NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



599 



Atlantic and St. Lawrence, 52 miles ; Connecti- 

 cut river system. 2 roads, Ashuelot and Sullivan 

 County, 49 miles; Fitchburg system. 8 roads, 

 Cheshire, Monadnock, and Peterborough and 

 Shirley, 67 miles; Concord and Montreal sys- 

 tem, 14 roads, Concord, Portsmouth, North 

 Weare, Acton, Suncook Valley, Suncook Valley 

 extension, Old Boston, Concord and Montreal, 

 Wing Road Branch, Pemigewasset Valley, 

 Whitefield and Jefferson, Profile and Franconia, 

 Lake Shore, Tilton and Belmont, Tilton and 

 Franklin, 370*5 miles ; Boston and Maine sys- 

 tem, 21 roads, Boston and Maine, Eastern New 

 Hampshire, Great Falls and Conway, Ports- 

 mouth and Dover, West Amesbury, Worcester 

 and Nashua, Manchester and Lawrence, Dover 

 and Winnipiseogee, Portland and Rochester, 

 Peterborough, Wilton. Wolfeborough, Northern, 

 Bristol Branch, Concord and Claremont, Hills- 

 borough Branch, Peterborough and Hillsbor- 

 ough, Manchester and Keene, Nashua and Low-" 

 ell, Upper Coos, and Portland and Ogdensburg, 

 589 miles. As will be seen, 960 miles of road, or 

 nearly nine tenths of the entire mileage of the 

 State, is in the hands of the Boston and Maine 

 and Concord and Montreal corporations. 



The net earnings of New Hampshire railroads 

 were never so large as this year, and the value 

 of their stock was never so great. During the 

 period when railroad properties elsewhere have 

 been shrinking in value, New Hampshire rail- 

 road shares have constantly appreciated. 



Insurance. Fire insurance appears to rest 

 on a more satisfactory basis than at any time 

 during the past five years. For more than 

 twenty years preceding 1885 New Hampshire 

 had depended almost wholly on companies from 

 outside the State. The Legislature of that year 

 enacted a stringent law, popularly known as the 

 "valued policy law," for regulating the dealings 

 of fire-insurance companies. Immediately alter 

 the law became effective (Aug. 29), the 58 foreign 

 companies retired from the State, leaving only 

 the 17 town mutual and 3 State mutual com- 

 panies and 1 strong stock company. Two stock 

 companies and 11 cash mutual companies began 

 business the same year. During 1886 10 ad- 

 ditional companies were organized and began 

 operations. On Jan. 1, 1889, there were 12 

 stock and 38 mutual companies doing business 

 in the State. During this year the foreign com- 

 panies began to return, until, on Dec. 1, 1890, 37 

 of the 58 companies had resumed business. 



Abandoned Farms. Early in the year 

 Commissioner of Agriculture N. J. Bachelder 

 published a pamphlet containing, among other 

 statistics regarding the State, a descriptive list 

 of abandoned farms, which could be purchased 

 at low prices. The list included 1,442 farms 

 having tenantable buildings upon them, located 

 among the counties as follow: Rockingham, 

 113; Strafford, 52; Belknap, 54; Carroll, 124; 

 Merrimack, 215: Hillsborough, 228; Cheshire, 

 211; Sullivan, 160; Grafton, 265; Coos, 20. 



As a result of this publication and other efforts 

 of the commissioner, 350 of such farms were re- 

 populated, mainly by Americans, before the 

 close of the year. 



The Stark Statue. The Legislature of 1889, 

 at the solicitation of public-spirited citizens, 

 an act appropriating $12,000 for the 



erection in the State House yard of a statue of 

 Gen. John Stark, of Revolutionary fame. Pur- 

 suant to this act, the Governor and Council 

 caused a statue to be erected, which was un- 

 veiled on Oct. 23, Hon. James W. Patterson de- 

 livering an oration. 



Political. The political contest of this year 

 was opened by the Democrats, who in State Con- 

 vention at Concord, on Sept. 2, nominated Charles 

 H. Amsden, the candidate of the party in the 

 canvass of 1888, for the office of Governor. The 

 platform contains the following declarations on 

 local issues : 



We arraign the Republican party of this State for 

 its extravagant expenditures. Under its long man- 

 agement the expenses of every department have yearly 

 grown heavier until the annual State and local taxe's 

 amount to nearly ten dollars for every man, woman, 

 and child. Meanwhile the value of taxable property 

 in agricultural towns has been gradually decreasing. 

 We arraign it for its conduct in dealing with the ques- 

 tion of intemperance, and tho liquor laws of the 

 State. It has never made an honest effort to impar- 

 tially enforce the prohibitory law ; but has used it as a 

 political bludgeon to compel assessments from liquor 

 dealers with which to purchase " floaters in blocks of 

 five." 



We demand the repeal of the so-called "nuisance 

 act,'' and the enactment of laws which will restrain, 

 regulate, .and control the sale of intoxicating liquors 

 in the interest of temperance and morality. 



We demand the passage of an election law modeled 

 on the Australian system, which will insure an abso- 

 lutely free and secret ballot. 



We demand the passage of laws which will protect 

 the lives, the safety ; and the health of operatives in 

 our mills and factories. 



We demand a reform of the laws of the State. 



The Prohibition State Convention met at Con- 

 cord on Sept. 8, and nominated Josiah M. Fletch- 

 er for Governor. The following was among the 

 resolutions adopted : 



The free manufacture of intoxicating beverages in a 

 Prohibition State is a fraud, and that honest prohi- 

 bition must strike at the root of the evil, the manu- 

 facture of liquors ; otherwise prohibition of its sale 

 must be attended with serious difficulties ; and we 

 therefore demand the unconditional prohibition by 

 statute law of the manufacture of intoxicating liquors 

 to be u^ed as a beverage within this State ; we also 

 demand the strict and impartial enforcement of all 

 prohibitory laws. 



On Sept. 17 the Republican State Convention 

 was held at Concord. It nominated Hiram A. 

 Tuttle for Governor on the first ballot. The 

 platform includes the following declarations: 



We advocate the most careful preservation and the 

 wisest utilization of our forests and the waters ot our 

 lakes and streams, and the promotion of the culture 

 of food fishes. The so-called abandoned farms of the 

 State may be readily converted into happy homes and 

 health-giving summer resorts for the sons and daugh- 

 ters of New Hampshire or their descendants who re- 

 side and have obtained wealth in other States. The 

 success which has attended the efforts of the present 

 State administration to draw attention to these farms 

 and to secure their profitable and beneficial occupa- 

 tion should be recognized, and those efforts should be 

 continued by our people. 



The Republican party recognizes in the dram shop 

 its most powerful opponent 'and the most dangerous 

 foe to the community, and will continue its efforts to 

 suppress it, consenting only to such changes in the 

 existing law as will conduce to that end and are ap- 

 proved by the honest and practical temperance men 

 and women of the State. 



