Rhode Island way, is the most delicious of sea foods. The "Rhode Island Clam Bake" is a State institution known the world over. While clams are not as plenty now as formerly, the supply is sufficient for many years yet to come. The fisheries of Narragansett Bay were men..ced for a number of years by the lack of a proper method of sewage disposal, but the city of Providence at a very great expense has provided a system of clarifying the sewage and this evil has been entirely removed. The total annual product of the lobster fisheries, according to the latest available data, was 1,425,000 pounds, valued at $152,000. This branch of the fisheries has been the especial study of the Commission on Inland Fisheries which, after many experiments, has devised a method of rearing young lobsters until they become able to take care of themselves, thus making it possible to increase greatly the number of lobters inhabiting the waters of the State.

Railways. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company controls railroad operations in the State. The railroads within the State comprise 202 miles of single track and a total mileage of all tracks operated of 446.40 miles and 359.96 miles single track of electric railway. The total length of single track, operated steam and electric, is 562 miles; the net income, steam and electric, amounted to $6,101,381.60 in 1915. After a long period of controversy over location and terms for the disposal of the so-called "Cove Lands," in the centre of the city of Providence, and over which the tide formerly ebbed and flowed, a union station was erected where all railroads now enter.

Commerce. The export commerce from Rhode Island ports is insignificant. Receipts from foreign imports at the port of Providence for the year ending 30 June 1915, amounted to $320,563.49, which included the custom districts of Providence and Newport. Congress has made liberal appropriations for the improvement of harbor facilities at Block Island. The wharves at Providence and other ports, which once gave room to Indiamen, whalers and privateers, now accommodate steamers and other vessels used in the coastwise trade and summer travel. The boat-building industry of Bristol is known the world over on account of the Herreshoffs, who have constructed several successful defenders of the America's Cup. Narragansett Bay has become a pleasure resort from Providence River to Newport in the east and Point Judith in the west, and in this way a large amount of money is brought into the State while wealthy men from New York and elsewhere, with summer homes in Rhode Island, have selected the State as their legal residence and pay personal taxes there.

Finance. Since the State recovered from the final disorder occasioned by the War for Independence its credit has always been of the highest, and its obligations promptly met. The construction of the new State House at Providence and other improvements due to the growing needs of the commonwealth have led to extraordinary expenditures within recent years and at the close of the year 1917 the net indebtedness was $6,437,226. On 1 Jan. 1917 the balance in the State treasury amounted to $32,839; the revenues during 1917 amounted to $4,507,000, making a total of $4,539,839. The ex

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penditures for the same year aggregated $4,046,292, leaving cash on hand 1 Jan. 1918 at $493,547. The assessed value of the property within the State in 1917 was real property, $495,006,727; personal property, $273,083,498, making a total of $768,090,225.

Population.-- Rhode Island was the most densely inhabited State in the Union by the census of 1910, which gave 542,610 as the total population or 508 inhabitants to the square mile. It is the only State east of the Mississippi River where a majority of the population are not natives of the State. In 1915 the population by sex and birth was:

The foreign-born whites numbered 135,894, of whom Canada contributed 23.5 per cent; Ireland 16.7 per cent; England 15.6 per cent and Italy 15.3 per cent. The chief city is Providence (q.v.) which (1915) had a population of 250,025; other cities are Pawtucket, 58,156; Woonsocket, 43,355; Newport, 29,631; Warwick, 29,431; Central Falls, 25,171; Cranston, 25,201; East Providence, 17,741. The urban population is 96.8 per cent of the whole. In 1916 there were 14,622 births in the State, 5,727 marriages and 9,512 deaths. The death rate in cities was 16.2 and in rural districts 14.3 per 1,000 of the population.

Education.- Rhode Island has excellent public schools, supported by local taxation and administered by local authority, and under the general supervision of a commissioner of schools. Education is compulsory, and while there is much illiteracy among certain classes of foreigners, parents, almost without exception, show eagerness to have their children educated. In 1916 the school population of the State was 127,479, of whom 76,359 were enrolled in schools. The State Normal School at Providence is a handsome building, and the State also maintains a College of Agriculture and the Mechanical Arts. The leading educational institution of the State, and one of the best in the United States, is Brown University. The Rhode Island School of Design furnishes educational advantages in the arts of the highest order. Since 1914 the minimum school term is 36 weeks. High schools are provided by every

town.

