Justices of the peace are ap pointed by the governor trien nially. Each county has a sheriff elected by the general assembly for a term of three years. The town is the unit of local govern ment, the county being recog nized only for judicial purposes and to a certain extent in the ap pointment of several State admin istrative boards. There are five counties and 39 towns and cities. Finances.—The valuation of ratable property in the several towns and cities, as returned by the boards of assessors, as of June 30, 1936, was
520. The rate of State tax in 1934 was four cents on each $100, but State taxes on cities and towns were repealed on May 31, 1935. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1936, receipts were $15,148,548; expenditures
934; funded debt $28,479,500; and sinking fund $6,050,500. The estimated receipts and expenditures for the fiscal year 1938 were $12,675,000 and $13,532,041 respectively. The chief sources of revenue in the order named were: automobile licences, the gas olene tax, the tax on savings deposits, the receipts from the United States for rural post roads, corporate excise and franchise tax, inheritance taxes, the tax on insurance business, the gross earnings tax on public service corporations and the Public Wel fare Commission tax. Expenditures were for highways, parks, bridges $1,516,073; penal, corrective and charitable $2,735,458; education $1,642,252 ; and debt interest $1,244,651. On June 30, 1935, there were 35 banking institutions within the State with resources of $524,300,000, and deposits of $450,500,000.
The public school system of Rhode Island was established in 180o, abolished in 1803, and re-established in 1828. At the head of it is a commissioner of education, appointed annually by the State board of education, which is composed of the governor, the lieutenant-governor and six members elected by the general assembly (two biennially) for six years. Each town has a school committee elected by the people and inde pendent of the town or city council. School attendance is com pulsory for children between the ages of seven and 16. An act to promote Americanization was passed in 1919 obliging illiterate minors (16-21) to attend evening school. Rhode Island in 1917 accepted the provisions of the Federal vocational act, and a part time trade school was opened for boys over 14 years of age at Providence. The total population between five and 17 years of age as shown by the Jan. 1935 school census was 175,600. The average number attending the public schools in
was
the total expenditure for school purposes in
was $10,798,000.
The institutions of higher education supported by the State are the Rhode Island College of Education at Providence and Rhode Island State college at Kingston, a land grant college under the Morrill Acts of 1862 and subsequent acts. There are training-schools for teachers at Providence, Cranston, Bristol, Burrillville, Central Falls, Cumberland, East Providence, James town, Pawtucket, Newport, South Kingstown, Warren, Warwick.,
Westerly and West Warwick. The State also makes appropria tions ($30.0oo in 1936) to the Rhode Island school of design at Providence. Institutions for higher education other than those supported by the State, are Brown university (q.v.) and Provi dence college, both at Providence.
The majority of the charitable and penal institutions of the State are under control of the State Public Welfare Commission. The institutions under the control of the commission in 1937 were the Exeter school (for feeble minded) in the town of Exeter; the State home and school for children at Providence; and a group of institutions situated upon what is known as the State farm, in the city of Cranston, includ ing the State hospital for mental diseases, the State infirmary, the State reformatory for women, the State prison and Providence county gaol, the Sockanosset school for boys, and the Oaklawn school for girls. The two latter institutions are departments of the State reform school. In addition to the institutions under the Public Welfare Commission there are four others supported wholly or in part by the State: the Rhode Island School for the Deaf at Providence, The Soldiers' Home at Bristol, Butler hos pital (for insane) at Providence and the State sanatorium.
Rhode Island, with a total crop value in 1935 estimated at $2,900,000, ranked at the bottom of the list as an agricultural State. Chief among the reasons for this low rank are the smallness of the State and the sterile nature of the soil. The boulder clay or "hard pan" of which most of the surface lands are composed, form a very indifferent support for vegetation. The farm acreage declined from 3o9,000ac. in 1925 to 3o8,000ac. in 1935. Of this total only 78,000ac. were classified as crop land and only 66,000ac. produced crops for harvest in 1934. The num ber of farms rose from 3,322 in 1930 to 4,327 in
; but the average area per farm (71ac.) decreased but slightly. Only 597 or 13.8% of the farms were cultivated by tenants. In the value of farm land and buildings there was a slight increase during the period 1930-35, the values being $34,508,000 and $35,238,000 respectively. The chief crop in 1935 was cultivated hay. The
000ac. devoted to hay produced 54,000 tons valued at $832,000. The crop next in value was potatoes, which had a yield of 718,00obu. valued at $589,000. The only cereal crops produced on a commercial scale were Indian corn and oats. Apples were the principal orchard crop. The live stock products of Rhode Island are of greater value than the field crops. Live stock on the farms on Jan. 1, 1936, consisted of about 3,00o horses, 7,000 swine, 2,000 sheep and 28,00o cattle. Of the latter 22,000 were kept for dairy purposes.