on a firm foundation, Prince Bismarck engaged his master in a conflict with the Catholic Church, considering the lately promulgated doctrine of papal infallibility a menace to the state, and the attitude of the clericals in the Reichstag an obstacle to the amalgamation of the various elements composing the Empire. When the era of the Kulturkampf was ended, and the force of Separatist resistance had spent itself, the republican and socialistic ideas that were an important element in the revolution. ary movement of 1848 asserted themselves in the Social-Democratic agitation. A desperado named Hödel, inflamed with revolutionary passion and desire for notoriety, fired at the Emperor as he was passing along the avenue Unter den Linden, on May 11, 1878. The ministry presented a bill to suppress the Socialist movement, which the Reichstag rejected by a majority of nearly 200 votes. Dr. Nobiling, an educated Socialist, moved by the same impulses that actuated Hödel's attempt, fired with buckshot at the Emperor in his carriage on June 2, and wounded him severely. The Reichstag was at once dissolved, and a new one passed Prince Bismarck's anti-Socialist bill. The law expired in 1881, and has been repeatedly renewed and strengthened. The Social-Democratic party, by the unsparing use of repressive powers, was disorganized, but not destroyed. At length the Emperor and his Chancellor turned to constructive legislation, in order to promote contentment and avert the danger of revolution, devising a scheme of social reform that is intended to make the lot of the laboring-man easier and to secure him against want. The military system has been developed and extended on the lines approved by Wilhelm I. The creation of the Prussian army he considered the chief task of his life. His foreign policy was shaped so as to retain the acquisitions of the French war, and, to guard against a combined attack from France and Russia, a military alliance was entered into with Austria-Hungary and Italy.

The Emperor Wilhelm was a soldier in all his habits. He slept on a hard couch, ate simple food, drank sparingly of wine, and used no tobacco. He was pious and orthodox in his religious faith.

WILHELM II, Emperor of Germany, born in Berlin, Jan. 27, 1859. He is the eldest son of Frederich III of Prussia, the second Emperor of Germany, and of his wife Victoria, the Princess Royal of England. He early developed a liking for military affairs, and was encouraged in such tastes by his grandfather, learning many details of tactics, drill, and discipline before he could read. He imbibed also the old Emperor's monarchical ideas of government and his dislike for popular representative government. His earliest teacher was an English governess. He was sent to Bonn to study political science, jurisprudence, and mathematics, and in 1882, by his grandfather's directions, was placed with Dr. Aschenbusch,

president of the province of Brandenburg, to learn the practical details and the administrative routine of the civil service. He also had instruction from Prince Bismarck, whom he visited once a fortnight. In military matters he became as proficient as his grandfather. Prince Wilhelm (whose full name is Friedrich Wilhelm Victor Albrecht), married the Princess Augusta Victoria, daughter of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, on Feb. 27, 1881. The family consists of five sons, of whom the eldest, the Crown-Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst, was born on May 6, 1882. For portraits of the Emperor Wilhelm II and the Crown-Prince, see the "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1887, page 321.

WISCONSIN. State Government.-The following were the State officers during the year: Governor, Jeremiah M. Rusk, Republican; Lieutenant-Governor, George W. Ryland; Secretary of State, Ernst G. Timme; Treasurer, Henry B. Harshaw; Attorney-General, Charles E. Estabrook; Superintendent of Public Schools, Jesse B. Thayer; Insurance Commissioner, Philip Cheek; Railroad Commissioner, Atley Peterson; Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, Orsamus Cole; Associate Justices, William P. Lyon, David Taylor, John B. Cassoday, and Harlow S. Orton.

Finances. On Oct. 1, 1886, the balance in the treasury aggregated $736,720.24; the total receipts for the succeeding biennial period were $5,469,996.10, and the disbursements $5,447,072.82, leaving a balance in the treasury on Sept. 30, 1888, of $750,702.44. Of this balance, there was in the general fund $304,139.09 and in the school fund $151,241.85. The receipts of the general fund for the fiscal year 1886-187 were $1,805,122.76; and the disbursements $2,171,201.79; for the year 1887-'88 the receipts were $2,284,513.26, and the disbursements $2,099,984.99. The receipts from the State tax for the former year were $902,484.88; for the latter year, $996,504.41. The tax on railroads yielded in the former year $763,994.56; in the latter, $1,068,632.96. The State debt on September 30 amounted to $2,251,000, all of which is held by State funds.

Statistics.-The assessed valuation for 1888 is as follows: Personal property, $125,922,683; city and village lots, $152,345,964; other real estate, $302,996,102; total, $581,264,749. There were assessed 404,036 horses, 1.236,452 cattle, 723,639 sheep and lambs, and 540,231 swine.

Education. The whole number of persons enrolled between the ages of four and twenty years, June 30, 1888, was 567,702, and of this number only 265,477 were reported as attending the public schools. The following amounts were paid by the State for educational purposes in 1888: Support of university, $218,856.71; normal schools, $99,229.58; common and high schools, $3,509,786.75.

In 1885 the Legislature passed an act giving ing to women the right of suffrage in municipal elections, on all matters relating to schools.