Religion.- The First Baptist Church of Providence, said to be the first in America, dates back to 16 March 1639. Roger Williams was one of the organizers. The Quakers were among the early settlers, seeking refuge from persecution in Massachusetts, and the Friends' School at Providence is one of Rhode Island's best-known educational institutions. The Congregationalists did not venture into Rhode Island until 1721, and while their proposal to come there was received with some bitterness by the descendants of those whom their ancestors had driven into the wilderness, they have become one of the leading denominations in

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the State. While Roman Catholics were as free to worship in Rhode Island as members of any other creed, it was not until 1813 or 1814 that mass was publicly celebrated in the city of Providence; the church of Saints Peter and Paul was completed in 1838. The present handsome cathedral stands partly on the site of the old church, and the Roman Catholic faith now includes about 275,000, or 46.1 per cent of the entire population of the State. (Official Catholic Directory for 1916). The Baptists have almost one-third of the total Protestant church membership, and the Episcopalians, who celebrated in 1872 the 150th anniversary of the old Saint John's Church at Providence, have about one-fifth. The Methodists date back in Rhode Island to 1787, and have a large membership and prosperous churches. The Universalists settled in Providence in 1772, and have since had a prominent share in the religious life of the State, besides having been instrumental in fostering many important public charities. The Presbyterians are increasing in numbers and have flourishing places of worship. Rhode Island contains its proportion of other sects and creeds, including the Jews, who were among the early settlers of Newport, where some of them achieved eminence.

Government. There are 33 towns and six cities within the State. The governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state and other State officers are elected for two years. The governor may exercise the power of veto and can pardon criminals, with the advice and consent of the senate. The members of the legislature, known officially as the general assembly, are elected for two years. In the upper house, called the senate, there is one senator for each city and town. The lieutenant-governor presides over this body. The lower house, or house of representatives, shall never exceed 100 members and no town or city shall have more than one-fourth of the whole number of members. Members of the general assembly are paid for actual attendance, with a maximum limit of 60 days. The house alone has the power to impeach, and the senate tries cases of impeachment.

The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as the general assembly may from time to time establish. Preliminary examination of persons charged with serious crimes and trials for minor offenses are held in the District Courts, the justices of which are chosen by the general assembly. The justices of the Supreme Court are elected by the general assembly in grand committee and continue in office until their positions are declared vacant by a resolution of the general assembly. In practice this has meant election for life, or until retirement by voluntary resignation. The presidential suffrage was extended to women in April 1917.

History. The colony originally consisted, as the name indicates, of more than one_community of independent origin, but to Roger Williams, the founder of Providence Plantations, history accords the distinction of having established the commonwealth. Providence Plantations was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, who fled with several companions from Puritan persecution. He was of Welsh origin, and of respectable family, and his arrival in

Massachusetts, 5 Feb. 1631, is recorded as "the coming of a godly minister." Williams soon showed that he had no sympathy with the Massachusetts principle of controlling through the civil government the consciences of men, and he frankly avowed his views in this regard. He thus incurred the censure of the Puritan magistrates and it was at first resolved to expel him from the colonial bounds, and when it was learned that he proposed to found another colony, it was determined to send him back to England. Williams received timely warning of this intention and he fled into the wilderness with several companions, and at the opening of spring in 1636 he began to plant on the east side of the Seekonk River. He had five companions, William Harris, John Smith, Francis Wickes, Thomas Angell and Joshua Verin. Here he was allowed to rest, being notified by Plymouth Colony that the place was within their jurisdiction. Some time between the end of April and the latter part of June 1636 he proceeded around what is now Fox Point and up Providence River, landing at the site of the future town, and here he selected a dwellingplace for himself and his associates. His object, as set forth by himself, was "the settling of the plantation, and especially for the receiving of such as were troubled elsewhere about the worship of God."

The settlement of Rhode Island was at first a separate colony, but it also owed its origin to the example and advice of Roger Williams. John Clark and others of Boston went to Providence in 1638 in search of an asylum where they might enjoy liberty of conscience. Roger Williams advised them to purchase from the Indians the large island on the east side of Narragansett Bay called by the Dutch "Roode Eylandt." This was done, and the adventurers, 18 in number, incorporated themselves as a body politic and elected William Coddington their chief magistrate. A third settlement was formed at Warwick in 1643 by a party of whom John Greene and Samuel Gorton were leaders.

Roger Williams perceived that the union of the weak settlements and the protection of the home government were necessary for their protection from the hostile and comparatively powerful Puritans, and in 1643 he went to England and brought back in the following year a charter which united the settlements of Providence and Rhode Island under one administration, the name of the colony being Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The new government went into operation in 1647, when the freemen of the several plantations met at Portsmouth, 19 May, and adopted laws for, carrying on the civil government. This charter was confirmed by Cromwell in 1655, and in 1663 Charles II granted the celebrated charter which remained for 180 years the supreme law of Rhode Island, both as colony and State, and gave place to a State constitution in 1843 only after the civil convulsion known as the Dorr Rebellion gave notice that the people were determined upon a change.

The colony suffered greatly in the war with King Philip. Providence was burned, and the outer settlements were laid waste and settlers murdered. The Great Swamp Fight, on Rhode Island soil, broke the power of the hostile Indian confederacy, and when King Philip was

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slain by treachery in the fastnesses of Mount Hope, the red men ceased to be a menace to the security of the settlements.

