Kil< >!>!: ISLAND. 



lit' 



the close of ono year after its organization, 



tortv ministers, thirty-six t-lnircln-s, uud up- 

 \\ uril minim-ants. 



IllloUK ISLAND. Tlio adjourned session 



of tlio Uhudc Island Legislature, which began 



..i.l.'inv, on tlir iMth of Junuury, ron- 



timied until tin- :;d ot' April. A largo number 



of acts were passed, but few of them liavo any 



.1 interest. Provision was made fur di- 



\iding tin- town of North l'ro\ i.lviice, and an- 



: OIK- portion to the city of Providence, 



uinl anot IHT portion to the town of Paw tucket, 



subject to the approval of the people concerned, 



to be ascertained by a vote on the question at 



tin- next election. 



The law for the regulation of the traffic in in- 

 toxicating liquors was amended and made more 

 .stringent, but no special means were adopted 

 for its enforcement. A joint special commit- 

 tee was also raised to sit during the recess, 

 to consider the subject of intemperance, and 

 report at the next session. 



An act for the relief of convicts and their 

 families, and convicts in the State-prison, which 

 was passed, authorizes the inspectors of the 

 State-prison to pay to convicts at the time of 

 their discharge a sum of money not exceeding 

 one-tentb of their earnings while in prison. 

 In case a convict has been incapacitated for 

 labor by sickness, he may receive a sum not 

 exceeding one-tenth of the average compen- 

 sation of convict-labor for the time of his sick- 

 ness ; but in all cases the inspectors may at 

 their discretion pay the money to which a 

 convict may be entitled under this act to his 

 family during his imprisonment, instead of to 

 him at his discharge. 



The subject of granting the right of suffrage 

 to women was referred to a special committee, 

 together with all petitions, remonstrances and 

 other communications relating to that matter. 

 This committee made a report on the 3d of 

 March, in which they argued at considerable 

 length in favor of granting the privilege. After 

 giving the oft-repeated reasons why women 

 should be allowed to vote, this committee said : 



And so every consideration impels us to the de- 

 cision from which we see no escape. We rebelled 

 from the mother-country to establish the truth of the 

 proposition that taxation without representation is 

 tyranny. Yet women are not allowed to represent 

 tncir property. They should have the right that 

 they may protect it. Women are the natural puiir- 

 diaiis im'd educators of children, and therefore should 

 bo members of school committees. Women best 

 know the necessities of women, and therefore should 

 he eligible as overseers of the poor, asylums, and 

 hospitals. Women have as much at stake as men in 

 all questions of social reform, and therefore should 

 have equal facilities for assisting in framing and 

 seeing to the execution of laws on such subjects. 

 Women have equal right with men to the highest at- 

 tainable watres, subject only to the law of supply and 

 demand. This right they have not, so long as they 

 are debarred by social prejudice, custom, and law, 

 from competing equally with men for all positions 

 they may choose to try to fill. The common law of 

 Englanagnve foreignars the right to claim that half 

 the jury should be foreigners, yet women are com- 

 pelled to submit to trial by men only, no matter 



what motives of delicacy may prompt them to prefei 



ti trial i.\ u ..in. -n. It m u fiiii.liuuetital rule of equity, 

 that till jicraons shall bo tried by their pctr- 

 .\.. m. n uiv tried l.y a mule jury and nmlc judges. 

 To nuin up : women are subject to law, sad there- 

 fore should have the power to ui*t in framing law* 

 un.l in their execution. If, a* so often AMorted, 

 women are inferior to m. n, thin the law should dii- 

 rrimiiiatf in tlit-ir favor instead of against them, 

 being their equals, women should be subject to all 

 the duties ami liabilities of men, and should be free 

 to enjoy all their rights and privileges. 



With the report was submitted the following 

 resolution : 



Rttolved, a majority of all the members elected 

 to each House of the General Assembly concurring 

 herein, That the following article be proposed as an 

 amendment to the constitution of the State, and that 

 tin Secretary of State cause the same to be pub- 

 lished, and printed conies thereof to be distributed 

 in the manner provided in Article XII. of the consti- 

 tution. 



ARTICLE. Men and women, politically and legally, 

 shall be entitled to equal rights and privileges, and 

 shall be subject to equal duties and liabilities. 



The subject was taken np in the Ilouse, and 

 the resolution was adopted by a vote of 44 to 17, 

 but it did not receive the sanction of the Senate. 



The principal interest in the political cam- 

 paign of the spring attached to the composi- 

 tion of the Legislature, in view of the fact that 

 a successor to the Hon. William Sprague in 

 the United States Senate was to be chosen, 

 and some decided action was looked for on the 

 subject of regulating or prohibiting the sale of 

 intoxicating liquors. The first State Conven- 

 tion was held by the prohibitionists in the 

 State-House at Providence, on the 26th of Feb- 

 ruary. Immediately after the organization, a 

 motion that the convention proceed to nomi- 

 nate a "distinct, separate, teetotal prohibition 

 ticket for State officers " was carried, and the 

 following nominations were made : For Gov- 

 ernor, Henry Howard ; for Lieutenant-Govern- 

 or, W. F. Sayles ; for Secretary of State, Joshua 

 M. Addeman; for Attorney-General, Edwin 

 Metcalf ; for Treasurer, Henry Goffe. 



A State Central Committee was chosen, 

 consisting of two members from Providence 

 County, and one each from the other four 

 counties of the State. Several other members 

 were afterward added to the committee. The 

 following was adopted as the platform of the 

 convention : 



Resolved, That the progress of the cause of tem- 

 perance, in the past fitly years of its history, is suffi- 

 cient evidence that it is under the guidance of a 

 Divine Providence with its blessing wo may expect 

 a final victory. 



Resolved, That while we recognize the prime im- 

 portance of earnest work in educating the people up 

 to the practice of total abstinence, wo hold it to be 

 the duty of the State to aid this work by enacting 

 and enforcing prohibition. 



Revolted, That we hold it to bo the duty of Con- 

 gress to prohibit the sale of alcoholic liquors to be 

 used as a beverage in the District of Columbia and in 

 the Territories. 



Resolved, That we will put forth all reasonable ef- 

 forts to secure the election of the ticket this day put 

 in nomination. 



Reoolctd, That we recommend to the consideration 



