• Source: 53rd Wisconsin Legislature

The Fifty-Third Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 10, 1917, to July 16, 1917, in regular session, and re-convened in two special sessions in February and September 1918.
During this session, the new Wisconsin State Capitol was completed after 13 years of reconstruction following the 1904 fire. The official dedication ceremony was postponed until the end of World War I.
Senators representing even-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first two years of a four-year term. Assembly members were elected to a two-year term. Assembly members and even-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 7, 1916. Senators representing odd-numbered districts were serving the third and fourth year of a four-year term, having been elected in the general election of November 3, 1914.




Major events


January 11, 1917: The Kingsland explosion destroyed approximately 500,000 rounds of artillery ammunition in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
February 1, 1917: The German Empire announced that it would resume unrestricted submarine warfare, rescinding the Sussex pledge.
February 3, 1917: The United States severed diplomatic relations with Germany.
February 24, 1917: British intelligence shared the Zimmermann Telegram with American Ambassador Walter Hines Page, in which the German Empire proposed a military alliance with Mexico if the United States entered the war against Germany.
March 4, 1917: Second inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson.
March 15, 1917: Following the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated his throne, bringing an end to the Russian Empire.
April 3, 1917: Walter C. Owen was elected justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, defeating incumbent justice Roujet D. Marshall.
April 6, 1917: The United States declared war on the German Empire, beginning their active participation in World War I.
April 26, 1917: The Wisconsin Senate voted to expel senator Frank Raguse after he refused to affirm his allegiance to the United States. Raguse remains the only member of the Wisconsin State Legislature to have been expelled.
May 18, 1917: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Selective Service Act of 1917, giving the president the power of conscription.
June 15, 1917: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act of 1917, to prevent interference with U.S. war activities or promoting the interests of U.S. war opponents.
July 18, 1917: Regiments of the Wisconsin National Guard were activated and organized into the 32nd Infantry Division for federal service.
October 6, 1917: The first University of Wisconsin football game to be played at Camp Randall Stadium.
October 21, 1917: Wisconsin's junior United States senator, Paul O. Husting, died in a hunting accident.
November 7, 1917: Amidst the October Revolution in Russia, workers stormed the Winter Palace and destroyed the Russian Provisional Government, triggering the Russian Civil War.
November 24, 1917: A bomb killed 9 members of the Milwaukee Police Department in the most deadly single incident for American police until the September 11 attacks of 2001.
January 1918: First known cases of Spanish flu were observed in Haskell County, Kansas.
March 3, 1918: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Central Powers, ending Russia's involvement in World War I.
April 2, 1918: Irvine Lenroot was elected United States senator from Wisconsin in a special election.
May 18, 1918: Wisconsin's mobilized regiments in the 32nd Infantry Division arrived at the western front of World War I and continued on the line until the end of the war.
November 5, 1918: Emanuel L. Philipp was re-elected Governor of Wisconsin, his third term.
November 9, 1918: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne, ending the German Empire. The German Republic was proclaimed as successor state.
November 11, 1918: The German Republic agreed to an armistice with the Entente, effectively ending major combat in World War I.
December 4, 1918: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson departed to attend the Paris Peace Conference, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit Europe.




Major legislation


1917 Joint Resolution 20: Joint Resolution to amend sections 6 and 7, of article VII, of the constitution of the state of Wisconsin, relating to circuit judges, 1917 Joint Resolution 20. First legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the constitution to allow the legislature to reduce the number of judicial circuits and assign multiple judges to single circuits.
1917 Joint Resolution 23: Joint Resolution to amend section 21 of article IV of the constitution, relating to compensation of members of the legislature, 1917 Joint Resolution 23. First legislative passage of a proposted amendment to allow legislative salaries to be set by law, rather than fixed by the constitution.
1917 Joint Resolution 24: Joint Resolution to provide for the appointment of a joint committee of the legislature to investigate the subject of "Social Insurance", 1917 Joint Resolution 24.




Party summary






= Senate summary

=




= Assembly summary

=




Sessions


Regular session: January 10, 1917 – July 16, 1917
February 1918 special session: February 19, 1918 – March 9, 1918
September 1918 special session: September 24, 1918 – September 25, 1918




Leaders






= Senate leadership

=
President of the Senate: Edward Dithmar (R)
President pro tempore: Timothy Burke (R–Green Bay)




= Assembly leadership

=
Speaker of the Assembly: Lawrence C. Whittet (R–Edgerton)




Members






= Members of the Senate

=
Members of the Senate for the Fifty-Third Wisconsin Legislature:




= Members of the Assembly

=
Members of the Assembly for the Fifty-Third Wisconsin Legislature:




