Cream sugar and butter. In small bowl, dissolve salt in the water. Add rum. In a pint measuring cup, combine molasses with soda. Sift dry ingredients together. Add liquid ingredients alternately with dry to the butter mixture. Add raisins. Chill dough for at least dozen hrs. Divide dough into fourths. Roll 1 cm thick. Cut into 10 cm rounds. Put rounds 5 cm apart onto buttered baking sheets. Bake 375 until set, 12-15 min.--do not overbake. ----