MAINE. 



509 



shall be punished by fine not exceeding five hundred 

 dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, 

 or both, according to the nature and aggravation of 

 the offense ; and in any indictment for said offense 

 it shall not be necessary to allege or prove the title 

 or ownership of the ice so cut, injured, marred, dam- 

 aged, or destroyed. 



By another act the manner of determining 

 the result of any election by ballot was thus 

 prescribed : 



In order to determine the result of any election by 

 ballot, the number of persons who voted at such 

 election shall first be ascertained by counting the 

 whole number of separate ballots given in, which 

 shall be distinctly stated, recorded, and returned. 

 No person ineligible to the office shall be declared 

 elected ; but votes_ cast for such person shall be 

 counted to determine whether any person has re- 

 ceived the necessary number of all the votes cast. 

 In case of Representatives to Congress and to the 

 State Legislature, registers of deeds, county and 

 State officers, except _where a different rule is pre- 

 scribed in the Constitution, the person or persons, 

 not exceeding the number to be voted for at any one 

 time for any such office, having the highest number 

 of votes given at such election, shall be declared to 

 be elected, and the Governor shall issue a certificate 

 thereof. If, by reason of two or more of the persons 

 having the highest number of votes receiving an 

 equal number, the election of the requisite number 

 of officers can not be declared without declaring more 

 than the requisite number elected, no one ot those 

 having an equal number of votes shall be declared to 

 be elected. In all other cases no person shall be 

 deemed or declared to be elected who has not re- 

 ceived a majority of the whole number of votes count- 

 ed as aforesaid. 



The law governing the sale of railroad tick- 

 ets is most liberal to the passenger and just to 

 the companies. As amended at this session it 

 provides as follows : 



No railroad company shall limit the right of a 

 ticket-holder to any given train, but such ticket- 

 holder shall have the right to travel on any train, 

 whether regular or express train, and shall have the 

 privilege of stopping at any of the stations along 

 the line of the road at which such trains stop ; and 

 such ticket shall be good for a passage as above for 

 six years from the day it was first used : provided, 

 that railroad companies may sell special tickets at 

 less than the regular rates of fare, to be used only as 

 provided on the ticket. 



Another act of the Legislature gives to the 

 person who labors at cutting and peeling hem- 

 lock bark a lien for the amount due for his 

 personal services, which shall take precedence 

 of all other claims and be enforced by attach- 

 ment. The occasion for such an act arises 

 from the immense tanning interest of the State. 

 The manufacture of sole leather is carried on 

 quite extensively in the eastern section of the 

 State in Penobscot County, the northern parts 

 of Hancock and Washington, and the southern 

 part of Aroostook Counties. That portion of 

 the State most heavily timbered with hemlock is 

 a tract of land extending some 65 miles north- 

 erly and southerly and some 90 miles west- 

 erly from the east line of the State, the south- 

 ern boundary of this tract being some 25 to 35 

 miles from the coast-line, and embracing near- 

 ly one fifth of the area of the State, watered 

 principally by the Penobscot and St. Croix 



Rivers. On this tract there either have been, 

 or are now, at intervals extensive forests where 

 the hemlock largely predominates, in some 

 cases remarkably heavily timbered, the trees 

 standing thick and growing to a magnificent 

 size, measuring from two to four feet in diam- 

 eter and reaching 60 to 80 feet in height. 

 There are now fully 800 men employed in the 

 tanneries, and $2,750,000 capital invested be- 

 sides the leather and hides, using 90,000 cords 

 of bark and manufacturing 9,000 tons of leath- 

 er annually. One firm do more than one half 

 of this amount of business, and besides during 

 the past year manufactured 900 tons of hem- 

 lock extract and 12,000,000 shingles at Houl- 

 ton. The peeling, yarding, hauling, boating, 

 and otherwise handling 90,000 cords of bark 

 require the labor of many men and teams ; a 

 large percentage of the expense is for labor. 

 Probably the labor and supplies amount to 

 fully three quarters of its value. The freight- 

 ing of the hides for 9,000 tons of leather from 

 Boston and of the leather in return, where in 

 many cases they have to be drawn with teams 

 from five to ten miles from the railroad to the 

 tanneries and return, makes an additional item. 

 The peeling of hemlock makes it available as 

 lumber; the removal of the bark and season- 

 ing of the heavy timber in one season reduce 

 the specific gravity nearly one half, so that it is 

 easily handled and floats as well as spruce. 

 In the winter of 1877, 18,000,000 feet of hem- 

 lock were hauled into the Penobscot and nearly 

 as large a quantity into the St. Croix waters. 

 The business has grown materially since 1870 

 the whole leather-tanning business in the 

 State in that year being 781 men employed, 

 $1,606,740 capital invested, paying $285,882 

 wages, and using 63,470 cords of bark. This 

 amount was divided among 123 establishments. 

 The amount now invested in Eastern Maine 

 exceeds this by more than one million dollars. 



More than 28,000 barrels of pickled fish were 

 inspected by the State Inspectors during 1877, 

 of which 22,157 barrels were mackerel, 4,194 

 herring, and 2,186 codfish. 



The State military force is comprised in the 

 first regiment, containing ten companies, three 

 unattached companies, and one company of 

 artillery, and over 800 officers and enlisted 

 men. There are several cadet organizations 

 in schools, which have promoted good results. 



In 1877 there was a surplus of $300,000 in 

 the State Treasury, and the State tax for that 

 year was three mills on the dollar. For 1878 

 it was raised to five mills. The annexed state- 

 ment will show the rate of State taxation on 

 each dollar of the valuation, from 1865 to 1876 

 inclusive: 1865, 15 mills; 1866, 7; 1867, 6; 

 1868, 5; 1869, 7; 1870, 6; 1871, 5; 1872, 5|; 

 1873, 5; 1874, 5; 1875, 4; 1876, 3f. 



The Land Agent's report appeared in April. 

 During the year there have been conveyed to 

 persons holding certificates as settlers on the 

 State lands 16,454-98 acres; to Swedish im- 

 migrants 1,968-59 acres; for cash 252.36 acres; 



