Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 20

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II > Part 20

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The steady increase in the business of courts, particularly in Providence County, which in 1865 included two-thirds of the total population of Rhode Island, and the utter inadequacy of the State House as a courthouse, led to the building of the Providence County Courthouse, at Benefit and College Streets in Providence, which was completed in 1878. Splendidly con- structed, and remarkable in its day for the accommodations which it provided, this courthouse was occupied by the Supreme Court of Rhode Island until its removal early in the twentieth century to the building at Angell, Benefit and Waterman Streets; by the Superior Court for Providence and Bristol Counties from 1905 until the completion of one wing of the new Providence County Courthouse in 1930; by the District Court of the Sixth Judicial District from its creation in 1886 until its removal to the old State House in Providence in 1901. The courthouse of 1878 has been razed to make way for the extension and completion of the new courthouse of 1930.

Other property acquired by the state of Rhode Island included the Providence high school building, 1875, replaced by the city by a new building on Summer Street, and used by the Rhode Island Normal School until 1898, and by the Supreme Court after 1905; an estate for the State Home and School for indigent children, which was opened in 1885; an estate for an agricultural experiment station and for Rhode Island School of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, afterward Rhode Island State College, buildings for which were completed in 1888; for Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf, for which a new building was available in 1892; land for a courthouse for Washington County, at West Kingston, on which a granite building was erected and completed in 1895; a courthouse for Woonsocket, completed in 1896; a training camp ground for the Rhode Island Militia, at Quonset Point, in North Kingstown, in 1892; land for state armories in Pawtucket, Newport and Bristol, 1893; land in Bristol on which buildings to accommodate the State Soldiers' Home were constructed, in 1897; land additional

It is of white marble, and was designed by Mckim, Reed and White. It is said to be the last building designed by Stanford White.

RHODE ISLAND STATE HOUSE, COMPLETED IN 1900

Alabi1 15: . 831 1.1812:34

14441

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EVOLUTION OF GOVERNMENT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION

to the old state prison site in Providence, on which a building for Rhode Island Normal School was erected in 1898. The program of acquisition and construction was carried forward with- out bond issues ; it was made possible in part by the maintenance of revenues after the state had paid off the indebtedness incurred during the Civil War. Repayment by the federal gov- ernment of part of the debt, reduction in interest charges, and relief from sinking fund com- mitments, made revenue available. The large program in the last ten years of the nineteenth century threatened exhaustion of the general treasury, and led to recourse to bond issues for the construction of the State House and other improvements.

NEW STATE HOUSE-The completion of the marble State House in Providence, in which the General Assembly met for the first time on the first day of the twentieth century, January I, 1901, followed by half a century the report of a committee of the General Assembly, in August, 1850, of a plan for a combined State House and City Hall, the latter for Providence. The proposed structure was to be erected on an artificial island 400 feet in diameter, to be constructed by filling in the center of the Cove, and to be connected with the shore by four bridges. A mound rising five feet above the general level of the "island" was to be surmounted by a building 200 by 68 feet, of Anglo-Italian architecture, crowned by a copper-covered dome. The state was to occupy the western half of the structure as a State House, the city the eastern half as a City Hall. A bill carrying authorization and appropriation was postponed in 1850 and was not revived. Instead, nearly $10,000 was expended for building an addition to the old State House. Providence erected the present granite City Hall, 1875-1878, at a cost of $1,067,000, exclusive of land.

An Assembly committee to investigate the ownership of the Cove land, part of which had been filled in by Providence in 1857, was appointed in 1866, and the next year the Assembly ordered an abstract of title prepared. Providence was aroused by the suggestion that the Cove might be filled in by the state with the purpose of utilizing the land, which the state claimed as lying between high and low water mark. While some proclaimed the Cove a nuisance because of odors emanating from the mud flats uncovered at low tide, others praised the beauty of the tree-lined circular mall, nearly a mile around, which followed the wall of the Cove, and was a favorite promenade. The city physician of Providence opposed filling the Cove because of the alleged menace to health were the city's "breathing place" abandoned. Besides, he predicted injury to the harbor if the silt theretofore deposited in the Cove should be carried further south, and if the natural flow of the tide, which was siphoned at higher speed toward and away from the Cove, should be interfered with. The city physician, if in error with reference to health, tide, and geography, was certainly an accurate prophet in his prediction that a filled coveland would be the coldest place in winter and the warmest in summer in the entire city ; it is. The state sold the coveland to the city in 1888, and authorized the city to fill in the Cove, leaving passages for the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck Rivers, and to abandon the park that had circled the old wall of the Cove .¿ The second union railroad station occupies part of the coveland.

