RHODE ISLAND. 



715 



and salary of teachers, in the number of school- 

 bouses, and in the value of school-property. 



The number of students enrolled in the Nor- 

 mal School since its reorganization in 1871 is 

 1,226. A large proportion of these have taught 

 in the schools of Rhode Island. The whole 

 number of graduates, including the latest class, 

 is 446. The attendance during the second 

 half of the year was 149, the largest in the 

 history of the institution. 



Charities. The State Home and School, pro- 

 viding a home and education for homeless 

 children, had an average attendance for 1887 

 of 57 : and for 1888 of 80 ; there were remain- 

 ing in the Home at the close of the year 87 

 children, an increase of 9 over that of a year 

 ago. This increase in members calls for an in- 

 crease in the annual appropriations. The ex- 

 penses for conducting the Home and School for 

 the year were $12,179.94, against $9,816.32 for 

 1887. At the beginning of 1888 there were 

 28 pupils at the State School for the Deaf, 

 supported at the expense of the State. 



Prohibition. The Governor said in his an- 

 nual message in January. 1889: "The opera- 

 tion of the laws prohibiting the manufacture 

 and sale of intoxicating liquors is, as yet, very 

 far from being satisfactory. Until the advent 

 to office of the present Attorney-General, the 

 litigation arising under the law had not been 

 prosecuted with the zeal and energy necessary 

 to demonstrate whether the system itself, prop- 

 erly administered, was effective or not." 



The opponents of the law introduced a meas- 

 ure into the Legislature during the year pro- 

 viding for the resubmission of the prohibitory 

 amendment to the people, while its friends 

 urged the passrtge of a bill similar to the Kan- 

 sas injunction law to secure a more effective 

 enforcement. The sentiment of the Legislat- 

 ure was in favor of a further trial of prohibi- 

 tion, but action upon the injunction bill was 

 deferred from the May and June sessions to 

 the following January. The Chief of State 

 Police, who is charged with the duty of en- 

 forcing the law, reports that great difficulty is 

 found in the failure of the local police, espe- 

 cially in Providence, to co-operate with him. 

 The former, with only ten men at his com- 

 mand at any one time, made during the first 

 four months of the year 465 seizures of liquors, 

 entered 13 complaints for illegal keeping, 22 for 

 illegal selling, and 8 for common nuisances; 

 while in the same time the Providence Chief 

 of Police, with 200 men under him, made only 

 165 seizures, 78 complaints for illegal selling, 

 and 8 for common nuisances. During the re- 

 maining eight months of the year the State 

 police made 1,258 seizures, 26 complaints for 

 illegal selling, 141 for illegal keeping, and 30 

 for common nuisances. In the same period 

 the Providence police made only 241 seizures 

 and 3 complaints for illegal keeping. 



The total number of seizures by local officers 

 as distinct from the State police during the first 

 four months of the year were 325, complaints 



for illegal keeping 123, for illegal selling 26, 

 tor common nuisances 16; during the remain- 

 ing eight months the seizures were 535, com- 

 plaints for illegal selling 42, for illegal keeping 

 16, and for common nuisances 15. 



The Bourn Amendment. The vote cast for 

 this amendment in April was not opened 

 and officially counted till late in November, 

 when the announcement of its adoption was 

 made by the Governor's proclamation. Ques- 

 tions at once arose as to the validity of the 

 existing registry acts under the new provision 

 of the Constitution, and these questions were 

 submitted by the Governor to the Supreme 

 Court. The Court decided that such parts of 

 those acts as were not inconsistent with the 

 amended Constitution should be allowed to 

 stand ; that the statutory provisions relating 

 to the assessment and payment of a registry 

 tax must be considered as null and void ; but 

 that the method of registration by town and 

 ward clerks was still in force as before. It is 

 estimated that the increase of the voting-lists 

 under this amendment will be over twenty 

 thousand names. 



Political. On February 22 a State Conven- 

 tion of Prohibitionists met at Providence and 

 nominated a ticket as follows : For Governor, 

 George W. Gould ; Lieutenant-Governor, H. 

 D. Scott ; Secretary of State, F. A. Warner ; 

 General Treasurer, A. B. Chadsey; Attorney- 

 General, John T. Blodgett. The usual prohib- 

 itory resolutions were adopted, and also the 

 following : 



We declare our belief that the laws governing the 

 right of suffrage in our State should be so amended 

 as to bring them into harmony with the laws of 

 other States upon this subject. We further believe 

 that the registry tax has been a great source of cor- 

 ruption and that it should be abolished. 



We believe that gross corruption prevails through 

 the use of open ballots, and we declare ourselves in 

 favor of a secret ballot, as most likely to prevent in- 

 timidation of voters, and some adaptation of the 

 " Australian system," as providing best against facili- 

 ties for bribery. 



The Republicans met in State Convention 

 at Providence, March 15, and nominated: For 

 Governor, Koyal C. Taft ; Lieutenant-Gover- 

 nor, Enos Lapham ; Secretary of State, Samuel 

 H. Cross ; General Treasurer, Samuel Clark ; 

 Attorney-General, Horatio Rogers. The plat- 

 form includes the following: 



We believe that all proposals to divide the present 

 surplus among the States or to distribute it by extraor- 

 dinary expenditures are indefensible, but" we favor 

 sufficient appropriations for building the navy, for 

 constructing coa^t -defenses adequate for the protection 

 of our homes and property, which are now exposed 

 to the attacks of a foreign 'enemy, and for pensions. 



We heartily indorse the action of the Republican 

 members of the General Assembly in securing the 

 submission to the people of the State ot a proposition 

 for an extension of the right of suffrage, and we again 

 express ourselves in favor of the abolition of the reg- 

 istry tax as a prerequisite for voting. 



On March 19 the Democratic State Conven- 

 tion met at Providence, and renominated Gov- 

 ernor Davis, Secretary of State McGuinness, 



