610 



RHODE ISLAND. 



vided a man could run the 4 and turn off the 

 specified amount of cloth; but this they said they 

 could not do. 



The oyster industry has shown great prosper- 

 ity in the past three years. There are 3,226 of the 

 State acres leased; 1,892 return to the State $10 

 an acre, and 1,338 $5 an acre. With land yet to 

 be leased the income to the State for the current 

 year from this source is estimated at nearly $30,- 

 000. 



It is reported that valuable mineral deposits 

 have been discovered at Foster. One sample 

 tested $250 to the ton, containing gold, silver, 

 nickel, and copper. The average assay tests show 

 from $25 to $70 a ton. 



The number of business failures in the State in 

 1900 was 83, with liabilities amounting to $722,- 

 868; while in 1899 there were 98 with liabilities 

 of $1,817.747. 



The New Statehouse. The new Capitol, at 

 Providence, in which all the legislative sessions 

 are hereafter to be held, was ready for occupancy 

 Jan. 1, 1901. It is a fine and costly marble struc- 

 ture, with a dome and rich interior work of 

 marbles and carvings, and wall decorations in 

 color. The frieze around the dome bears the quo- 

 tation from Tacitus: "Kara temporum felicitas 

 ubi sentire quae velis et dicere quae sentias licet." 

 (O rare felicity of the times when it is permitted 

 to think what you wish, and to say what you 

 think.) 



In early colonial days in Rhode Island the 

 General Assembly, or what corresponded to the 

 present body of that title, met in the four towns 

 Newport, Portsmouth, Providence, and War- 

 wick. Newport was made, by the terms of the 

 royal charter, the principal seat of government 

 in H>(>3. But the Assembly still met in the four 

 towns. Portsmouth was finally omitted from 

 the circuit on account of its proximity to New- 

 port, and in the early part of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury South Kingstown was added to the list of 

 meeting places. Later, East Greenwich became 

 an occasional meeting place, while Warwick was 

 dropped. The Constitution of 1842 made New- 

 port, Providence, Bristol, East Greenwich, and 

 South Kingstown the meeting places of the Gen- 

 eral Assembly, but twelve years later an amend- 

 ment provided for the holding of an annual ses- 

 sion at Newport and an adjournment to Provi- 

 dence. The Legislature has met at Newport in 

 May, and after a brief sitting has adjourned to 

 meet in Providence in January. The session at 

 Providence has been more extended than that at 

 Newport, and the State offices have been there. 



Providence. The city celebrated this year the 

 centennial of the establishment of its free public 

 schools. A bequest of about $200,000 has been 

 made to the city by Anna H. Man, providing a 

 trust fund for Roger Williams Park. She left 

 $10,000 to the Society for the Prevention of Cruel- 

 ty to Animals. Charles H. Smith left the income 

 of about $200,000 of property to be used for in- 

 creasing the botanical collections at the park. 



The bank clearings for 1900 amounted to $326,- 

 2!!l!,700, which is nearly $9,000,000 less than those 

 of 1899. The number of building permits issued 

 was 1,122, against 1,268 the year preceding. A 

 new public library building was opened in March. 



Newport. The new city hall was formally 

 turned over to the city in October. 



Pawtucket. A bequest of $40.000 has been left 

 to Pawtucket institutions by Moses Pierce, of 

 Norwich, Conn. Pawtucket's debt amounts to 

 more than 10 per cent, of its total valuation. 



Watch Hill. The assessors' books at West- 

 erly show that the assessed valuation of prop- 



erty at Watch Hill in that town is approximately 

 $1,000,000. Within the last five years the cottage 

 settlement has steadily increased, until now there 

 are probably (30 villas. 



Political. The State election took place April 

 4. The Republican convention, at Providence, 

 March 13, made the following nominations: For 

 Governor, William Gregory; Lieutenant Gov- 

 ernor, Charles Dean Kimball; Attorney-General, 

 Willard B. Tanner; Secretary of State, Charles P. 

 Bennett; General Treasurer, Walter A. Read. 



The resolutions, after praising the national ad- 

 ministration and the acts of Congress, approved 

 the State administration and the action of the 

 General Assembly in proposing to alter the Con- 

 stitution by specific amendments, and said fur- 

 ther: "The insincerity of the State Democracy 

 appears in its denunciation of monopolies and 

 trusts, while leading members of its own organiza- 

 tion are actively engaged in their promotion, both 

 within and without the State; in its denuncia- 

 tion of imperialism and centralization of power 

 while selecting as its nominee for Governor a 

 Federal official in plain defiance of the provisions 

 of the Constitution that no person holding an 

 office of trust or profit under the United State* 

 shall act as Governor or other general officer: 

 in its boastful pretense of favoring the purity of 

 the ballot while so fraudulently stuffing the bal- 

 lot boxes in the Fifth Ward of Pawtucket at it- 

 last caucus as to cause the Democratic chairman 

 of the Board of Canvassers of that city, upon an 

 appeal taken by a Democrat under a Republican 

 caucus act, to decide his own party caucus was 

 fraudulent and void; and in assuming to be the 

 special friend of the workingman while seeking 

 the defeat of William Gregory, who as boy and 

 man has been a mill operative and wage-earner.'' 



The Democratic Convention met March 1">, and 

 named the following candidates: For Governor, 

 Nathan W. Littlefield; Lieutenant Governor, 

 Joseph H. Boucher; Secretary of State, Clark 

 Potter; Treasurer, Fayette Bartlett; Attorney- 

 General, Dennis J. Holland. 



After criticising the colonial policy of the ad- 

 ministration, denouncing trusts, and reaffirming 

 the principles of the party, the resolutions said: 

 " In the words of the Father of his Country wo. 

 declare that ' the basis of our political systems iu 

 the right of the people to make and alter their 

 constitutions of government! ' This, the first and 

 most important provision of our State Constitu- 

 tion, is now held to be null and void by a Re- 

 publican machine, which refuses to take one step' 

 toward its restoration. A constitutional con- 

 vention should be held at the earliest day pos- 

 sible. Among the changes needed in the organic 

 law of the State, the two following are the moefl 

 urgent: First, the establishment of a just repre- 

 sentation of the people in both branches of tb 

 General Assembly. 



" Second, the giving to the 30.000 registry 

 voters residing in our five cities the right, which 

 justly belongs to them as bearers of all the bur- 

 dens of citizenship, to vote for member- of eity 

 councils, constituting, as those bodies do. liy f;^r 

 the most important part of municipal govern- 

 ment. 



" We demand protection for the public and for 

 street railway employees by a ten-hour Ian. 

 and also that vestibules be placed upon all new 

 cars. 



" We call the attention of the voters of the 

 State to the now established habit of the Repub- 

 lican majority in the General Assembly of post- 

 poning all important business until after tin ir 

 successors have been elected." 



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