The State House on Benefit Street was outgrown in twenty years from 1850, and in 1873 the General Assembly received a report suggesting the old west burying ground in Providence, at present Hayward Park, as a site for a new State House. The site was not popular and the project was abandoned; in 1878 Governor Van Zandt recommended the erection of an office building to provide accommodations for state officers. Meanwhile the Providence County Courthouse had been completed, and the courts had removed. No project other than the building of a State House was more uniformly recommended by the Governor ; thus : Padelford, 1870, 1871, 1873; Howard, 1875; Lippitt, 1876, 1877; Van Zandt, 1878; Littlefield, 1883; Bourn, 1884; Ladd, 1890, 1892; Davis, 1891. All found the accommoda-

#Held constitutional, Clark vs. Providence, 16 R. I. 337 ; Mowry vs. Providence, 16 R. I. 422.

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tions at the State House cramped and inadequate, in spite of the fact that as new divisions of service were inaugurated quarters outside were rented for them, and that the Elizabeth building, privately owned, had become so largely a State House annex or state office building that the state maintained a watchman there, to guard the state property. Besides the financial burden of rent, the scattering of state offices and inconvenience inevitably occasioned thereby were urged as good reasons for the construction of a building in architecture dignified and beautiful enough to represent the state of Rhode Island, and in accommodations reasonably adequate for housing state officers and their departments. Governor Ladd recommended approximately the present site in 1890, and in 1891 a commission presented plans for a struc- ture to cost $1,500,000. The people approved, 20,997 to 12,205, a bond issue in 1892, and a commission to build the new State House was created in 1893. The cornerstone was laid Octo- ber 15, 1896.

REPLENISHING THE TREASURY-The general treasury was barren at the time save for the proceeds of an initial issue of State House bonds. The general revenues had been exhausted by extraordinary expenditures, which included the cost of three new armories, at Bristol, Newport and Pawtucket; of two new courthouses, at South Kingstown and Woonsocket; of buildings for the Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf, Oaklawn School, Sockanosset School, and Rhode Island State College; of the building for Rhode Island Normal School, the walls for which had reached the second story; of the camp ground at Quonset Point; of the breachway to the pond at Block Island. Applications to the Supreme Court for advisory opinions brought answers that neither the General Assembly nor any state officer could borrow money on the credit of the state in excess of $50,000 without the consent of the people, although debts could be incurred for the payment of which the General Assembly might increase the revenue by taxation ;* and that the proceeds of the bond issue for the State House could not legally be diverted, even temporarily, for other purposes.§ The people approved in November an extension to $250,000 of the General Assembly's borrowing power. The Gen- eral Assembly authorized the General Treasurer to anticipate state taxes due from the towns by discounting tax orders. The court also ruled that the State House Commission was not limited by the original bond issue. Other bond issues for the State House carried the total bonded indebtedness for this purpose to $3,000,000. The State House estate, buildings (including power house and tunnel), furnishings and decorations cost $3,018,416.33. The city of Providence donated 454,838 square feet of land to the site. The architects were McKim, Mead & White of New York, and the design was by Stanford White. The Rhode Island State House was one of the last buildings designed by him. The builders were Nor- cross Brothers of Worcester. The dome, the only marble dome in the United States, rises, with the bronze statue on the lantern, to 313 feet above mean high water mark. The Secre- tary of State moved into the new State House in December, 1900, thus anticipating the meet- ing of the General Assembly in the New Year. The building, terrace approaches and grounds were completed June II, 1904, almost ten years from the day on which ground was broken, September 16, 1895.

