EHODE ISLAND. 



G83 



adopted, with an amendment designating Mon- 

 day, the 9th of October, as the day for taking 

 the vote. On that day the vote was taken, 

 with the following result : For the first pro- 

 posed amendment, 3,236; against the same, 

 6,960: for the second amendment, 8,787; 

 against the same, 6,100 : for the third amend- 

 ment, 5,177 ; against it, 4,574. Thus it will be 

 seen that only the change prohibiting aid to 

 sectarian institutions received the approval of 

 the voters of the State. 



Among other important acts passed by the 

 Legislature was one providing for the estab- 

 lishment of a State Normal School ; one ena- 

 bling criminals to testify on their own behalf, 

 excepting in cases of murder ; one giving mar- 

 ried women the power to control and dispose 

 of their own separate property not^ acquired 

 from their husbands; and one making strin- 

 gent regulations concerning the sale of medi- 

 cines and poisons. A portion of the town of 

 Smithfield was set off and annexed to Woon- 

 socket, and the remainder was divided into the 

 three towns of Smithfield, Lincoln, and Slater. 



The political campaign of the year possessed 

 no special interest. The Republican Conven- 

 tion was held at Providence on the 9th of 

 March, but no platform was adopted. The 

 ticket put in nomination was as follows : For 

 Governor, Seth Padelford, of Providence ; for 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Pardon W. Stevens, of 

 Newport; for Secretary of State, John E. 

 Bartlett, of Providence ; for Attorney-General, 

 Willard Sayles, of Providence ; for General 

 Treasurer, Samuel A. Parker, of Newport. 



The Democratic Convention took place at 

 Providence on the 16th of March, and the fol- 

 lowing nominations were made: For Gov- 

 ernor, Thomas Steere, of Smithfield ; Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Charles E. Cutler, of Warren; 

 Secretary of State, William T. Miller, of Bris- 

 tol ; Attorney- General, George Bliss, of East 

 Providence; General Treasurer, P. Congdon, 

 of Newport. A platform was unanimously 

 adopted, as follows : 



Resolved, That the principles of the Democratic 

 party, as annunciated by Jefferson, and the^National 

 Conventions of the Democracy, are as essential to the 

 welfare of the nation now as at any time in history, 

 and as applicable to the present condition of the 

 American people as they nave ever been ; that we 

 reaffirm our belief in them, and our confidence that 

 they -will again be indorsed by the people, and be- 

 come once more, as they have been in times past, 

 their guard and the support of their national ana 

 political progress. 



Resolved, That Congress, by its contemptuous dis- 

 regard for the interests of the people ; by its unjust 

 and unequal taxation ; its special legislation ; its 

 uniform encouragement of huge swindling monopo- 

 lies ; its robbing the people of the public land and 

 giving it to grasping speculators ; its unjust burden- 

 ing of trade by enormous and prohibitory duties: 

 its unconcern lor the poor man, and its heaping of 

 individual undeserved advantages upon the rich, has 

 forfeited the respect of the country, and failed in its 

 duty to the citizens. 



Resolved,, That the usurpations of Congress in 

 placing the ballot-box at the mercy of the bayonet 

 is in keeping with its indifference to the rights of 



the people, and evidence of the unworthiness of ita 

 spirit and disloyalty to republican institutions. 



Resolved, That every citizen, naturalized or native 

 born, is entitled to equal political rights with every 

 other citizen, and that the constitution of the State 

 ought so to be amended as that the unjust dis- 

 crimination now made between naturalized and na- 

 tive-born citizens should be abolished. 



Resolved, That, planting ourselves, heretofore, on 

 the Constitution of the "United States as the bulwark 

 of our liberties, we will never cease our labors until 

 it is once more made in fact, as in law, the supremo 

 law of the land. 



The election occurred on the 5th of April, 

 and resulted in the success of the Republican 

 candidates. The total vote cast for Governor 

 was 14,205, of which Padelford received 8,838, 

 and Steere 5,367, which gives the former a 

 majority of 3,471. The Legislature of 1872 

 stands 26 Republicans and 10 Democrats in 

 the Senate, and 50 Republicans and 16 Dem- 

 ocrats in the House. 



An annual State Temperance Convention 

 was held at Providence in October, at which 

 the following resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved, That we believe it to be more imperative 

 than ever that the principle and practice of total ab- 

 stinence from all intoxicating beverages should be- 

 come universal, if we would preserve the liberties 

 transmitted to us by the founders of this nation. 



Resolved, That there is no safety for the children 

 of America, except in the practice of total abstinence 

 from all intoxicating drinks, and we renewedly call 

 upon the teachers, trustees, and superintendents of 

 our Sabbath and common schools to take special pains 

 to inculcate these principles and secure the pledging 

 of all our children and y^outh to this principle. 



Resolved, That the principle of compensation (al- 

 ready recognized in our law) is correct in holding 

 the rumseller responsible for injuries resulting from 

 the liquor-traffic, and we will use our best endeavors 

 to secure its extension, so as to reach the owners of 

 buildings in which such traffic is carried on ; and to 

 make all necessary provision for its enforcement. 



Resolved, That rumselling is a crime, and the rum- 

 seller is a criminal, and that the proper officers of 

 the law should be held accountable for the enforce- 

 ment of the law against selling intoxicating liquors, 

 as much as for the enforcement of any other criminal 

 law upon the statute-book. 



Resolved, That the license system of this State is 

 a wicked recognition of a ruinous and destructive 

 business. 



The fourth annual convention of the Woman 

 Suffrage Association was held in November. 

 There was much spirited debate, and the fol- 

 lowing resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved, That we demand suffrage for women on 

 the ground of the essential principles of our na- 

 tional system, that there can be no just government 

 without the consent of the governed, and that taxa- 

 tion without representation is tyranny. 



Resolved, That we demand it for the sake of wom- 

 en, that they may have more self-respect and more 

 power of setf-protection. 



Resolved, That we demand it for the sake of men, 

 that they may have in politics what they need in all 

 the affairs of life, the purifying influence of woman. 



Resolved, That suffrage means equality in the 

 home, and therefore means greater purity ? greater 

 constancy, and greater permanence in marriage. 



Resolved, That we demand of our State Legislature 

 to remove from our statute-books all laws that dis- 

 criminate against woman ; of the courts to construe 

 in favor of woman's equal rights all existing laws 



