Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/40

RHODE ISLAND in the State are the Roman Catholic; Regular Baptist; Protestant Episcopal; Congregational; Methodist Episcopal; Free Will Baptist; Unitarian, and African Methodist.

Railroads.—The railway mileage in 1919 was 550. Practically all of this was included in the lines of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroads. There was no new construction during the year.

Finances.—The receipts for the fiscal year 1919 amounted to $5,321,722. There was on hand at the beginning of the year $496,240. The total disbursements amounted to $5,142,533, leaving a balance on hand on January 1, 1920, of $675,429. The net bonded debt of the State in 1920 was $6,410,140. The total assessed value of the property was $850,000,000.

Charities and Corrections.—The institutions under the control of the State include a hospital for mental diseases, an infirmary, a workhouse, houses of correction, State Prison, and a reform school, all at Cranston. The Exeter School for the Care of Feeble Minded Children is under the control of the Penal and Charitable Commission. There is also under control of this board, a State Home and School for Children, at Providence.

State Government.—The governor is elected for a term of one year. Legislative sessions are annually, beginning on the first Tuesday in January and are limited to 60 session days. The Legislature has 39 members in the Senate, and 100 members in the House. There are 3 Representatives in Congress.

History.—It is claimed that the Northmen visited this region about 1000, and certain antiquities have been ascribed to them, but the question of the location of Vinland seems never likely to be definitely settled. The first English settlement was made at Providence in 1636 by Roger Williams, whose religious opinions had caused his expulsion from Massachusetts. He and other settlers bought lands from the Indians, and an unwonted degree of religious toleration was established. The charter granted by Charles II. to the colony was so liberal in its provision that it remained the fundamental law of the State till 1842. Rhode Island was firm in opposition to the King Philip War, yet that State suffered more severely therefrom than any of her sister colonies. King Philip himself was killed in what is now the town of Bristol. The great “swamp fight” occurred in 1675, in the Narragansett country, where more than 1,000 Indians were killed. The charter was temporarily suspended from 1686 to 1687 by Sir Edmund Andros, who, however, was never able to gain possession of the original document. Andros was

deposed in 1690, and a new government was immediately organized under the old form. This continued till, in 1841, a legally unauthorized people's convention met and framed a new constitution which action precipitated a crisis, culminating in the “Dorr rebellion,” and the adoption of a new constitution in 1842, this going into effect in 1843. Under this charter suffrage was limited, about 9,500 men composing the electorate in 1840, out of a population of 109,000. The present suffrage laws were adopted in 1888. Rhode Island was the last of the States to ratify the Federal Constitution in 1790. It took an active part in the Revolutionary War, being long held by the English.  RHODE, PAUL PETER, an American Roman Catholic bishop, born in Prussian Poland in 1871. Having come to America with his parents in his early childhood, he was educated at St. Mary's, St. Ignatius, and St. Francis colleges, Chicago, and was ordained a priest in 1894. From 1896 to 1909 he was in charge of various churches in Chicago. In 1908 he was consecrated bishop of Barca, and in the same year auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago. From 1909 to 1915 he also served as vicar-general of the Archdiocese. In 1915 he was appointed bishop of the Green Bay (Wis.) diocese.  RHODES, an island in the Mediterranean, formerly appertaining to Asiatic Turkey, near the coast of Asia Minor; is 40 miles long, with a breadth of 21 miles at its widest point; area, 570 square miles; pop. about 50,000. It is traversed by a range of mountains, on which grow forests of pine, in great request for shipbuilding. Beneath this range rises a tract of lower hills, on which a species of the vine is largely cultivated, which produces the perfumed wine so much praised by the ancients. The tract beneath forms the greatest portion of the island, and, sloping gradually down to the sea, is watered by numerous streams, which renders it capable of producing the most luxuriant crops. A great part of the island is uncultivated, but it yields corn, olives, pomegranates, lemons, wine, wax, honey and figs. The manufactures are silk, 