THE GOVERNMENT OF 1901-The General Assembly in 1901 consisted of the Governor as presiding officer in the Senate; the Senate, including the Lieutenant Governor and one Senator each from thirty-seven towns and cities; the House of Representatives, seventy-two members. The cities, with dates of incorporation, were: Central Falls, 1895; Newport, 1853; Pawtucket, 1885; Providence, 1831; and Woonsocket, 1888. Cranston rejected a city charter in 1895; and was incorporated as a city in 1910. Johnston rejected a city charter in 1897; the compact part of the town was annexed to Providence in 1898. The towns included the current list for 1930 except Narragansett, which was incorporated as a district

*In re the Incurring of State Debts, 19 R. I. 611.

§In re the State House Fund, 19 R. I. 393.

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EVOLUTION OF GOVERNMENT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION

in 1888, and as a town in 1901 ; and except West Warwick, which was taken from Warwick in 1913. The membership of the Senate was thirty-eight in 1901; thirty-nine in 1902, with the addition of a Senator from the new town of Narragansett; thirty-nine from 1902 to 1910, when the Lieutenant Governor, replacing the Governor as presiding officer, lost his member- ship; thirty-eight from 1910 to 1914, when the new town of West Warwick sent a Senator ; thirty-nine from and after 1914; forty-two in 1930, with the addition of three Senators from . Providence. The House of Representatives continued with membership of seventy-two until 19II. The people elected the time-honored list of general officers-Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and General Treasurer. The Governor acquired the veto power in 1909.

The judicial department included a Supreme Court, consisting of a chief justice and six associate justices .¿ The court sat as a body en constitutional questions, but otherwise was dividedtt into an appellate division, consisting of four justices, and a common pleas division. One justice presided at jury trials and sat in chambers. An ingenious member of the bar raised the question as to whether Rhode Island, under the practice which permitted the Chief Justice to assign justices to either appellate or common pleas division, had one supreme court or so many supreme courts as could be constructed by rotation of four of seven members.## The Supreme Court, in one of the ablest arguments ever written by it, held ** that the court as constituted was one supreme court in several divisions, each division exercising a jurisdic- tion assigned to it by the General Assembly under the provisions of the Constitution .*; The argument of counsel had challenged the court to a most searching analysis of its organization and jurisdiction. The situation was cleared by the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, 1903, providing for a supreme court with final revisory and appellate jurisdiction, and the court and practice act of 1905, which established a supreme court of five justices, and a supe- rior court with trial jurisdiction in law and equity. The superior court, as established in 1905, consisted of a presiding justice and five associate justices. The number of associate justices was increased to six in 1913, to seven in 1922, to eight in 1930. Original jurisdiction of minor civil and criminal cases was vested in twelve judicial district courts, each with a presiding justice; in four districts there was also an assistant justice, and in seven a clerk. For ten districts justices of the peace had been designated to take bail and issue warrants. Minor police complaints were heard in Providence in a police court, two judges for which, presiding alternately, were elected by the city council. In each of twenty-four towns probate jurisdic- tion remained in the town council; in Bristol, Central Falls, Cranston, East Providence, John- ston, Lincoln, Newport, North Providence, Pawtucket, Providence, Warwick, Westerly and Woonsocket courts of probate had been established.

The principal boards and commissions in state service in 1901 were (I) the Commission- ers of Sinking Funds, (2) the State Board of Education, (3) the Commissioners of Shell Fisheries, which, with the exception of ex-officio members, were elected by the General Assem- bly in grand committee; (4) the State Board of Charities and Corrections, (5) the State Board of Health, (6) the Board of Managers of Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, (7) the Board of Control of the State Home and School, (8) the State Board of Soldiers' Relief, (9) the Harbor Commissioners, all appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, (10) the State Board of Agriculture, (II) the State Board of Pharmacy, (12) the Board of Female Visitors to Institutions Where Women are Imprisoned. (13) the State Board of Registration in Dentistry, (14) the Board of Trustees of the Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf, (15) the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries. (16) the Commissioners of Pilots, (17) the Commissioners of Birds, all appointed

#Four, 1875 to May 27, 1891 ; five until May 3, 1897.

ttBy the Judiciary Act of 1893.

