756 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (RHODE ISLAND.) 



viding that personal registration laws may be 

 enacted to apply to cities only; (3) authorizing 

 the use ol voting-machines at elections. 



A new charter act, allowing the formation of 

 corporations for any lawful purpose. 



To enforce the provisions of section 4, Article 

 XV 11 of the Constitution. It provides that no 

 railroad or transporting company shall consoli- 

 date with or own a controlling interest in parallel 

 or competing companies. 



Providing that it shall be a misdemeanor for 

 any person connected with any line of telegraph 

 or telephone within the State to divulge the con- 

 tents of any despatch. 



Prohibiting the employment of children under 

 eighteen years of age for theatrical or athletic 

 performances, without the consent of their parents 

 or guardians. 



To provide for the centralization of high 

 schools, and to provide high schools for town- 

 ships. 



Making it unlawful for first cousins to be joined 

 in marriage. 



To encourage the planting of trees along the 

 roadsides. 



Prohibiting the sale and furnishing of tobacco 

 to persons under sixteen years of age. 



Providing for the establishment of night-schools 

 for manual training. 



For the erection of a monument to John Burns, 

 of Gettysburg, who served in the Iron Brigade. 

 For registration and protection of trade-marks. 

 Making it a felony to take the waste or pack- 

 ing from any journal-box of a locomotive " an 

 act apparently aimed at violence to prevent the 

 running of trains." 



Requiring an examination as to competency for 

 plumbers. 



Creating a forestry commission. 

 Judicial Decisions. In October the Supreme 

 Court handed down a decision declaring certain 

 acts of the Legislature of 1901, popularly known 

 as the " ripper " bills, to be unconstitutional on 

 the ground of special legislation. The bills pro- 

 vided for the election of 3 persons in each county 

 that is coextensive in boundary with a city of the 

 first class, " to serve as members of the Board 

 of Revision of Taxes," etc. " This description," 

 says the court, " can not apply, either at the 

 present time or in the proximate future, to any 

 county but Philadelphia, and for that reason the 

 act is distinctly local and special." 



A Superior Court decision in October, confirm- 

 ing the ruling of the Quarter Sessions Court of 

 Philadelphia, declared that any ingredient injuri- 

 ous to health can not be used as a food preserva- 

 tive, even in quantities not harmful, without vio- 

 lating the pure-food act of 1895. 



Mason and Dixon's Line. In the reestab- 

 lishment of this famous boundary good progress 

 had been made at the end of the year. Such 

 stones as remain in fit condition are reset in solid 

 cement bases, and missing and broken stones are 

 replaced with iron markers. The boundary stones 

 are a mile apart. They have " M " on the Mary- 

 land side and " P " on the Pennsylvania side. 

 The 5-mile stones are larger than the others, and 

 have on the Maryland side the coat of arms of 

 Lord Baltimore and on the Pennsylvania side the 

 coat of arms of the Penns. 



Floods. Storms and floods of memorable se- 

 verity occurred in April in the western part of 

 Pennsylvania. Pittsburg and Allegheny suffering 

 immense property losses, and many other places 

 adding to the list of damages and disasters. In 

 December the eastern and central portions of the 

 State were visited by a still more widespread 



disturbance, involving loss of life as well as enor- 

 mous destruction of property. 



Political. At the election in November Frank 

 G. Harris, Republican, was elected State Treas- 

 urer by a plurality over E. A. Coray, the Demo- 

 cratic candidate, of 131,543. Coray also received 

 93,213 votes as the Union candidate and 4,302 as 

 candidate of the Municipal League, while the vote 

 of Harris was increased by 11,542 cast by the 

 Public-Opinion voters, who made him their can- 

 didate. Porter. Prohibitionist candidate, received 

 18,044 votes. William P. Potter, Republican, was 

 elected a justice of the Supreme Court. The 3 

 constitutional amendments submitted to the vo- 

 ters were carried at the polls. 



RHODE ISLAND, a New England State, one 

 of the original thirteen, ratified the Constitution 

 May 29, 1790; area, 1,250 square miles. The popu- 

 lation, according to each decennial census, was 

 68,825 in 1790; 69,122 in 1800; 76,931 in 1810; 

 83,015 in 1820; 97,199 in 1830; 108,830 in 1840; 

 147,545 in 1850; 174,620 in 1860; 217,353 in 1870; 

 276,531 in 1880; 345,506 in 1890; and 428,556 in 

 1900. Capital, Providence. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1901: Governor, William Gregory; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Charles D. Kimball; Secre- 

 tary of State, Charles P. Bennett ; Treasurer. Wal- 

 ter A. Read; Attorney-General, Willard B. Tan- 

 ner; Auditor and Insurance Commissioner, 

 Charles C. Gray; Commissioner of Education, 

 Thomas B. Stock well; Adjutant-General, Fred- 

 erick M. Sackett; Railroad Commissioner, E. L. 

 Freeman; Commissioner of Industrial Statistics, 

 Henry E. Tiepke; Record Commissioner. R. Ham- 

 mett Tilley; Factory Inspectors, J. Ellery Hud- 

 son, Helen M. Jenks; Surgeon-General, George 

 H. Kenyon; Inspector of Beef and Pork, James 

 R. Chase; Inspector of Lime, Herbert Harris; 

 Commissioners of Sinking-Funds, John W. Daniel- 

 son and Henry B. Metcalf ; Inspector of Cables, S. 

 B. Hoxsie, Jr.; Inspector of Scythe Stones, W. 

 H. Comstock ; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 John H. Stiness; Associate Justices, Pardon E. 

 Tillinghast, George A. Wilbur, Horatio Rogers, 

 W. W. Douglas, Edward C. Dubois, and John T. 

 Blodgett; Clerk, B. S. Blaisdell. All the State 

 officers are Republicans. 



The State officers are elected annually in No- 

 vember, the term beginning in the following Jan- 

 uary. The Legislature holds annual sessions, be- 

 ginning in January. The length of the sessions 

 is not limited, but" the legislators can draw pay 

 for only sixty days. 



Population. A census bulletin published 

 Sept. 10, 1901, gives the population by sex, nativ- 

 ity, and color in the State as follow: Males, 210,- 

 516; females, 218,040: foreign born, 134,519; col- 

 ored, 9,506, of which' 9,092 "are negroes, 266 Chi- 

 nese, 13 Japanese, and 35 Indians. The State had 

 in 1900 7,524 more females than males. The for- 

 eign-born element constitutes a large proportion 

 of the total population, being nearly one-third, or 

 31.4 per cent. 



This is the analysis for Providence: Males, 57,- 

 864 native, 27,208 foreign born, 2,548 colored; 

 females, 61,878 native, 28,647 foreign born, 2,548 

 colored. 



Finances. The balance in the treasury Dec. 

 31, 1900, was $178,589.08; receipts for the year 

 ending Dec. 31, 1901, $1,577,294.41; total, $1,755,- 

 883.49^, payments for the year, $1,597,505.78: cash 

 in hand at the end of the year, $158,377.71. The 

 Treasurer's estimates of receipts for 1902 amount- 

 ed to $1,515,450, and of payments, exclusive of 

 temporary or special appropriations, to $1,344.- 

 835; estimated balance in the treasury Dec. 31, 



