RHODE ISLAND. 



ominations were made by the Prohibition and 

 Socialist-Labor parties. 



The Republican candidates were elected. The 

 vote for Governor stood: Gregory (Republican), 

 20,043; Littlefield (Democrat), 17,184; Reed 

 (Socialist-Labor), 2,858; Metcalf (Prohibitionist), 

 1,848. 



On joint ballot the Republicans have 90 votes 

 in the Legislature, to 14 of the Democrats. 



The amendment to the Constitution changing 

 the time of election was carried by a vote of 24,- 

 351 to 11,1);")!), and the proposition to issue bonds 

 to finish the Statehouse was carried by 28,253 

 to 15,240. 



At the November election the vote was: Mc- 

 Kinley, 33,784; Bryan, 19,812; Woolley, 1,529; 

 Malloney, 1,423. 



Legislative Session. The adjourned session 

 at Providence opened Jan. 30 and closed May 4. 

 The Newport session began May 29 and ended 

 June 13. Frank E. Holden was Speaker of the 

 House. The Governor presides over the Senate. 



A constitutional amendment was passed and car- 

 ried at the November election. It provides that 

 the annual election of State officers shall be held 

 in November instead of in April, and voters to be 

 registered must be on the list before July 1. The 

 method of procedure for filling vacancies was 

 changed. The provision requiring votes for State 

 officers to be sent sealed to the Secretary of State, 

 and to be counted and declared by the Legislature 

 in grand committee, was repealed. It is provided 

 also that there shall be but one annual session of 

 the Legislature, which is to be in Providence, be- 

 ginning the first Tuesday in January, and mem- 

 bers are to receive $5 a day instead of $1, as here- 

 tofore. 



A voting-machine commission was created, and 

 $15,000 appropriated. It is to examine machines 

 and report to the General Assembly. The Secre- 

 tary of State is to buy the machines at a cost not 

 exceeding $250, and furnish them to cities and 

 towns applying for them. 



An appropriation of $5,000 was made for an ex- 

 hibit at the Pan-American Exposition; the Gov- 

 ernor is to appoint five commissioners, who are to 

 serve without compensation, and an executive su- 

 perintendent with salary. 



The game laws were amended. A penalty not 

 to exceed $500 was prescribed for the killing of 

 a deer before Feb. 1, 1905, except in the case of 

 a person killing a tame deer of his own. It was 

 made unlawful to take or kill a rabbit, hare, or 

 gray squirrel between Jan. 1 and Oct. 15. The 

 open season for hunting birds was changed also. 

 A fine of $20 or imprisonment for thirty days or 

 both was imposed for fishing otherwise than with 

 a single hook and line, or taking fish from any 

 private waters for breeding fish without the own- 

 er's consent, and a fine of $15 for taking or having 

 in possession black bass less than 8 inches long. 



A law was passed to prevent importation of 

 diseased cattle. A bounty of $5 was offered for 

 every wild fox killed. 



A State commission of five members, to be ap- 

 pointed by the Governor, was created for con- 

 structing side paths and keeping them in order. 

 The paths are to be 3 to 6 feet wide, and a license 

 fee of 50 cents to $1 is to be charged. 



The extreme penalty for dealing in obscene lit- 

 erature was raised from one to two years' imprison- 

 ment, and the fine, formerly $500, was placed at 

 to $1.000; and it was made unlawful to use 

 instrument uttering language or showing pic- 

 s tending to corrupt youth, 

 ther enactments were: 

 inscribing a penalty for counterfeiting or imi- 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 611 



tating trade-marks, labels, etc., which are to be 

 filed with the Secretary of State. 



Providing a penalty of $20 for wearing a badge 

 of Spanish War veterans without right. 



Extending from six to twenty-four hours the 

 time that persons arrested without warrant for 

 cruelty to animals may be kept in custody. 



Permitting manufacturing corporations to in- 

 crease or reduce their capital stock only on a three- 

 fourth vote of all the capital stock, all shares to 

 have equal right to vote. 



Permitting executors and administrators to pro- 

 vide for perpetual care of burial lots. 



Requiring insurance companies to pay 2 per 

 cent, tax on gross premiums and assessments on 

 property and lives. 



Making the salary of the Railroad Commissioner 

 $2,500 instead of $1,000, and providing $500 for 

 salary of the deputy; requiring the railroad cor- 

 porations to provide for the salary and expenses 

 of the commissioner, not more than $4,000. 



Defining the legal weight of measures of certain 

 commodities apples, oats, coal, wheat, etc. 40 

 in all. 



Providing for an issue of additional Statehouse 

 bonds, not to exceed $700,000, for finishing and 

 furnishing the new Statehouse at Providence and 

 laying out the grounds, to be voted upon in No- 

 vember. 



An act creating a police commission for New- 

 port was passed. The commission, which is to be 

 appointed by the Governor, can appoint the chief 

 of police, and has power to compel the production 

 of books and papers, to punish for contempt, and 

 is to have general control of the department. The 

 question of the constitutionality of this act, so far 

 as the power of appointment of the chief of police 

 is concerned, w r as brought before the Supreme 

 Court in August, and the Chief Justice decided 

 that there was nothing contrary to the Constitu- 

 tion in that. 



The law exempting manufacturing corporations 

 from taxation for a certain number of years came 

 before the court, and was upheld. 



The act of 1899 prohibiting the use of trading- 

 stamps was pronounced unconstitutional by the 

 Supreme Court. 



Appropriations were made, among which were: 

 For expenses of the General Assembly, $30,400; 

 judicial expenses, $134,500; education, $238,300; 

 for free public libraries, $7,000; for the indigent 

 insane, $10,000; State printing and binding, 

 $42,000; military affairs, $47,500; Board of Chari- 

 ties and Corrections, $270,500; salaries, $139,500; 

 clerical assistance, $11,200; interest on Statehouse 

 bonds, $70,500. 



At the Newport session George P. Wetmore was 

 elected United States Senator, to succeed himself. 

 John H. Stiness was chosen Chief Justice, succeed- 

 ing Charles Matteson, resigned, and John T. 

 Blodgett was elected an Associate Justice. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. General. 

 The closing year of the century, consecrated 

 by the Pope to solemn homage to the Divine Re- 

 deemer, was notable chiefly for the pilgrimages 

 which flocked to Rome during the entire twelve 

 months of jubilee. It was formally inaugurated 

 on Christmas eve of 1899 by the ceremony of 

 opening the holy door, and closed again a year 

 later by a celebration in which the porta sancta 

 was sealed up by his Holiness in person, to re- 

 main closed until the dawn of the twenty-first 

 century. But within the twelve months begun 

 on Dec. 24, 1899, Rome welcomed an influx of 

 visitors greater than in any year since it was the 

 mistress of the world. No count was kept of the 

 jubilee pilgrims, but even in the summer season 