##One hundred twenty combinations are possible with the chief justice as a member of the panel.

** Floyd vs. Quinn, 24 R. I. 147.

** Article X, section 2.

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by the Governor. The State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Public Schools con- stituted a Board of Trustees of Rhode Island Normal School. Executive and administrative officers, other than the five general officers elected by the people, were: (1) the Commissioner of Public Schools, appointed by the State Board of Education; (2) the State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner,* (3) Inspector of Beef and Pork, (4) Inspector of Lime, (5) Inspector of Scythe Stones, (6) Inspector of Cables, elected by the General Assembly in grand committee; (7) the Commissioner of Dams and Reservoirs, (8) two Factory Inspec- tors, appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate; (9) Commis- sioner of Industrial Statistics, (10) Commissioner of Pawtucket River, (II) Sealer of Weights, Measures and Balances, ( 12) State Assayer of Liquors, (13) Railroad Commis- sioner and Deputy Railroad Commissioner, (14) Executive Secretary to the Governor, all appointed by the Governor. The Governor appointed also twenty-three medical examiners.

Incidentally to changing the time of electing and appointing members of boards and com- missions, commissioners and other state officers, from the May session, which had been abol- ished by constitutional amendment which specified an annual session in January, to the January session, the General Assembly in 1901 made all appointments by the Governor, except that of Executive Secretary, ; conditional upon approval by the Senate. The similar provision in the Constitution of the United States gives the President the power to nominate and the Senate the discretion to approve or disapprove, constraining the President, in the instance of disap- proval, to make another nomination. The Rhode Island statute permitted the Senate to elect an officer if, after three legislative days, the Senate had not confirmed the Governor's nomina- tion. The General Assembly thus curtailed the rising influence of the Governor associated with the exercise of the power to appoint; but, instead of taking to itself the prerogative of election in grand committee, the General Assembly designated the Senate as the ultimate repository of the appointing power, through the effective means given to the Senate to enforce its "advice" as the condition for its "consent." When Governor Garvin, Democrat, under- took, in 1903, to replace veteran public officeholders and some whose original appointments had been comparatively recent, the Senate laid the Governor's nominations on the table, and. after three legislative days in each instance, elected a Police Commissioner for Providence, two Factory Inspectors, a Commissioner of Industrial Statistics, members of the Returning Board, of the Board of Health, of the Board of Soldiers' Relief, of the Board of Charities and Corrections, of the Board of Pharmacy, Commissioners of Inland Fisheries, Trustees of the Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf and Commissioner of Pawtucket River. The list of elections by the Senate during the administration of Governor Higgins, Democrat, was even longer.

The statute of 1901 made provision (1) for appointments or elections occurring regularly at the expiration of legal term of office, and (2) for recess appointments by the Governor. The Railroad Commissioner and a member of the State Board of Agriculture died in 1907 while the General Assembly was in session, and Governor Higgins asked the Supreme Court for an advisory opinion as to the legal and constitutional method of filling the vacancies. The Court ruled that no provision for filling either vacancy had been made by statute or Constitu- tion .¿ The omission was cured by statute which provided for filling vacancies occurring while the Assembly was in session in the same manner as if the vacancy were by expiration of term.

COURT OPINION ON APPOINTIVE POWER-In the following year, 1908, the Senate asked the Supreme Court for an advisory opinion as to the constitutionality of the statute of 1901 so far (I) as it "gives the power to appoint certain officers to the Governor and the Senate jointly," and (2) as it "gives to the Senate the power to appoint certain officers." The

*The same person ; the State Auditor was also Insurance Commissioner.

tThe Barbers Commission act of 1902 provided for appointment by the Governor ; whence it is said that the Governor has power to appoint his secretary and the Barber Commission.

#In re Filling Vacancies by the Governor, 28 R. I. 602.

