770 



EHODE ISLAND. 



able by legally licensing it, and again proclaim our 

 entire condolence in the principle of the prohibition of 

 the liquor-traffic by authority of law, as the best means 

 of ridding our State of crime, pauperism, and an ex- 

 cessive taxation, and of promoting the virtue, pros- 

 perity, and happiness of all our citizens. 



Resolved^ That a prohibitory law, as well as every 

 other criminal law, needs an efficient police force for 

 .its execution, and we therefore demandj in connection 

 with the enactment of a law prohibiting the liquor 

 traffic, an efficient force for its enforcement. 



Whereas, The prohibition of the traffic in alcoholic 

 liquors in the State of Maine, also in other parts of 

 our land, and in other countries of the world, has 

 proved a success ; therefore, 



Resolved. That it is the duty of all the members of 

 our close timperanco organizations, and of our open 

 societies, to rally around the standard of prohibition, 

 and unite their efforts and action to prohibit the traffic 

 in ardent spirits. 



Resolved, That this great success is a source of con- 

 gratulation among ourselves, and of thanksgiving to 

 Almighty God. 



The Democratic State Convention was held 

 in the State House in Providence, March 18th. 

 The Hon. A. B. Lewis was elected Chairman. 

 The following resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved, That the Democratic party of the State of 

 Ehode Island, in convention assembled, hails with joy 

 the return of national legislation to the control of tho 

 Democratic party the party which in the past has 

 earned the well-merited reputation of being the party 

 of the Constitution as bequeathed to us by tho found- 

 era of the republic, and the party of the people and 

 that wo deeply regret that the people of the United 

 States are deprived, through the most unblushing 

 fraud, bribery, and perjury that has ever disgraced 

 the annals of our history, of having in charge of the 

 executive branch of the country Samuel J. Tuden and 

 Thomas A. Hendricks, who were on the 4th day of 

 'November, A. D. 1876, elected by an overwhelming 

 majority to the offices of President and Vice-President 

 of the United States ; and further do we deplore that 

 all of the persons who have been proved to have par- 

 ticipated in this great wrong have been rewarded by 

 being appointed to offices of great trust and honor at 

 home or to represent the country in important posi- 

 tions abroad. 



Resolved, That the Democratic party of this State, 

 in regard to the internal affairs of the State, pledges 

 itself and its members to a reform in the existing sys- 

 tem of taxation in the State, and assures the citizens 

 of the State that its influence will be exerted to estab- 

 lish such laws as will equally distribute the burdens 

 of the State among all of its citizens, and to abolish all 

 forms of double taxation ; to such changes in the laws 

 regulating institutions for savings as will restore them 

 to the position of being institutions for the benefit of 

 the laboring classes, from which they have in a large 

 measure been diverted ; and to so govern them as to 

 restore such confidence in them as will again make 

 them the favorite institutions of the frugal, in which 

 they can be assured that their small savings will be 

 faithfully, judiciously, and honestly administered and 

 protected ; to a change in the laws in regard to the 

 registration of voters, so that all the citizens of this 

 State may have a fair and equal opportunity to qualify 

 themselves to vote at all elections, and for the enact- 

 ment of a law which will not have the effect, as the 

 present, of disqualifying nearly one half of the voters 

 of this State who are not possessed of real estate ; to a 

 most thorough retrenchment in all expenditures by the 

 State and towns, in order that the present burden in 

 the form of taxation may be relieved from our now 

 heavily laden industries ; to the enactment of a law 

 disqualifying any person from holding any office to 

 which he may be elected by fraud, bribery, or intimi- 

 dation, to which he may be a party ; to such amend- 

 ments of the Constitution of the State as will insure to 



all citizens of this State the right of suffrage without 

 discrimination on account of race, nativity, creed, color, 

 or previous condition of servitude and particularly to 

 have such change made in behalf of those who fought 

 in the Union army in the late civil war, so that it may 

 some day be said that our State has recognized their 

 services in as generous a manner as the General Gov- 

 ernment has condoned the offenses of thpso who bore 

 arms against the Government by rewarding them with 

 the right to participate in the government of the coun- 

 try which they helped to save. 



The nominations were as follows : For Gov- 

 ernor, Thomas W. Segar ; for Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, Dr. J. M. Bailey; for Secretary of State, 

 David S. Baker, Jr. ; for Attorney-General, 

 Charles H. Page ; for General Treasurer, Pat- 

 rick Farrell. 



The [Republican State Convention for the 

 nomination of State officers was held in Provi- 

 dence, March 19th. The existing officers were 

 renominated unanimously by acclamation. No 

 resolutions were adopted. 



The State election took place on the first 

 day of April. The Republican ticket, support- 

 ed also by the Prohibitive party, was carried 

 by a majority of 3,826 for the Governor and 

 4,225 for the Lieutenant-Governor, electing 

 the same officers who had held the offices the 

 previous year : Charles C. Van Zanclt, Gov- 

 ernor ; Albert 0. Howard, Lieutenant-Govern- 

 or ; Joshua M. Addeman, Secretary of State ; 

 Willard Sayles, Attorney-General; and Sam- 

 uel Clark, General Treasurer. There was a 

 Greenback ticket also in the field, for which 

 only a trifling vote was polled. The nominee 

 for Governor was Samuel Hill ; for Lieutenant- 

 Governor, David A McKay. The total vote 

 was 15,610, or 4,099 less than in 1878. The 

 falling off was 1,736 votes in the Republican 

 party, 2,124 Democratic, and 334 Greenback 

 votes. 



In the Senate the election gave the Republi- 

 cans 29 and the Democrats 8 members. The 

 Republican Representatives elected numbered 

 64, the Democratic 18. 



The Senatorial Committee of Congress em- 

 powered to investigate alleged violations of 

 sections 1,754 and 1,755 of the Revised Statutes 

 of the United States, regarding tho preference 

 to be given to discharged soldiers and sailors 

 in appointments to offices in the United States 

 civil service, met at Newport on Augnst 15th. 

 It was the standing. Committee of the Senate 

 on Civil Service and Retrenchment, and was 

 composed of Senator M. C. Butler, chair- 

 man, and Senators Rollins of New Hampshire, 

 "Whyte of Maryland, and Beck of Kentucky. 

 The committee was instructed to investigate 

 this matter upon tho occasion of a petition 

 being presented to the Senate, signed by three 

 hundred former soldiers and sailors, praying 

 Congress to require the execution of the stat- 

 utes above mentioned in the assignment of 

 offices in the Providence Custom-House. This 

 petition was accompanied by a memorial of 

 Dr. J. B. Greene of Providence, alleging that 

 several honorably discharged soldiers and sail- 

 ors had recently been dismissed from that 



