410 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



CHESTER B. JORDAN, 

 GOVERNOR OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



hibitions. The Granite State Dairymen's Asso- 

 ciation and the New Hampshire Horticultural So- 

 ciety receive aid from the State, and have pro- 

 moted the dairy and horticultural interests. Nu- 

 merous poultry associations are active. 



Twenty-five Farmers' Institutes were held in 

 1900, each meeting consisting of three sessions; a 

 meeting in connection with the Granite State 



Dairymen's Associ- 

 ation was held at 

 Lancaster in De- 

 cember, a good- 

 roads meeting at 

 Newport in May, 

 and others. 



The statutes for- 

 bid the sale of imi- 

 tation butter col- 

 ored to resemble 

 pure butter, and 

 forbid such colored 

 product to be 

 served in restau- 

 rants, boarding- 

 houses, or hotels 

 without a notifica- 

 tion to guests. The 

 Legislature of 1898 

 made it the duty of 

 the State Board of 

 Agriculture to en- 

 force this law, and the board immediately author- 

 ized an agent to proceed against all violators, and 

 their vigorous action has practically suspended the 

 illegal sale and use of this product in the State. 

 In 1899 and 1900 the Board of Agriculture in- 

 spected 558 stables, and condemned and destroyed 

 392 tuberculous cattle and 20 glandered horses. 

 Reports from the selectmen of 136 towns on the 

 " abandoned-farm " question give the following 

 results: Number of farms or parts of farms now 

 occupied as summer homes, 849; total estimated 

 cost of permanent improvements made upon land 

 and buildings purchased for this purpose, $1,959,- 

 550; estimated number of people occupying these 

 places during a part or all of the summer, 12,912. 

 National Guard. The reorganization of the 

 National Guard took effect Jan. 23, 1900, and is 

 in conformity to the infantry regiments of the 

 United States army. The strength of the bri- 

 gade, as appears from the last quarterly returns 

 received, is 126 commissioned officers and 1,290 

 enlisted men. It now consists of 2 12-company 

 regiments instead of 3 regiments of 8 companies 

 each, as heretofore. The light battery and troop 

 of cavalry remain as before. On Sept. 19 the en- 

 tire New Hampshire National Guard was mo- 

 bilized in Portsmouth to take part in the celebra- 

 tion connected with the presentation of testimo- 

 nial tablets to the United States battle ships Kear- 

 sarge and Alabama, and in honor of the Secretary 

 of the Navy, Admiral Sampson, Gov. Joseph F. 

 Johnston, of Alabama, and staff, and other guests, 

 and paraded with the sailors and marines of the 

 North Atlantic squadron and various local so- 

 cieties. 



Education. The formation of 3 supervisory 

 districts in 1900 is the beginning of the most 

 promising advance New Hampshire has made edu- 

 cationally since the abolishment of the district 

 system. The matter of supervisors was presented 

 to the town school meetings of the State in the 

 spring. Twenty-seven towns approved it, and 

 authori/ed their school boards to form combina- 

 tions with other towns; but owing to the scat- 

 tered locations of these towns, only 9 were able 

 to accomplish the desired combinations, forming 



3 districts. Under the new law the State pays 

 half the salary of the supervisors, and these su- 

 pervisors must hold certificates of an examina- 

 tion by the State Superintendent a severe one 

 along professional as well as scholastic lines. 



The State Library. During the year ending 

 May 31, 1900, 6,845 bound volumes were added to 

 the library, making the total number 62,059. 

 The number of unbound volumes, exclusive of pe- 

 riodicals. \\as 31,794, and the number of unbound 

 periodicals was 11,671. The average annual in- 

 crease of bound volumes in the last four years 

 has been 6,493. The officials have avoided to the 

 greatest extent possible accepting books that 

 appear to be of no use except to fill the shelves. 

 The law books number a little more than 18,000 

 volumes. The historical department contains 

 nearly 8,000 bound volumes and 2,100 unbound 

 volumes. The medical department contains more 

 than 4,000 bound volumes, 1,500 unbound vol- 

 umes, and 4.300 unbound periodicals. 



State Board of Health. The board was or- 

 ganized and began work in 1881. Since then there 

 has been established, through its efforts, a local 

 board of health in every town in the State, and 

 mortality from contagious and infectious dis- 

 eases has been reduced to a very marked extent. 

 The advantages of pure drinking water, and the 

 dangers of a polluted source, especially of sur- 

 face wells, have been made apparent, and public 

 water supplies from unquestioned sources have 

 been introduced into many towns and villages. 

 Also the ventilation of many buildings has been 

 greatly improved. 



New Hampshire has now probably the most 

 accurate system of registration of vital statistics 

 of any State in the Union, and its records have 

 become of great value. The department has on 

 file the records of more than 500,000 persons who 

 are living or have lived in the State, and these 

 are being increased at the rate of 20,000 annually. 



The number of deaths in New Hampshire in 

 1899 was 7,045, a rate of 17.27 for each 1,000 of 

 the population (based upon a total of 407,938 

 for that year). 



Charities and Corrections. This board was 

 authorized by an act of the Legislature, passed 

 in March, 1895, and consists of five members 

 3 men and 2 women appointed by the Governor 

 and Council. The board is chiefly supervisory and 

 advisory, as the dependent children of the State 

 are primarily under the direct care of the county 

 commissioners, or of the overseers of the poor 

 of the towns or cities. But the board has, with 

 great labor and pains, completed a record of all 

 the children within the State now dependent upon 

 the public for support, up to Dec. 1, 1900, cover- 

 ing 443 names; and a supplementary record, in- 

 cluding all those children who have passed from 

 public support since their work began, now num- 

 bering 76. The 443 children are placed as fol- 

 low: Still in almshouses, 67; placed in orphans 

 homes, 238; placed in families, 113; in industrial 

 school, 24; in asylum for the insane, 1. In addi- 

 tion to the above, 39 children are supported out 

 side of the State. The total number of dependent 

 children for the whole State, at public and privatt 

 charges, is 1,061. This number does not includt 

 many who'- are partially supported at their own 

 homes. 



Industrial School. This institution is at 

 Manchester. The number in the school, Sept. 30 

 1900, was 147: whole number committed to tin 

 institution since its beginning, 1,932. The insti 

 tution is a place for reformation, not a prison. 



Asylum for the Insane. The number of pa- 

 tients in the asylum at the close of the year 



