756 



RHODE ISLAND. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



law already adopted in this State, without impair- 

 ment of its essential features. 



We favor the appointment of women as well as men 

 to the boards to which is intrusted the control of pub- 

 lic charitable, correctional and educational institutions. 



On Feb. 27 the State convention of the Pro- 

 hibition party was held at Providence, and the 

 following ticket was nominated: For Governor, 

 John H. Larry; for Lieutenant-Governor, Joshua 

 C. Brown ; "for Secretary of State, John W. 

 Money; for Treasurer, Jason P. Hazard; for 

 Attorney-General, John T. Blodgett. The plat- 

 form says : 



We claim that the call for higher license is "but a 

 confession of the failure of the license system, and we 

 believe that the evils of license are in proportion to 

 the size of the fee and the extent of the monopoly that 

 governs the traffic. 



The Democratic State Convention was held at 

 Providence on March 5. Its nominees were John 

 W. Davis for Governor, William T. C. Wardwell 

 for Lieutenant-Governor, Edwin D. McGuinness 

 for Secretary of State, John G. Perry for Treas- 

 urer, and Ziba 0. Slocum for Attorney-General. 

 The platform makes' the following declarations 

 touch upon State issues : 



We arraign the Eepublican party of this State for 

 its hostility to ballot reform in refusing in the Repub- 

 lican Senate so to apply it that the masses may avail 

 themselves of its provisions, and we recognize in this 

 hostility the same distrust of the people evinced in its 

 opposition to manhood suffrage and in the long series 

 of acts of Eepublican legislators throwing difficulties 

 in the way of the registry voter. 



We demand a revision of the Constitution of this 

 State to adapt our fundamental law to the needs of the 

 people. 



On March 13 the Republican State Convention 

 met at Providence and renominated Gov. Ladd, 

 Lieut.-Gov. Littlefield, Secretary of State Cross, 

 and Treasurer Clark. For Atorney-General the 

 nominee was Horatio Rogers, who held that office 

 in 1888. The platform contains the following : 



We believe that the hours of voting, already longer 

 here tban elsewhere, should not be extended into the 

 night, and we would secure for every man the oppor- 

 tunity of casting an honest and intelligent ballot by 

 decreasing so far as possible the number of days in 

 which elections are held by making election day a 

 compulsory holiday and by prohibiting under severe 

 penalties the selling of liquor on that day. 



For the first time in the history of our State, a polit- 

 ical partv has attempted to force the retirement of an 

 officer obnoxious to some of its members, by with- 

 drawing appropriations for State purposes. Bills 

 against the State which have been approved remain 

 unpaid, our credit is in danger of becoming impaired. 

 State officials are refused their overdue salaries, and 

 public disgrace is incurred in order to enable the 

 Democratic party to manufacture political capital. 



At the election on April 2, there was no choice 

 by the people, as none of the candidates received 

 a majority of the votes cast. For Governor the 

 vote was : Davis, 20,548 ; Ladd, 18,988 ; Larry, 

 1,820 ; and Chace, 752. For Lieutenant-Governor, 

 Wardwell received 19,512 votes ; Littlefield, 18,- 

 789 ; Brown, 1,818 ; and Metcalf, 701. Under the 

 terms of the Constitution, the choice of State 

 officers devolved upon the Legislature, which 

 was chosen at the same election. In this body, 

 after second elections had been, held in several 

 districts, the Democrats had a majority on joint 



ballot, the Senate standing Republicans 23, Dem- 

 ocrats 14, and the House, Republicans 29, Dem- 

 ocrats 43. The Democratic candidates were ac- 

 cordingly elected in May. 



At the November election for members of 

 Congress, Oscar Lapham, Democrat, was elected 

 in the 1st District, while in the 2d there was no 

 choice by the people, and a new election will be 

 ordered by the Legislature in 1891. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The year 

 opened badly for the prospects of peace with the 

 Church at the capital of Catholicity itself, for 

 Crispi had served notice upon the Vatican that 

 he had conceived a measure by which all the 

 property of charitable confraternities in Italy 

 would be assumed by the Government. The 

 confraternities thus affected would number 8,487, 

 with a capital value of $22,290,000. As a com- 

 plement to this policy of sequestration, the Church 

 of the Pieta was taken possession of by the Ro- 

 man civic authorities and sold to a German brew- 

 ing company for the purposes of a beer garden. 

 Another church associated with the memories of 

 Michael Angelo was turned into a theatre and 

 dance hall, and, with the prospect of 26 more to 

 share a similar fate, Pope Leo XIII sent in his 

 vigorous protest to King Humbert, and called 

 upon Christendom for sympathy in his contest 

 with irreligion and sacrilege, as thus illustrated. 

 On Jan. 10 an encyclical appeared on " The Du- 

 ties of Christians in the State." In it the pon- 

 tiff referred to the disrespect for authority, the 

 lapse of veneration for things sacred, the growth 

 of immoral ideas, and the various unchristian 

 forces that were working everywhere for the 

 overthrow of society as constituted by our di- 

 vine Lord and maintained by his Church. He 

 exhorted the citizens to throw around the family, 

 as the well-spring of good government, every 

 safeguard that could keep it pure, and, by the 

 instruction of the young in the principles of re- 

 ligion as well as in the rudiments of commercial 

 education, to prepare them for the temptations 

 that threaten on every hand. He urged an exer- 

 cise of active opposition to divorce and its kin- 

 dred evils, and commended caution in the accept- 

 ance of plausible theories for the amelioration 

 of social injustices. At the same time he fore- 

 shadowed a pronouncement of the Church upon 

 the question of socialism that would define more 

 clearly the path of duty. Cardinal Pecci, elder 

 brother of the Pope, died Feb. 8, and so keenly 

 is " the virtual prisoner of the Vatican " made to 

 feel his helplessness that, devotedly attached to 

 his illustrious brother as he was, the Pope had 

 to deny himself the consolation of being present 

 at the final hour. The death of Cardinal Pecci 

 was made the subject of another of those beau- 

 tiful Latin poems for which Leo XIII, with all 

 his cares, finds inspiration. March 2, the eight- 

 ieth birthday of the Pope, was eventful for an 

 address by him to the assembled cardinals. In 

 it he reviewed all the sufferings and labors that 

 had been undergone diiring the eleven years of 

 his reign. " Even greater trials are ahead," said 

 he ; " but there must be great triumphs, too, in 

 store as amends to the Church that has withstood 

 so much." In the same month there was re- 

 ceived at the Vatican a letter from the German 

 Emperor, and the ensuing correspondence is in- 

 dicative not only of more cordial relations be- 



