a separate peace with Prussia, en August 13th, in virtue of which it had to pr 8,000,000 florins to Prussia. By a secret treaty of the same date, Würtemburg concluded with Prussia an offensive and defensive alliance, and engaged, in case of war, to place its army under the chief command of the King of Prussia. YOUNG, Right Rev. JOSUE M., Roman Catholic Bishop of Erie, born in Sanford, Maine, August, 1808; died at Eric, Pa., September 18, 1866. He was born of Protestant parents, but entered the Catholic church at the age of nineteen years. Having served an apprenticeship to the printing business in the office of the Portland Argus, he soon after set out to make a tour of the Western States, in the capacity of a journeyman printer, finally settling in Cincinnati, where he was employed in the office of the Catholic Telegraph. His zeal in Y teaching the catechism soon attracted the af tention of the bishop, who, discerning in bim talents of a high order, sent him to Mount 2%. Mary's College, Emmettsburg, Md., to com plete his studies and prepare for the priesthood In 1837 he was ordained, and labored for msty years with great zeal and success in the the diocese (now archdiocese) of Cincinnati. In th year 1853, the new diocese of Erie being forme from part of the diocese of Pittsburg, Bishop O'Connor was translated from Pittsburg to the new see, and Rev. Mr. Young, at that time pastor of St. Mary's, Lancaster, Ohio, was appointed to succeed him. Such was the humility of Dr. Young, however, that he would fain decline the honor of being raised to the episcopacy, and earnestly besought the Holy Father to allow him to decline accepting the appointment. His request was granted in so far as Pittsburg was concerned, but he was immediately appointed to the see of Erie, Bishop O'Connor being retranslated to Pittsburg. He was consecrated in the cathedral of Cincinnati, in 1854. Once entered on his new field of labor, Bishop Young devoted all the powers of his mind and the energy of his character to the interests of his diocese, and with the limited means at his command, and the thin and widely scattered population, he accomplished great things, and left behind him many evidences of his zeal and charity. |