MAINE. 



447 



the evening until 3 in the morning it moves 

 west again, after which it returns to the place 

 from which it started, to be ready for similar 

 oscillations the next day. The amplitude of 

 the oscillations is greater in the summer than 

 in the winter, and is greater in high magnetic 

 latitudes than it is near the equator. Thus, at 

 Cambridge, in June and July it is 15", and in 

 December and January 10". In consequence 

 of the diurnal change it is evident that a line 

 run in the morning cannot be retraced with 

 the same bearings at noon ; therefore, not 

 merely the date at which an important survey 

 is made, but also the time of day, should be re- 

 corded. A large and carefully-prepared map 

 of magnetic declinations is given ; and the re- 

 port closes with an appendix by Edwin F. 

 Johnson, of Connecticut, civil engineer and 

 surveyor, which throws additional light on the 

 variations of the magnetic needle along the 

 eastern boundary of the State, and explains the 

 term " due north " as used by land surveyors 

 to mean the true north as distinguished from 

 the magnetic north, or north as pointed out by 

 the magnetic needle. 



MAINE. According to official estimates, 

 based upon a comparison of the last vote for 

 Governor with that in I860, when the last cen- 

 sus was taken, the population of Maine in 1868 

 was 673, 177, showing an increase of 44,577, or 

 about 7 per cent., in eight years. The real and 

 personal property of the State on the 1st of 

 July, 1868, was estimated at $344,035,000 ac- 

 cording to a gold standard of valuation, or 

 about $500 to each individual of the popula- 

 tion. The amount of capital employed in man- 

 ufactures is $40,000,000, and the annual value 

 of the fabrics produced is $81,287,695. The 

 natural facilities for manufacturing enterprises 

 in the State are very great, and it is said that 

 the water-power, most of which is unemployed, 

 cannot be less than 1,000,000 horse-power. 

 There are 314 miles of railroad in progress, for 

 the completion of which capital has been sub- 

 scribed to the amount of $9,276,000 ; and char- 

 ters have been granted for additional enter- 

 prises of the kind to the extent of 265 miles. 

 The Atlantic and St. Lawrence Eailroad, which 

 was leased in 1855 to the Grand Trunk for 999 

 years, extends from Portland to Island Pond in 

 Vermont, a distance of 150 miles, 82 of which 

 are in the State of Maine. Some idea of the 

 business of this road may be formed when we 

 consider the statement of Eailroad Commis- 

 sioners that 20 trains pass a given point every 

 day, and that from November 1, 1867, to No- 

 vember 1, 1868, 83,162 cars, drawn by 6,404 en- 

 gines, passed from Danville Junction to Port- 

 land. This road has become very badly worn 

 by the heavy freightage constantly passing over 

 it, and it has been found necessary to invoke 

 the interference of the civil authorities to com- 

 pel the prosecution of repairs. These have 

 been finally undertaken, and are now making 

 rapid progress. 



The finances of the State are represented to 



be in a very promising condition. The public 

 debt now amounts to $5,053,000, and falls due 

 in 1871, $37,000 have been paid off during the 

 year, and a sinking fund is accumulating which 

 already amounts to $846,000. The receipts into 

 the Treasury during the last fiscal year amount- 

 ed to $135,853.36, and the expenditures of the 

 government were $114,280.77. 



Notwithstanding the increase in population 

 mentioned % above, there has been a decrease in 

 the number of children attending school, which 

 in some aspects of the case is rather alarming. 

 This decrease is exhibited in the following 

 table : 



No. of scholars, 1858, between 4 and 21 241,883 

 " 242,700 



1861, 



1864, 



1867, 

 1868, 



The decrease since 1858 

 " " 1860. . . . 



244,920 

 243,175 

 241,571 



229,797 



225,290 



Incr'se. Dec'w. 



817 

 2,220 



1,749 

 1,600 

 2,242 

 4,141 

 5,391 

 419 



19,720 



Nearly 20,000 decrease in eight years. 



This result has been attributed by compe- 

 tent authority to an actual decrease in the 

 number of children in the State, while the en- 

 tire population has been steadily advancing. 

 "When the census was taken in 1850, about 49 

 per cent, of the population were under the age 

 of 20 years, but in 1860 the proportion had 

 fallen to 36 per cent. 



The State Keform School contains 171 in- 

 mates; 58 of whom were committed during the 

 year : 45 of these were sentenced for larceny ; 1 

 for breaking in and entering houses ; 2 for be- 

 ing common runaways ; 7 for truancy ; 2 for 

 assault ; 1 for malicious mischief; 1 for cheat- 

 ing ; 1 for vagrancy ; 1 for robbery ; 1 for em- 

 bezzlement ; and 1 for sodomy. It was as- 

 certained, when these boys were received, that, 

 of the 58, 24 had intemperate parents; 15 

 were "much neglected; " 9 were truants; 16 

 Sabbath-breakers; 50 were profane; 51 ad- 

 dicted to lying; 21 drank ardent spirits; 42 

 used tobacco ; 4 never attended school, and all 

 were idle. At the Eeform School they are 

 employed in labor on the farm, or in the work- 

 shops of the institution, and very marked im- 

 provement in their character and dispositions 

 is to be observed in a few months. The 

 cost of the school, aside from the value of the 

 productions of the farm consumed by the in- 

 mates, was $23,471.90, but a sufficient amount 

 was earned by the boys to reduce the actual 

 expense to the State to about $13,945.60. 



The extreme rigor with which the liquor 

 law of Maine was enforced, during the year 

 1867, caused a violent reaction and excited 

 great hostility among a portion of the people, 

 not only to the provisions of the prohibitory 

 statute itself, but against the State constabu- 

 lary force through whose agency it had been 



