692 



RHODE ISLAND. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



divorce to the discretion of the court, and is so much 

 more favorable to easy divorces that instances are not 

 rare of persons coming to the State and remaining the 

 time required to obtain standing in our courts. 



Railroads. The following are statistics of the 

 railroads of the State for the year : 



Whole number of corporations (including Ap- 

 ponaug, operated by the New York, Provi- 

 dence, and Boston, and no separate account 



kept; 18 



Total amount of capital stock $39,654,170 86 



Total amount of indebtedness 30,773.463 23 



Total receipts 13,094,812 58 



Total expenses 12.254,836 46 



Total net earnings 1,689,934 34 



2,665,962 34 

 32,671,430 

 4,550,814 

 80WH& 

 354 

 885 

 7,820$ 



Total net surplu 



Total number of passengers 



Total tons of merchandise 



Total miles of track in this State 



Total number of locomotives 



Total number of passenger-cars owned. . 

 Total number of all other cars owned . . . 



Compared with previous year the result is : 



Total capital stock, increased $3,326,300 00 



Total indebtedness, increased 4,643,713 95 



Total receipts, increased 600,688 80 



Total expenses, increased- 1,316,900 32 



Total net earnings, decreased 481,951 54 



Total surplus, decreased 60,881 16 



Total number of passengers, increased 2,836.389 



Total tons of merchandise, decreased 698,977^ 



Total miles of track in this State, increase. . . 6- T % 6 % 



Political. The Republican State Convention 

 met in Providence on March 15th, and nomi- 

 nated the following ticket : For Governor, 

 Augustus O. Bourn, of Bristol ; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Oscar J. Rathbun, of Woonsocket ; 

 Secretary of State, J. M. Addeman, of Provi- 

 dence; Attorney- General, S. P. Colt, of Bris- 

 tol ; General Treasurer, Samuel Clark, of Lin- 

 coln. 



On the same day a convention of Independ- 

 ents in Providence nominated William Sprague 

 for Governor, and appointed a committee of 

 conference on the other nominations. 



The Democratic State Convention met in the 

 same city, on the 20th of March, and having 

 nominated Mr. Sprague for Governor, in con- 

 ference with the Independent committee, agreed 

 upon the following ticket for State officers : 

 For Lieutenant-Governor, Charles H. George, 

 of Providence ; Secretary of State, Warren R, 

 Perce, of Providence ; Attorney-General, Wil- 

 lard Sayles, of Providence ; General Treasurer, 

 James B. Cottrell, of Newport. Z. O. Slocum 

 was substituted for Mr. George. 



The election, on the 4th of April, resulted in 

 the success of the Republican ticket. The fol- 

 lowing is the vote : 



The Legislature chosen has 30 Republicans 

 and 7 Democrats in the Senate, and 55 Repub- 

 licans and 17 Democrats in the House. 



RITUAL MURDER CASE. See AUSTRIA-HUN- 

 GARY, page 47. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Rome The most 

 important event of the year was the seizure by 

 the Italian Government of the property of the 

 Congregation de Propaganda Fide. This body, 

 one of the committees of cardinals to which 

 the various departments of the Catholic Church 

 are confided, controls funds and property given 

 for missionary purposes in all countries. The 

 Italian Government undertook to seize and 

 sell this property, and give the Propaganda a 

 credit for the amount in the Italian debt, pay- 

 ing a yearly interest. Against this the Prop- 

 aganda appealed ; the case was tried in the 

 Italian courts, and finally carried to the Court 

 of Cassation, which sustained the Govern- 

 ment. The Congregation of the Propaganda 

 has under its charge a great missionary college, 

 and a printing-office established in 1626, in 

 which religious works in a great number of 

 languages are printed. It has also a museum, 

 founded early in this century by Cardinal Ste- 

 phen Borgia, and has a rich collection of early 

 maps, and geographical, ethnological, and lin- 

 guistic contributions from missions in all parts 

 of the world. Cardinal Siineoni, Prefect of the 

 Propaganda, by a circular to bishops in mis- 

 sionary countries, Oct. 20, 1882, appealed for 

 further contributions to this great collection. 



Among the other notable events was the 

 opening of a college in Rome for Armenian 

 theological students, under the direction of 

 Cardinal Hassoun, who belongs to that rite. 

 It had been established by Pope Leo XIII, by 

 his brief of March 1. 



On May 30, Pope Leo XIII issued a con- 

 stitution in regard to the Third Order of St. 

 Francis, a branch of the Franciscan order, em- 

 bracing persons living in the world, even in 

 the marriage state. The Pope revised and 

 amended the rule of the order, and recom- 

 mended it highly to the faithful. 



On August 17 the Pope addressed a re- 

 markable letter to Cardinals de Luca, Pitra, 

 and Hergenroether, in which he announced 

 that the Vatican Library would henceforth be 

 at the service of those who were prosecuting 

 historical labors. Under this policy, the Vati- 

 can archives had already been examined at the 

 instance of the English Government, and copies 

 obtained of documents supplementing what 

 was already known of various important events. 



On September 12 the Pope issued an en- 

 cyclical to stimulate Catholics throughout the 

 world to resort to the devotion of the Rosary, 

 to which, in Catholic annals, the victories of 

 Lepanto and Vienna, which saved Christen- 

 dom, are especially ascribed. 



On October 7 he received in St. Peter's a 

 great pilgrimage from all parts of Italy, and 

 replied to the address by Count Viancino. 



The venerable Father Beckx, General of the 

 Society of Jesus, feeling the infirmities of age, 

 sought to retire, or be aided injiis duties. For 

 the first time in the history of the order, a co- 

 adjutor to the General was elected by the pro- 

 curators of the various provinces assembled in 