Committees






= Senate committees

=
Senate Standing Committee on Committees – M. W. Perry, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Contingent Expenditures – C. H. Everett, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Corporations – W. M. Bray, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Education and Public Welfare – M. W. Perry, chair
Senate Standing Committee on the Judiciary – J. H. Bennett, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Legislative Procedure – T. Burke, chair
Senate Standing Committee on State Affairs – W. T. Stevens, chair
Senate Special Committee on Conservation – F. H. Hanson, chair
Senate Special Committee on Highways – L. E. Cunningham, chair




= Assembly committees

=
Assembly Standing Committee on Agriculture – H. J. Grell, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Manufactures – C. F. Hart, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Contingent Expenditures – R. B. Melvin, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Education – S. A. Schindler, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Elections – G. Carpenter, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Engrossed Bills – W. R. Chipman, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Enrolled Bills – H. Freehoff, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Excise and Fees – J. M. Engebretson, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Fish and Game – J. A. Chinnock, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Insurance and Banking – J. C. Chapple, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on the Judiciary – A. C. Otto, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Labor – D. J. Vincent, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Municipalities – J. Dixon, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Printing – C. Pieper, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Public Welfare – G. D. Whiteside, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Revision – C. S. Schiewitz, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Rules – E. A. Everett, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on State Affairs – J. Gamper, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Taxation – W. H. Edwards, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Third Reading – J. J. Aulenbacher, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Transportation – B. Webster, chair




= Joint committees

=
Joint Standing Committee on Finance – P. Whitman (Sen.) & E. A. Everett (Asm.), co-chairs




Employees






= Senate employees

=
Chief Clerk: Oliver G. Munson
Assistant Chief Clerk: C. E. Mullen
Journal Clerk: James B. Ackley
Bookkeeper: Carle E. Dietze
Index Clerk: Don E. Mowry
Enrolling Clerk: J. K. Kidder
Revision Clerk: D. J. Hotchkiss
Clerk of the Committee on Corporations: A. C. Miller
Clerk of the Committee on Education and Public Welfare: R. H. Hillyer
Clerk of the Committee on Finance: Arthur F. Steffen
Clerk of the Committee on the Judiciary: L. G. Vogt
Clerk of the Committee on State Affairs: A. A. Heinrich
Stenographers:
L. Schwartz
J. W. Leonard
Typists:
C. L. Cass
R. L. Jacobson
Mailing Clerk: E. G. Cooper
Sergeant-at-Arms: F. E. Andrews
Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: John J. Knudsen
Document Clerk: Emil Hartman
Day Police: Albert Daley
Night Police: Arlie M. Mucks
Gallery Police: Herman A. Degner
Night Laborers:
Thomas R. Foulkes
Ernest W. Rehnstrand
Postmaster: Frank E. Riley
Messengers:
Paul W. Dietz
Robert Kilgust
Earl L. Marsh
Robert A. Cobban
John Lorigan
Ivan P. Donaghey
Glen A. Buerke
Lloyd B. Cain




= Assembly employees

=
Chief Clerk: C. E. Shaffer
Journal Clerk: W. W. Jones
Assistant Journal Clerk: J. S. Miller
Bookkeeper: W. J. Goldschmidt
Assistant Bookkeeper: J. C. Hawker
General Clerks:
W. F. Bart
L. J. Federer
Index Clerk: Edwin M. Johnson
Proofreaders and Enrolling Clerks:
Geo. F. Sharpe
Edward Oakey
Mailing Clerk: Edwin L. Shaffer
Stenographers:
Alvah V. Gruhn
L. M. Mielke
Emil Lusthaus
H. J. Campaign
N. E. Lummerding
P. J. Knippel
Victor Gilbertson
William L. Wollin
O. B. Lovell
Earl L. Dole
Joseph Entringer Jr.
Warren H. Schwartz
Typists:
L. L. Oeland
H. S. Belowsky
Sergeant-at-Arms: Thomas Grant Cretney
Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Ernest F. Wright
Document Room Custodian: Helmer O. Femrite
Assistant Document Room Custodian: John D. Morner
Floor Police: Peter Duex
Cloak Room Attendant: John Holm
Gallery Police:
C. H. Sanderson
A. H. Emerson
Night Laborer: Hilding E. Anderson
Night Watch: Elmer R. Meacham
Postmaster: Clarence O. Livermore
Post Office Messenger: Marshall M. Arnold
Messengers:
Helmer Hembre
Burr C. Wilcox
B. J. Glass
William Crapser
Austin Johnson
Leo Levenick
Isadore Perstein
Casper Jaquish
Orville Radke
Henry Royce
C. H. Meister
Carl Isaacson
Arthur Thorpe Jones
Ray J. Carey




Notes






References






External links


1917: Related Documents from Wisconsin Legislature

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