When Sir Edmund Andros was made governor of New England by James II he sought to take away the colonial charters, and in 1687 attempted to seize that of Rhode Island, but in some mysterious manner it disappeared and was not found until the accession of William and Mary in 1689. Roger Williams had died in 1683. Notwithstanding the harsh treatment he had received from the authorities of Massachusetts he was ever ready to use his influence with the Indians in behalf of the colonies, and he was instrumental in disarming Indian hostility at times when the colonists were ill-prepared for defense. Although a strong controversialist and bold and unsparing in his denunciation of those with whom he did not agree, he had a remarkable faculty of commanding the affection and esteem of men, as was signally shown in his ability to obtain for his colony the protection alike of Cromwell and of Charles II. He was exemplary in his private life and altogether worthy of the reverence which posterity, without regard to creed, attaches to the memory of him whom Whittier has truly called "soul-freedom's brave confessor." He imprinted on Rhode Island a character which it has never lost, and which has been handed down through all the varying changes of population, of liberality and tolerance, of the Sermon on the Mount interpreted in the ordinary every-day actions of men.

The colony grew with a steady and wholesome growth and religion flourished, although unsupported by the compulsory contributions of worshippers. The people were engaged in agriculture and commerce, and, in times of war, in privateering. During the struggle between Great Britain and France for empire in North America, Rhode Island took an active share in supplying troops and seamen, and the colony had 50 privateer vessels, manned by 1,500 sailors, at sea in 1756. The passion for privateering, with its excitement, its tests of courage and endurance and prospects of rich reward, became so strong that when Esek Hopkins was commander-in-chief of the Continental navy, with his vessels at Providence, he found it impossible to man them, owing to the fact that privateering offered better inducements. coast of the colony was infested with pirates in the early part of the 18th century, and some 30 of these ocean highwaymen were hanged at one time at Newport.

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It was difficult in earlier years to obtain men to fill the minor public places, and laws were passed which remained on the statute-books for many years, providing penalties for refusal to accept office. This modesty on the part of the forefathers is easier to understand in view of the fact that the expenses of the town of Providence at the outbreak of the Revolution did not exceed $1,000 a year.

The people of Rhode Island were among the foremost in defending American rights against the aggressions of George III and his ministers. In June 1772 a band of volunteers commanded by Abraham Whipple, who had distinguished himself as captain of a privateer in the wars against the French, burned the British revenue schooner Gaspee in Narragansett Bay. During the greater part of the War of Independence

Newport was occupied by the British, and on 29 Aug. 1778 a severe engagement was fought between the Americans, under Sullivan, and the British at Butt's Hill, R. I., in which the British suffered the greater loss. During the war the State furnished nearly 12,000 enlisted men.

Rhode Island was the last of the States to ratify the Federal Constitution, its assent not having been given until 29 May 1790, more than a year after the national government had gone into operation. As a small State, Rhode Island was peculiarly jealous of its rights, and was slow to assent to its adoption. As the Constitution was first formulated and adopted by some of the original States there was room for a well-grounded fear that the smaller States might be destroyed and absorbed through combinations of their more powerful neighbors. It was this fear mainly that caused Rhode Island to stand aloof from the combination, and it was not until that fear had been allayed by amendment to the original instrument that its adoption by the State was effected.

For some years after the Revolution the shipping of the State, being free from British restriction, became known in all parts of the globe then visited by vessels, and the foundations were laid of large fortunes afterward invested in manufacturing, when the shipping business declined. This change took place early in the 19th century, when New England's foreign commerce was practically ruined by the embargo, and when, on the other hand, the War of 1812 gave an impulse to domestic manufactures. Factories were established on every stream that afforded water-power, and Rhode Island grew in prosperity with her expanding industries.

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The charter of Charles II, which continued to be the fundamental law of the State, restricted the right of suffrage to freeholders having an estate worth $134, or renting for $7 to year, and their eldest sons. This was the cause of many wrongs, and of widespread popular protest. It was not uncommon for persons holding mortgages to threaten to foreclose them in order to influence votes, and the system gave rise to much intimidation and corruption. The conservative element strongly opposed a change, and when attempts to obtain reform through the regular course of legislation failed, representatives of the suffrage reform party met in convention and framed a constitution. They claimed that this constitution had been adopted by a majority of the adult male citizens of the State, and it was also alleged that a majority of those entitled to vote under the King Charles charter had voted in favor of the constitution. State officers and a

legislature were chosen under this constitution, and organized with Thomas W. Dorr as governor. The charter officials, under Gov. Samuel W. King, ignored the Dorr legislature and its enactments, and Governor King, at the head of a military force, dispersed the so-called insurgents. Dorr was convicted of treason and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but he was released some years later, and his sentence ordered expunged from the records of the State. A new constitution was adopted in regular form, and went into effect in May 1843. It retained the real estate qualification for foreign-born citizens, and this was not abolished until 1888.