In the Wisconsin legislature of 1868 sat 2 Norwegians; in 1869, 3; in 1871, 4.[366] In Minnesota, the figures are striking: 1868, 2 Scandinavians; 1870, 4; 1872, 9; and 1873, 13.[367] Since then the percentage of Norse representatives has steadily grown, tho it is not always easy to determine the racial stock from which a native-born officer came. Recent Wisconsin legislatures had apparently out of a total membership of 133, in 1895, 5 Scandinavians; in 1901, 10 (1 Dane, 1 Swede, and 8 Norwegians); in 1903, 6.[368] The Minnesota legislature of 1893 had 9 out of 54 senators, and 20 out of 114 representatives, who were of Viking origin--fully one-sixth of the total membership.
[365] _Wisconsin Blue Book_, 1895, 136 ff; _Minnesota Legislative Manual_, 1893, 87-92; _History of the Upper Mississippi Valley_, 573; Nelson, _History of the Scandinavians_, I, 390.
[366] _Wisconsin Blue Book_, 1895, 136 ff. For the more recent legislatures it is possible to be fairly exact in these data, since the blue books and manuals give biographical sketches.
[367] _Minnesota Legislative Manual_, 1895, 573 ff.
[368] _Wisconsin Blue Books_, 1895, 66; 1901, 733 ff; 1903, 740 ff.
In the legislatures of 1899 and 1905 the numbers were as follows:[369]
Senate 63 members Norwegian 7 (3 American born) Swede 2
House 119 members Norwegian 16 (3 American born) Swede 9 (4 American born) Dane 1
House 119 members Norwegian 20 (7 American born) Swede 9
[369] _Minnesota Legislative Manuals_ for 1893, 1899, 1905.
In the newer States to the West, the percentages rise still higher. In North Dakota, the legislature of 93 members contained 17 men of Scandinavian parentage in 1895, and 18 in 1901--16 Norwegians (4 American born), one Dane, and one Icelander.[370] Unofficial figures for 1904 gave the Scandinavians 38 out of 140 members.[371] South Dakota in 1894 had 15 Norwegians (5 native-born) and 5 Swedes, in a legislative body of 127; in 1897, 17; in 1903, 16; and in 1904, 17.[372]
[370] _Legislative Manual of North Dakota_, 1895, 18; _North Dakota Senate Journal_, 1901, 1; _North Dakota House Journal_, 1901, 1.
[372] Basford, _Political Handbook_ (South Dakota), 149-197; _Senate Journal_ and _House Journal_, 1897, 1903; _Amerika_, Nov. 18, 1904.