FINANCE — PRODUCTION ASD INDUSTRY— RAILWAYS t>07
Finance. — For the year 1920 the receipts and payment* were to the following amounts : —
Dollars Cash on hand January 1, 1920 . . . 675,429
Receipts during 1920 6,909,172
Total 7,584,601
Payments during 1920 6,187,173
Cash on hand Jan. 1, 1921 . . 1,397,428
The net bonded debt of the State in January, 1921, amounted to 9,200,082 dollars. The assessed value of the property within the State in 1920 was estimated as follows :— Real property, 600,000,000 dollars ; personal property, 390,000,000 dollars ; total, 990,000,000 dollars.
Production and Industry. — Rhode Island is a manufacturing State, though there is a little farming. In 1913 it had 5,292 farms with an area of 443,308 acres, of which 178,344 acres was improved land. The total value of all farm property in 1913 was 32,990,739 dollars.
According to the Federal census returns of manufacturing establish- ments in the State in 1914, the capital invested in manufacturing in- dustries amounted to 308,444,563 dollars ; the establishments numbered 2,190 ; their proprietors or firm members, 1,888 ; clerks, kc, 8,801, and wage-earners, 113,425 ; the materials used in the year were valued at 162,425,219 dollars, and the output at 279,545,873 dollars.
The dyeing and finishing of textiles with au average of 7,928 wage-earners and an output of 16,300,783 dollars in 1914, rank fourth compared with other industries of the State.
Rhode Island ranks fifth among the States in the production of cotton goods, third in woollen and worsted goods, sixth in silk and silk goods, and and fifteenth in hosiery and knit goods.
The manufacture of rubber and elastic goods is also an important industry. At Pawtucket during the close of the eighteenth century were established the first cotton spinning works in the United States. In 1914 the cotton mills of the State had 2,574,942 spindles, consuming 122,403,247 pounds of cotton costing 17,813,655 dollars.
Rhode Island has deposits of graphite, lime, and building stone.
On June 30, 1920, there were 17 national banks in the State, 3 state banks, with 1 branch, 15 savings banks, and 2 branches, 14 trust companies and 13 branches. The savings banks had 179,573 depositors with 113,200,366 dollars to their credit, being 630 38 dollars to each depositor.
Railways. — In 1919 the railroads within the State comprised 209 miles single track and 351 miles single track of electric railway. The total length of single track, operated steam and electric, was 550 miles ; the net income, steam and electric, amounted to 10,924,969 dollars.
There is a British, Italian, Portuguese, and Guatemalan Vice-Consul at Providence.
Books of Reference.
Rhode Island Manual. Prepared by the Secretary of State. Providence. The Reports of the various Departments of State Government.
Arnold (S. A.), History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (1636-1790). New York, 1874.
BartUtt (J. R.) (Bditor), Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, Providence, 1856-66.
