

RHODE ISLAND. 



755 



the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to $5,500 ; of 

 Associate Justices to $5,000 ; and of the Attorney- 

 General to $3,500. 



Authorizing the city of Providence to borrow $300,- 

 000 and issue its notes and bonds therefor, the money 

 to be expended on the city highways. 



Authorizing the city of Pawtucket to condemn land 

 and buildings for a city hall, and to issue $200,000 of 

 bonds to raise money for it. 



Providing that alter Dec. 1, 1891, no method of 

 heating passenger, mail, or baggage cars shall be used, 

 unless it has the written approval of the Railroad 

 Commissioner. 



The first session of the new General Assembly 

 elected in April began at Newport on May 27. 

 The returns for State officers being opened* and 

 counted, and no election declared, both Houses 

 in joint session elected John W. Davis to be 

 Governor ; William T. C. Wardwell, Lieutenant- 

 Governor ; Edwin D. McGuinness, Secretary of - 

 State ; John G. Perry, General Treasurer ; and 

 Ziba 0. Slocum, Attorney-General. On May 28 

 Elisha W. Bucklin was elected State Auditor. 



The following acts were passed at this session : 



To amend the game laws. 



Authorizing the city of Providence to appropriate 

 $200,000 to purchase a site for a State house. 



Authorizing the city of Woonsocket to build a city 

 hall and lay out ana establish one or more public 

 parks and to borrow $100,000 therefor. 



On May 30 both Houses adjourned to meet at 

 Providence in January following. This adjourn- 

 ment was forced by the Republican majority in 

 the Senate against *the wishes of the Democrats, 

 who were in control of the Lower House. Pur- 

 suant to the Governor's proclamation, the Gen- 

 eral Assembly again convened on June 17, at 

 Providence, The bill extending the Australian 

 ballot law to cities became a law at this session. 

 It provides that the preparation and distribution 

 of official ballots for city elections shall be in 

 charge of the city clerk. Its provisions became 

 effective on July 1. Several acts of incorporation 

 and some minor acts were passed, after which 

 both Houses adjourned on June 20, to the third 

 Tuesday in January, 1891. 



Education. For the school year ending April 

 30, 1889, the Commissioner of Public Schools re- 

 ports the following statistics : Pupils enrolled, 

 51,895; average attendance, 33,827; average 

 school year, nine months, nine days ; male teach- 

 ers. 171 ; female teachers, 1,196 : average month- 

 ly wages male teachers $87.06, female teachers 

 $45.20; paid for teachers' wages, $534,079.72; 

 total receipts for school purposes during the year, 

 $978,962.47; total expenditures for school'pur- 

 poses, $907,286.85; number of school-houses, 

 474 ; value of school property, $2,744,408. There 

 were 43 evening schools conducted during the 

 year for an average of 13f- weeks, in which 5,870 

 pupils were enrolled, the average attendance 

 being 2,089. There were 110 male and 250 female 

 teachers employed in these schools. The annual 

 census of children of school age, between five and 

 fifteen years, taken in January, 1889, showed 43,098 

 attending public schools, 7,974 attending Catho- 

 lic schools, 1,777 attending select schools, and 12,- 

 056 not attending school. There was an attend- 

 ance of 180 at the Normal School for the year 

 ending in June, 1888, and 24 were graduated. 



Charities. At the State School for the Deaf 

 there were 31 pupils during 1889, of whom 30 re- 



mained on Jan. 1, 1890. The State Home and 

 School cared for 150 children during the same 

 year, of whom 116 remained on Jan. 1, 1890. The 

 cost of maintenance for the year was $15,30791 



Soldiers' Home. The new Soldiers' Homeat 

 Bristol is rapidly approaching completion, and 

 will be ready for occupation in the spring or 

 early summer of 1891. The appropriation of 

 $125,000 made by the Legislature this year will 

 probably be sufficient to complete the undertak- 

 ing. The. board will need an annual appropria- 

 tion approximating $15,000 for the maintenance 

 of the home. 



At the close of the year there were 57 old sol- 

 diers at the temporary home at Wickford, who 

 are supported by the State. The State also ap- 

 propriates $20,000 annually for distribution 

 among needy soldiers and their families outside 

 of the home. 



Railroads. There are 15 railroad corpora- 

 tions in the State, with 269 miles of track and a 

 capital s.tock of $49,269,550. Their total indebt- 

 edness is $35,659,789.35. Their total receipts for 

 1890 were $18,916,128.77; expenditures, $16,- 

 218,564.60 ; net earnings, $2,697,564.17. There 

 are 5 street railways, 3 operated by horses, 1 by 

 electric motors, and 1 by cable. They have 77^ 

 miles of track and a paid-up capital of $2,122,100. 

 Their total debt is $173,651.50. The receipts for 

 1890 were $1,002,131.89 ; expenditures, $814,493.- 

 72 ; and net earnings, $187,638.17. 



Savings Banks. There are 38 institutions for 

 savings in the State, having 131,652 depositors, of 

 whom 16,582 have $500 and under $1,000 on 

 deposit, and 18,934 $1,000 and upward. The 

 average amount deposited is $483.99. 



Political. In the political canvass of this 

 year, as in "1889, there were four parties in the 

 field. The first State ticket was nominated by 

 by the Union Keform party in convention at 

 Providence on Feb. 25. The party was com- 

 posed chiefly of those Prohibition Republicans 

 who deserted their party in 1889 on account of 

 its changed attitude in favoring the repeal of 

 the prohibitory constitutional amendment, and 

 formed the Law Enforcement party of that 

 year. The issue then was on the question whether 

 the amendment should be repealed. This year 

 after the repeal had been carried, the same ele- 

 ments united under a new name with the ob- 

 ject, similar to that of the third-party Prohibi- 

 tionists, of striving for the restoration of pro- 

 hibition. Their nominees were as follow : For 

 Governor, Arnold B. Chace; for Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Franklin Metcalf ; for Secretary of 

 State, Harmon S. Babcock ; for Treasurer, Ed- 

 ward A. Green, succeeded upon the ticket by 

 Charles E. Carpenter. The nomination of a 

 candidate for Attorney-General was left to the 

 State Central Committee, which adopted the 

 Republican candidate, Horatio Rogers. The 

 platform arraigns the two leading political par- 

 ties of the State for their " subserviency to the 

 rum power," condemns high license, and fur- 

 ther declares as follows : 



We solemnly protest against the false and perni- 

 cious doctrine that laws for the suppression of drink- 

 ing saloons are incapable of enforcement. 



We deny the validity of any excuse for fraud 



We favor the maintenance of the Ballot Reform 