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Supreme Court entertained a reasonable doubt that the statute was constitutional, which was not, however, so conclusive as to warrant a declaration that it was unconstitutional.§ Three justices ** agreed that under the Constitution of 1842 (until the adoption of Article XI of amendments) "it is not clear that the elective power which was retained by the General Assem- bly could be exercised otherwise than by the two houses in grand committee. To alter the method of election so plainly set forth in the Constitution by giving to one constituent part of the grand committee (and that the lesser in number of members) the full power of election which the Constitution had given to both bodies assembled in grand committee would seem to be a subversion of the system of government which the people had adopted. Such a change could not be effected by a statute, but if desirable, must be secured by an amendment to the Constitution." Article XI of amendments expressly omitted the general elective power con- ferred upon the grand committee by Article VIII, section 3, which it replaced. The majority of the Supreme Court held, therefore, that the General Assembly could confer upon the Gov- ernor and the Senate jointly the power to appoint, or upon the Senate the power to elect offi- cers, adding : "If the reasons which we have thus briefly adduced are not absolutely conclu- sive, they cannot fail, it seems to us, to sustain that reasonable doubt, which . . . ought to restrain a court from declaring an enactment of the legislature unconstitutional." Johnson, J., dissenting from the reasoning of the majority, concurred in the opinion, saying: "In my opinion the capacity of the Senate to receive and exercise the power of election was neither increased nor diminished by the adoption of said amendment. A consideration, however, of the provisions of the Constitution . . .. has raised in my mind a reasonable doubt upon the question of the constitutionality of the statutes under consideration. In passing upon the constitutionality of a statute a reasonable doubt must be resolved in favor of its constitution- ality. I, therefore, concur in the conclusion reached by the other justices." Blodgett, J., also dissenting from the reasoning of the majority, agreed with them that the statute in 1901 was constitutional. He argued that the Eleventh Amendment, "if it did not deprive the General Assembly of the constitutional authority for electing such other officers in grand committee. unquestionably relieves the General Assembly of the constitutional obligation to proceed in that manner, leaving to the Legislature to provide by statute for the election of such 'other officers.'" His lengthy review of practices and precedents led him to the conclusion that the General Assembly, unless the Constitution specifies otherwise, has power to provide at dis- cretion for the appointment or election of public officers. "In common with many other Con- stitutions," said he, "our own Constitution does not make appointment to office an executive function; and if it may be conferred on the executive by statute, it is difficult to find the express constitutional prohibition against conferring the same power on other depositaries, as for example, upon a branch of the legislative department." Considering the suggestion that the statute of 1901 was "irrepealable" legislation, Blodgett said: "Whether the provisions are wise or otherwise is not our concern, since the questions submitted are questions not of policy but of power. It is sufficient to say that there is nothing in the terms of the act which purports to render it irrepealable. If it be objected that the power will not be voluntarily surrendered by the Senate, it may be replied that this power was voluntarily conferred by the House of Representatives, and that it is always in the power of either house to refuse to concur in the repeal of existing law in any case. . ... In either case the appeal is to the people at the polls." These were the facts that confronted and challenged the Supreme Court in its consideration of the legislation of 1901: (1) the General Assembly had abrogated its own power to elect officers in grand committee; (2) assuming that the provision for election in grand committee in Article VIII, section 3, limited the application of the principle of the distribution of powers to the extent that in Rhode Island the selection of administrative officers was not an executive

§ The Election of Officers by the Senate, 28 R. I. 607.

** Douglas, C. J .; Dubois, Parkhurst, J. J.

R. I .-- 46

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function, the limitation had been repealed by the Eleventh Amendment; (3) the General Assembly had conferred upon the Governor and the Senate jointly a power to appoint or upon the Senate alone a power to elect ; (4) the Senate's power to elect was irrevocable without the concurrence of the Senate in legislation to repeal it; (5) the legislation of 1901 marked a radical change in the method of selecting administrative and executive officers, from election by the grand committee to election by a smaller constituent body; (6) the change was so radi- cal as to suggest to the majority of the court a reasonable doubt that it could be effected with- out constitutional amendments.

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 20

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716