698 



RHODE ISLAND. 



art through the Rhode Island School of Design 

 has met with good success. A small class of 

 teachers has been formed for the special pur- 

 pose of training them to give instruction in this 

 branch in the common schools. 



The State Normal School had a prosperous 

 year. The attendance was never larger. 



School for the Deaf and Dumb. The last census 

 showed that there were eighty-nine deaf and 

 dumb persons in the State. The number of 

 pupils during the year was thirty. 



Charities and Corrections. The appropriation 

 for this board for 1884 was $100,000, with 

 the sums collected for labor, board of in- 

 mates, sales of farm produce, etc., to be added 

 thereto. These receipts amounted to $50,091.- 

 71. The total amount available by the board 

 was therefore $150,091.71, all of which was 

 drawn from the treasury. At the beginning 

 of the year there were unpaid bills to the 

 amount of $628.14. The amount of unpaid 

 bills Dec. 31, 1884, was several thousand dol- 

 lars. There was also appropriated the sum of 

 $20,000 for erecting and furnishing a new 

 building at the Sockanosset School for Boys, 

 and completing the grounds, in addition to 

 which there was an unexpended balance of 

 former appropriations of $318.40. From these 

 appropriations there was drawn the sum of 

 $16,216.29. The total amount appropriated 

 for the buildings and grounds of the boys' and 

 girls' school is $150,000. The new building is 

 nearly ready for occupation. It will accommo- 

 date seventy boys. At the May session an 

 appropriation of $40,000 was made for new 

 buildings for the incurable insane. The time 

 named in the contract for the completion of 

 the new buildings is May 1, 1885, but they 

 probably can not be completed by that time. 



The number of inmates in each of the de- 

 partments, Dec. 31, 1884, was as follows: In 

 the State Prison, 119; in Providence County 

 Jail, 213 ; in Sockanosset School for Boys, 

 164 ; in Oaklawn School for Girls, 41 ; in 

 State Almshouse and House of Correction, 

 264; in State Almshouse, 206 ; in State Asy- 

 lum for the Incurable Insane, 314: total, 1,321. 

 This is an increase in all the institutions of 102 

 since the beginning of the year. 



State Home and School. At the January session 

 an act was passed establishing a State Home 

 or School for neglected and dependent children, 

 to be under the control of the Board of Educa- 

 tion. The Governor was authorized to appoint 

 three commissioners to lease or purchase. By 

 advice of the board, they purchased about forty- 

 five acres of land in the city of Providence. 

 There are a stone dwelling-house, two cottages, 

 and a barn on the premises, all of which will 

 be needed. " With a small appropriation," says 

 the Governor, "to put the buildings in repair 

 and to furnish them, the school can be begun 

 in a very short time on a small scale. It will 

 be necessary, however, to make an appropria- 

 tion for the erection of additional buildings 

 during the present year." 



Divorce. On this subject, the Governor, in 

 his message to the Legislature of 1885, says: 



Our courts continue to grant divorces to as great an 

 extent as ever. In 1883 there were 257 divorces granted 

 in our State, or one to every 10 '16 marriages. During 

 the past ten years there have been 2,884 applications 

 for divorce, of which 2,285 were granted. It can not 

 be possible that our citizens arc content to allow this 

 to continue. ... I trust that our laws will be so 

 amended that, at least, Rhode Island may no longer 

 have the unenviable reputation it now has in respect 

 to divgrce, and may no longer be a resort from neigh- 

 boring States of parties who can not be divorced by 

 the laws of their own State. 



Colonial Town Records. With reference to 

 these, the Governor remarks : 



T desire to call your attention to the necessity of 

 taking some steps to preserve copies of the colonial 

 town records. Some of them are in a good state of 

 preservation, but others do not and have not received 

 proper care. The value of these records is beyond 

 estimation, and should by accident any of them be 

 destroyed, a large amount of valuable historical mat- 

 ter will be forever lost. The expense of causing these 

 to be carefully copied and indexed and deposited in 

 the office of the Secretary of State would be compara- 

 tively small. 



State Beneficiaries. The State provides for the 

 education and maintenance of its indigent blind, 

 feeble-minded, and deaf-mutes. The sum al- 

 lowed for the blind is $300 per annum ; for the 

 feeble-minded, $300 per annum ; and for the 

 deaf-mutes, $175 per annum. The State bene- 

 ficiaries at present at the several institutions 

 are as follow : Perkins Institution and Mas- 

 sachusetts Asylum for the Blind, 17; Massa- 

 chusetts School for the Feeble-minded, 6; 

 American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, 4. 

 Hours of Labor. The Governor says: 

 In my message of last year I called the attention of 

 the Legislature to the fact that, owing to the repeal of 

 section 23 of chapter 169 of the Public Statutes, thero 

 was no limitation on the time that children might be 

 employed in manufacturing establishments. The act 

 relative to truant children forbids the employment of 

 any children in such establishments under ten years , 

 of age. It also forbids the employment of children 

 under fourteen years of age, unless they shall have 

 attended school twelve weeks in the year preceding 

 such employment. No child under fifteen can be so 

 employed unless he can write legibly his name, ace. 

 and residence. It is probable that the repeal of all 

 limitation in the number of hours that children may 

 be employed in manufacturing establishments was 

 unintentional. In other States the experiment has 

 been tried of limiting the hours of labor for women 

 and children to ten hours in any OLC day, with the 

 most satisfactory results. 



Political. The State election occurred on the 

 2d of April. The Republicans reriominated the 

 sitting officers, who were re-elected. The Dem- 

 ocratic nominees were : For Governor, Thom- 

 as W. Segar; Lieutenant - Governor, Elisha 

 Mathewson; Secretary of State, Jonathan 

 M. Wheeler; Attorney-General, Francis L. 

 O'Rielly ; Treasurer, George T. Leonard. The 

 following was the vote for Governor: Repub- 

 lican, 15,936; Democratic, 9,592; scattering, 

 18. The Legislature chosen at the same time 

 consists of 29 Republicans and 8 Democrats in 

 the Senate, and 57 Republicans and 15 Demo- 

 crats in the House. The vote for Presidential 



