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and world markets, implying the dominant rank the state will no doubt assume
among international trading partners (9).
He continues to describe the leading ports on Lake Michigan and notes
that land at the government price of $1.25 per acre is still plentiful in certain
counties that he lists by name (10). To acquaint his European reader with
the American system of land division he explains the survey system and its
principal square mile and acre units. For those concerned, perhaps, that Indians
would still reclaim their former land, he dispels such a thought and notes the
existence in the eastern part of the state of only two remaining "small" tribal
units (11).
Readers who might fear just how isolated they would be in Wisconsin are
cheerfully reassured that most cities feature the same entertainment as back
in Germany: singing groups, concert halls, bowling, billiards, card games,
and beer and coffee houses. Although, as he notes, the principal language is
English, in Wisconsin fully one half of the residents speak another tongue,
with German being in the majority (12-13).
Finally, without further comment, Richter appends the complete state
constitution in German, where the reader can find, among other things, the
section on voting rights that stipulated that immigrants could vote after but
one year's residency in the state, a point of great importance to many emigrants
who had witnessed a German republic within reach, only to see their dreams
shattered as the Revolution of 1848 was bloodily struck down by the aristocracy,
restoring feudal right.
Despite its diminutive size, Richter's book is packed with information of
practical interest, primarily for the farmer and the miner. Accompanying the
text is a detailed fold-out map of Wisconsin, with a square mile grid of the
federally surveyed portions at the time of the book's publication (about one-
third of the entire state), and showing areas of prairie, oak openings, forest, and
swamp. The map also includes markings for the main steamship line connecting
Chicago and Buffalo, with stops in Wisconsin's ports. A German farmer who
bought land before arriving or who had a specific destination in mind could
easily locate it on the map and gain some appreciation of what he would
discover. The text is of little or no assistance to the artisan, the shopkeeper,
the professional, or the tradesman except for its statistical information on the
weather and brief descriptions of linguistic and cultural life.
There is no question that the broad range of information available

through the commissioner of emigration would have been of greater value
to the emigrant than Richter's text. One of the real problems with booklets

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