788 



KHODE ISLAND. 



Average length of schools 9 mo. 10 d. 



Increase 4 days. 



Number of teachers regularly employed 1,043 



Increase 



Amount paid teachers $482,146 65 



Increase * $28,459 40 



Current expenditures for day-schools per cap- 

 ita of school population $9 41 



Increase 



In the evening-schools, while there is an ap- 

 parent falling off in the attendance, there has 

 been a decided gain in its character and value. 

 The percentage of the attendance and the en- 

 rollment have never been so high as during 

 this year. 



The State Normal School continues to re- 

 ceive an increasing patronage. The number 

 of students in attendance is 138, and the whole 

 number enrolled since the school was organ- 

 ized in 1871 is 1,084, of whom a large portion 

 have taught in the public schools. 



The State School for the Deaf has about 

 30 pupils. 



The Rhode Island State Rome and School 

 for Dependent and Neglected Children was 

 opened in April, 1885, and during that year 

 26 children were admitted. The whole num- 

 ber received to Jan. 1, 1887, has been mules 

 43, females 17, making a total of 60, and the 

 number of children in the home o;n the same 

 day was 50. The annual appropriation for 

 1886 was $10,000, and the current expenses for 

 the same period $9,014.40. 



The Rhode Island School of Design increases 

 in activity and usefulness. 



Soldiers and Sailors. By an amendment to the 

 original act the sum of $10,000 is now annu- 

 ally appropriated for the relief of disabled and 

 needy soldiers and sailors. By an act passed 

 in 1886, the sum of $5,000 is annually appro- 

 priated for a temporary home for Rhode Island 

 soldiers or sailors who may be destitute and 

 are waiting for or unable to obtain admission 

 to any of the national homes for disabled vol- 

 unteer soldiers. During the year 54 applica- 

 tions were made, 45 admitted, 5 to hear from, 

 2 disapproved, and 2 applicants decided not to 

 avail themselves of the privilege. 



State Charities and Corrections. For 1886, the 

 sum of $140,000 was appropriated for the gen- 

 eral expenses of the board in maintaining the 

 several institutions under their charge, in ad- 

 dition to their receipts. These receipts, de- 

 rived from labor and board of inmates, sales 

 of produce, etc., amounted during 1886 to 

 $33,001.78. This money was paid by the 

 board into the State Treasury and added to 

 the appropriation, thus increasing their re- 

 sources to $173,001.78. From this sum was 

 drawn a total of $163,156.78, leaving a bal- 

 ance of $9,845 undrawn. 



An appropriation was made this year for 

 preparing plans and estimate of cost of a new 

 State Almshouse. The institution will be de- 

 signed for 300 inmates, about 100 more than 

 the maximum up to the present time. Accom- 

 modations will be made for the old and the 

 young of both sexes, for women in confine- 



ment, for the sick and for the dying, for those 

 stricken with noisome diseases and for the con- 

 valescent. 



The number of inmates in the several insti- 

 tutions, Dec. 31, 1886, was as follows : In the 

 State Prison, 105 ; in the Providence County 

 Jail, 210; in the Sockanosset School for Boys, 

 189; in the Oaklawn School for Girls, 27; in 

 the Workhouse and House of Correction, 134 ; 

 in the State Almshouse, 190; in the Asylum 

 for the Incurable Insane, 425. Total, 1,280. 

 This is a decrease of thirty, in all of the insti- 

 tutions together, since the same date a year ago. 



The increase of the insane at the State Asy- 

 lum has been 111 in the past two years, 56 in 

 1885, and 55 in 1886. It is almost two years 

 since the law relieving the towns from Ahe 

 support of their pauper insane went into ef- 

 fect, and it is probable that this increase is in 

 a measure due to the change. 



The State beneficiaries, provided for at insti- 

 tutions outside the State, number 18. The ex- 

 pense of education and maintenance of each of 

 these is $300 per annum, except at the Ameri- 

 can Asylum, where the annual charge is $175. 



Prohibition. The prohibitory amendment 

 went into effect on July 1. With respect to 

 its working, the Governor, in his message to 

 the Legislature in 1887, says: "The prohibi- 

 tory amendment adopted, it became the duty 

 of the people, irrespective of previous personal 

 opinions, loyally to accept and observe it, and 

 for its friends and advocates not only to give 

 it an increased moral support, but also to aid 

 actively in its enforcement. All things con- 

 sidered, I think it may fairly be said that as 

 good results have been obtained in its en- 

 forcement as could have been reasonably an- 

 ticipated, and as an evidence of this I may 

 cite the official records of the police depart- 

 ments of the cities of Providence and New- 

 port, whose statements, which I assume to be 

 correct, indicate a large reduction of drunken- 

 ness and of that class of disorder and misery 

 which intoxicants provoke and stimulate. By 

 information received, and from various un- 

 official reports which appear to me to be re- 

 liable, I can not doubt that violation and 

 defiance of the law are still very general, and 

 therefore that some further legislation will be 

 necessary." 



The Chief of the State Police recommends 

 sundry amendments to the law, intended to 

 secure greater efficiency in the enforcement 

 of the amendment. He says : u The friends of 

 the prohibitory amendment seemed to feel that 

 with its adoption their duties and responsibili- 

 ties ceased. Some are of record as opposing 

 any new legislation to carry out its provisions, 

 a position shown soon after to be most unwise 

 by a decision of the Supreme Court that in 

 effect declared that without new legislation in 

 this direction in May last the amendment would 

 have been inoperative. Others objected to my 

 selection as Chief of State Police, but without 

 communicating to the General Assembly who, 