The State Supreme Court, in January, interpreted this to allow women to vote for schoolofficers, but not for such other municipal officers, like the mayor, as only indirectly controlled educational matters.

Charities.--Wisconsin has a peculiar system for the maintenance and care of its insane. This system includes two exclusively State institutions and the Milwaukee County Asylum, which is both governed and maintained in part by the State. These institutions have a normal capacity for the care of 1,370 patients, and at the close of the fiscal year had 1,425 inmates.

In addition to these hospitals proper there are now 16 county asylums for the care of the chronic insane, with two others in process of erection. The combined capacity of these asylums will be sufficient to accommodate 1,505 inmates. These asylums, while they are maintained and managed by the counties exclusively in which they are situated, yet when conducted in a manner satisfactory to the State Board of Charities and Reform, become entitled to assistance from the State at the rate of $1.50 a week for each inmate.

The School for the Deaf cost the State $35,515.30 for 1887, and $37,609.29 for 1888. The number of pupils in attendance in 1887 was 198; in 1888, 206. The School for the Blind maintained 73 pupils in 1887 at a cost of $19,630.52, and 84 pupils in 1888 at a cost of $20,365.41.

The last two Legislatures made provision for the establishment and maintenance of a State public school at Sparta. There has been expended for that institution $95,000 for lands and buildings-$30,000 in 1885, and $65,000 in 1887. Five substantial cottages and one large main building have been erected, and surrounding these is a farm of 165 acres, nearly all under cultivation. The cost for current expenses in 1888 was $20,128.48. The school was opened Nov. 13, 1886, and from that time to Sept. 30, 1888, 301 children were received. At the close of the present year there were 184 remaining in the school.

Prisons. The average number of prisoners confined in the State prison in 1887 was 448; in 1888, 441. The total expense for the support of the prison for the past two years was $59,325.53 for 1887, and $61,073.87 for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1888. Total for the two years, $120,399.40. Of this amount $99,187.96 was received from the prison-labor contractor. This leaves the net cost of the prison to the State for the two years, $21,

211.44.

The Industrial School for Boys cost the State for 1887, $45,583.12; and for 1888, $49,104.25. The average population of the school in 1887 was 334, and in 1888, 359.

Railroads. At the close of 1888 the entire mileage of the State was 5,178 miles, an increase in two years of 400 miles. Of this, 340

miles were built in 1887 and 60 miles in 1888. The entire cost of the railroads of Wisconsin,

as reported on June 30, 1888, was $208,867,606.27. The capital stock at the same date was $97,393,515.86. The amount of debt, funded or unfunded, was $117,547,909.35, or a total of capital stock and debt of $214,941,425.21. There was earned on Wisconsin railroads for the year ending June 30, 1888, $24,891,619.06, of which $6,266,259.35 was for transportation of passengers, and $17,165,959.24 for freight, and $1,459,400.47 for mails, express, etc. There has been a decrease in the cost of freight carriage in ten years of over 50 per cent.

Fisheries.-The value of the catch of Wisconsin fishermen on the Great Lakes in 1888 was $270,595.06; value of property, $337,706; number of persons employed, 628. Fishing is assuming an important place among the State industries.

Militia. The National Guard consists of three regiments, one battalion of infantry, one troop of cavalry, and one light battery, aggregating 2,282 officers and enlisted men. The expenses for 1887 were $54,990.14, and for 1888, $56,927.37.

Political.-Democratic and Republican State Conventions for the choice of delegates to the National Conventions were held on May 1 and 9 respectively. On May 23 the Prohibitionists, in State Convention at Madison, selected delegates to the Indianapolis Convention and nominated the following candidates for State offices: for Governor, E. G. Durant; Lieutenant-Governor, Christopher Carlson; Secretary of State, Nelson La Due; Treasurer, L. W. Hoyt; Attorney-General, Charles E. Pike; Superintendent of Public Schools, J. H. Gould: Railroad Commissioner, E. W. Drake; Insurance Commissioner, S. M. Bixby.

On July 24 a State Convention of the Union Labor party met at Oshkosh and nominated the following ticket: For Governor, D. Frank Powell; Lieutenant-Governor, Nelson E. Allen; Secretary of State, William M. Lockwood; Treasurer, Alfred Manheimer; Attorney-General, T. E. Ryan; Superintendent of Public Schools, E. W. Krackowitzer; Railroad Commissioner, John E. Thomas; Insurance Commissioner, Rittner Stephens. This ticket was changed before the election by the substitution of Kerellio Shawoan for Attorney-General, Joseph W. Stewart for Superintendent of Public Schools, and Frank J. Heines for Railroad Commissioner. Resolutions were adopted, demanding:

Taxation of all notes and mortgages.

All laws should be simplified so that there is but one law on one subject, and that worded in plain language, which will enable the people to understand the law without paying enormous fees to lawyers.

The one-man power has no place in a republic: hence all public officials, as far as practicable, should be elected by a direct vote of the people, and the voters be allowed to recall all unfaithful, inefficient, and dishonest officials.

premium for their inventions and then giving the free A revision of the patent laws giving inventors a use of such inventions to all the people, which will prevent the system of monopoly now existing, and