Road-Building. 
Town and city governments through- 
out New England will welcome any aid 
that can come from the New England 
conference relative to the problem of 
road building. The construction and 
maintainance of good roads over hills and 
through unruly soil has been a problem 
that has defied the financial resources of 
many towns and has been responsible for 
a considerable part of the debt burden of 
cities. The result has been neglect to 
the very limit of safety in some com- 
munities and wasteful expenditure in the 
majority of towns and cities. To only a 
limited extent has there been scientific 
treatment of the question. In Massa- 
chusetts the state highway commission 
has done excellent work and has been 
responsible for much similar effort by 
towns and cities. Other New England 
states have followed Massachusetts’ ex- 
ample to someextent. But there is still 
a general lack of scientific handling of 
the road problem on the part of local 
authorities. There is now more general 
recognition of the duty of the state in the 
construction and maintenance of main 
lines of travel, and that phase of the 
matter is less perplexing. But it is 
equally important that local streets and 
roads should be improved. The road 
problem of the towns and of the cities, 
as well, is difficult. This is beyond the 
jurisdiction of state governments, but by 
example and demonstration, by educa- 
tion and encouragement, the state may 
prove a helpful factor in local undertak- 
ings. New England needs _ interstate 
highways of the best kind.---Boston Her- 
ald. 
Series of Letters in Transcript. 
Don’t you want to go around the 
world with Albert Bushnell Hart, Prof. 
of History at Harvard University? He 
will begin a series of thirty or more 
letters next Saturday, Nov. 28, in the 
Transcript for ‘‘ Tarry at Home’’ trav- 
ellers. By means of these letters Prof. 
Hart will take every reader of the Tran- 
script to those regions and countries 
whose present day activities and struggles 
are the focus of the world’s attention. 
It will be an education as well as vitally 
interesting to read these letters. The 
first will describe the wonderful develop- 
ment by Americans and others of the 
great Canadian Northwest and will tell 
why our citizens are deserting their own 
country to build homes there. Subse- 
quent articles will describe those new 
conditions and striking movements in 
the states of Washington and Oregon 
and in Alaska territory, regarding which 
well posted Americans should be in- 
formed. Crossing the Pacific he will 
visit Japan, China and the Philippine 
Islands, and will return home by way of 
Egypt, the Balkan States and other in- 
teresting parts of Europe. 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE. 
MILLINERY from this array. 
REIT 
Merits of the John Hancock. 
Realizing that the John Hancock 
Mutual Life Ins. Co. has many policy 
holders in this vicinty and that any state- 
ments pertaining to the standing of the 
company will interest many such people, 
we publish the following statement of the 
‘* Merits of the John Hancock as viewed 
by the Massachusetts Department’’ from 
‘* The Spectator,’’ in a recent issue. 
““'The Massachusetts Insurance De- 
partment has completed the regular ex- 
amination of the John Hancock Mutual 
Life. The report shows~the company 
to have had on December 31, 1907, ad- 
mitted assets of $48,164,927; liabilities, 
$43,409,092; surplus to policyholders, 
$4,755,833. The bond holdings of the 
company, amounting to about $25,000,- 
000, were listed by the examiners at their 
market value on December 31, 1907, a 
sum much below their present and real 
value. The examiners conclude their 
report as follows: 
‘The remarkable and steady progress 
of the company can be appreciated only by 
comparison, the premium income having 
Essex and Central Streets, <= 
H. D. RICE, Manufacturer, Jobber, Retailer - - 
Thanksgiving Millinery 
We have stocked our show counters with a grand array of ready-to-wear, beauty, 
Winter Hats and most interesting to the shrewd buyers, will be found the price markings. 
_ There will be found among the lot a most exclusive assortment of creations far more 
attractive than youever looked upon at such prices. 
204 ESSEX ST. 
SALEM 
Do You Want Any FURS? 
The Shawmut Fur Store is the equal of any 
in New England for size of stock, assortment 
and qualities in Fur 
Women, and on the standard reliable furs--- 
larger cities, 
Coats for Men and 
Sable, Mink, Lynx, Coon, etc., you save money 
by Icoking at our stock before purchasing in 
Shawmut Fur Store 
SALEM 
Secure your THANKSGIVING 
MILLINER 
increased during the past ten years from 
$5,773,144 in 1897 to $17,410,728 in 
1907. ‘The surplus to policyholders in- 
creased during the same period from 
$901,718 to $4,755,835, while the num- 
ber of policyholders increased from 
916,368 to 1,805,277. 
‘“ This examination has not only in- 
cluded an investigation of the transactions: 
of the company during the year and _ its 
financial standing of December 31 last, 
but has covered the general condition of 
the corporation, the method of trans- 
acting business and a consideration. of 
the interests and treatment of policy- 
holders. We find that the finances of 
the corporation are administered with 
fidelity; that the business is conservative- 
ly conducted with commendable 
ability; that the millions of policyhold- 
ers and beneficiaries are fairly and equit- 
ably treated and their policy contracts 
amply protected. To conserve the best 
interests of the present and prospective 
policyholders and their beneficiaries is 
the one object which the officers of the 
corporation appear to have always in 
view.’ 
