NEW

GLARUS  , a town and a village of Green county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., about 22 M . S.W. of Madison, on the Little Sugar river, a branch of the Rock river . Pop. of the town (1890) 118o; (1900) 1245; (1905) 685; (Igio) 627; of the village, which was separated from the town in 1901 (1905) 665; (igio) 708 . New Glarus is served by a branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul railway . It has agricultural and dairying industries, but little or no manufacturing interests . It had its origin in a colonizing experiment made by the canton of Glarus, Switzerland in 1845 . Agents sent by the canton chose the site of New Glarus largely because the rocky slopes of the valley suggested their Alpine home . The advance party then set about constructing houses and sent for the colonists; and some two hundred men, women and children started from Glarus in April 1845 under two leaders chosen by popular vote; misreading their directions the party got by mistake to St Louis, whence they proceeded up the Mississippi to Galena and thence overland to their new home . To all intents and purposes they were an independent people . They expected to be and were self-sustaining, and for a generation or more retained their exclusiveness to a remarkable degree . They brought with them a " form of government " drawn up by the Cantonal Council of Glarus and providing in great detail for a system of schools, for what was practically a state church (Reformed Lutheran) supported by tithes, for a system of poor relief, for a system of courts, and for a set of town officers elected on a limited property franchise . This " form " was to be amended and new laws were to be added, as circumstances should require, in a town-meeting in which the essential features of the. referendum were observed .

The

original plan provided also for an equitable distribution of land so as to give to each head of a family pasture, timber and farm lands . With such adjustments as were found necessary for co-ordination with the town and county governments of Wisconsin, it remains practically the same to this day . The village and town still have an Old lWorld aspect, and the architecture, customs, style of dress and language of the pioneers still persist to a great degree . A famous organization is the New Glarus William Tell Club of sharpshooters . The village owns its water-works and its electric lighting plant .