RHODE ISLAND. 



771 



Gustom-House, and their places filled by civil- 

 ians. The jiu'inoriul und petition were pre- 

 1 ID tin- Souatu by Si-natin- McDonald of 

 Indiana on the 27th of Muy, and were the sub- 

 ject of a long and animated debate. Among 

 the removals complained of were the displace- 

 ment of General Shaw, the Collector, who was 

 succeeded by Cyrus Harris, a relative of Sen- 

 ator Anthony, and the dismissal or enforced 

 resignation of Majors Joyce and Bucklin, Mr. 

 Frauklond, and Captain Greene, a brother of 

 the memorialist, who was replaced by Major 

 Pomroy, a soldier who was wounded during 

 the war of secession. On the strength of a 

 couple of the new appointments the memorial 

 stated that thedismi-srd .soldiers had been suc- 

 ceeded mainly by relatives of the senior Senator 

 for the State, Mr. Anthony. The committee lis- 

 tened to testimony from Dr. Greene, Major Pom- 

 roy, Major Joyce, and others. It had been al- 

 leged also that appointments were bestowed in 

 the Custom-House and in the Post-Office as a 

 reward for political services, and that Federal 

 officers used their influence to affect the vote 

 in the State elections, in violation of the rules 

 for civil-service reform. The committee con- 

 tinued its sessions several days, taking down 

 an extensive amount of evidence relating to 

 the removals and appointments in the Custom- 

 House, and also in the Providence Post-Office. 



At the time when Senator McDonald pre- 

 sented Dr. Greene's memorial and the petition 

 which it accompanied of the Rev. Augustus 

 Woodbury and others, discharged soldiers and 

 sailors, an investigation into the nature and ef- 

 fect of the property qualification for suffrage 

 required by the Constitution of the State of 

 Rhode Island was also demanded by the Sen- 

 ator. By these laws the franchise is withheld 

 from foreign-born citizens of the United States 

 who are not the possessors of a freehold of the 

 minimum value of $134, or who do not pay a 

 rental of the amount of $7 or over per annum, 

 as well as from native American citizens who 

 do not possess one of these qualifications and 

 who do not pay a tax of at least $1 a year. It 

 was held that if the property qualification was 

 not a violation of the fourteenth amendment 

 of the United States Constitution, it would be 

 necessary to reduce the representation of the 

 State in the Lower House of Congress from two 

 members to one, since the maximum vote polled 

 in the State had not exceeded 24,000, and the 

 total number of the voting population could 

 not be much more. It was estimated that 

 10,000 or more citizens of foreign birth were 

 excluded from the franchise by the above re- 

 strictions. This committee had also to inquire 

 into the alleged employment of money in Rhode 

 Island elections, and intimidation or undue in- 

 fluence exercised by managers of manufactories 

 over their employees to control their votes. 



These latter subjects were referred by the 

 Senate to the select committee to inquire into 

 alleged frauds in the late elections, of which 

 Senator Wallace was chairman. At the same 



time that the Butler Committee met in New- 

 port the Wallace Committee held its sessions 

 in tho United States Court - House in Provi- 

 dence. From the testimony taken regarding 

 the effects of the property qualification estab- 

 lished by the Constitution of 1842, it appeared 

 that several citizens of respectability were de- 

 barred from voting on account of being of for- 

 eign origin and possessing no real estate. The 

 Hon. Thomas Davis, who had been a member 

 of Congress, was disfranchised through losing 

 his property by business reverses. A citizen, 

 Colonel James Moran, who as an officer in the 

 army had received and forwarded *the ballots 

 of the soldiers during the war, was excluded 

 from voting by his foreign birth, while a negro 

 whom he had brought with him was allowed 

 as a native to vote. Several citizens whose 

 property had been expropriated for public im- 

 provements were disfranchised during the two 

 or three years which elapsed before the city 

 paid the appraisal to them. It was stated that 

 the failure of the amendment to remove the 

 disqualification in 1871, when only 3,236 votes 

 were cast for it and 6,960 against it, was due 

 partly to an agitation against the Roman Cath- 

 olics, who were supposed at the time to be 

 striving to secure public moneys to support 

 their schools. The amendment submitted to 

 the people in 1876 to allow soldiers and sailors 

 to vote was stated to have been overshadowed 

 by the issue of the national election. The sen- 

 timent of the native population voting with 

 the Republican party and of a part of the na- 

 tive Democrats, as elicited in the evidence, was 

 strongly in favor of retaining the property qual- 

 ifications; several naturalized voters also ex- 

 pressed the same views. 



The receipts of the Treasury during the year 

 ending December 31, 1879, were $970,072, and 

 the disbursements $703,211 ; the balance in the 

 Treasury amounted to $164,635; the sum of 

 $102,225 was owing to the Rhode Island Hos- 

 pital Trust Company. The bonded debt of 

 the State amounted to $2,534,500, or, with the 

 deduction of the available sinking fund, to 

 $1,832,462. The total amount of the sinking 

 fund was $733,764, which was invested princi- 

 pally in securities of the city of Providence 

 and of the United States Government 



The number of children in the State between 

 five and fifteen years of age was 49,562. The 

 number of children reported as attending the 

 public schools was 32,793 ; as attending Catho- 

 lic schools, 4,374 ; as attending private schools, 

 1,782 ; as not attending any school, 10,549. 

 There were 41,810 pupils enrolled in the day- 

 schools, and 30,001 attended school, the aver- 

 age attendance being 26,939. There were 819 

 schools altogether. The average school-year 

 lasted nine months and two days. There were 

 888 teachers regularly employed, the male 

 teachers drawing $98,619 in salaries, and the 

 female teachers $809,780. In the evening 

 schools, with an average duration of fourteen 

 weeks, 2,677 pupils attended, the average at- 



