1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/New Hampshire

by Edwin Julius Bartlett

NEW HAMPSHIRE (see 19.490).—The pop. in 1920 was 443,083; in 1910 430,572; a gain of 12,511, or 2.9% as against 4.6% in the preceding decade. The urban pop. was in 1920 279,761 or 63.1% of the whole as against 59.2%, in 1910. The pop. of the eight cities having more than 10,000 inhabitants was:—

	1920	1910	Increase  per cent
Manchester	78,384	70,063	11.9
Nashua	27,379	26,005	9.1
Concord	22,167	21,497	3.1
Berlin	16,104	11,780	36.7
Portsmouth	13,569	11,269	20.4
Dover	13,029	13,247	1.6
Keene	11,210	10,068	11.3
Laconia	10,897	10,183	7.0

Agriculture.—The statistics for farm property, showing the changes from 1910 to 1920, are as follows:—

	1920	1910	Inc.	Dec.
Number of farms	20,523	27,053		24.1%
Value of farm property	$118,656,115	$103,704,196	14.4%
Average acreage all land	126.9	120.1	5.6%
Average acreage improved land	34.2	34.3		0.1%
Av. value per ac. (farm property)	$45.57	$31.91	42.8%

Farms of from 100 to 499 ac. constituted 42.9% of the whole number. Farms of 20 ac. or less had the greatest proportion of land improved, 67.4%; farms of over 1,000 ac. had the least—13.5%. Of all farms 90.6% were operated by owners, 2.7% by managers, and 6.7% by tenants, these percentages being without substantial change from 1910. Native farmers decreased from 24,347 in 1910 to 20,509 in 1920. Percentage of farms mortgaged in 1910, 25.6; in 1920, 31. Increase in expenditures, so far as reported, was in 1920 34% for labour, 2.7% for fertilizer, and 89.1% for feed. Other statistics are:—

	1919	1909	Increase  per cent
Dairy products sold	$  9,627,286	$  5,130,057	87.7
All crops	23,509,665	12,112,260	94.1
Cereals	1,456,628	879,631	65.6
Hay and forage	13,616,378	7,847,148	73.5
Vegetables	5,228,489	2,276,176	129.7
Potatoes	2,952,351	1,204,620	145.1
Miscellaneous crops	480,804	200,845	139.4
Orchard fruits and grapes	2,420,837	730,703	231.3
Maple sugar and syrup	440,250	182,341	141.4

Forests and Highways.—The White Mountain National Forest contained, June 30 1920, 433,179 ac. of which 27,860 ac. were in Oxford county, Me., and the remaining 405,319 ac. in Coos, Carroll and Grafton counties, N.H. This forest was in charge of a supervisor with headquarters at Gorham, with headquarters for rangers at Bartlett, Woodstock and Bethlehem. The State Forestry Commission was reorganized in 1909. The state reservations are small, widely scattered areas of about 12,000 ac., but including the important and beautiful Crawford Notch. Between 1910 and 1920 the state constructed approximately 1,000 m. of highways at a cost of $6,100,000.

Manufactures.—The state in 1914 produced, in value, .8% of the total for the United States. The statistics were as follows:—

	1914	1909
Establishments	1,736	1,961
Employees	85,013	84,191
Salaries and wages	$  46,523,733	$  40,391,440
Value of products	182,843,863	164,581,019

The 10 leading industries were, in order of value of products, boots and shoes, cotton goods, paper and pulp, lumber and timber products, woollen and worsted goods, foundry and machine-shop products, hosiery and knit goods, leather, flour-mill and grist-mill products, tobacco and cigars, ranging from an annual value of over $46,000,000 in the case of boots and shoes to nearly $2,500,000 for tobacco and cigars. The values of all these products materially increased in the 5-year period, 1909-14, except those of woollen, hosiery and mill products. The proportion of female wage-earners, and of those under 16, decreased. The period displayed little fluctuation in the number of wage-earners employed, 93% of the maximum being the lowest. Manchester showed the greatest stability of employment; it employed by far the largest number of wage-earners, about 26,000; and Manchester, Nashua and Berlin produced about $86,000,000 of manufactured products, four-ninths of those of the whole state. The figures showed a tendency towards the concentration of manufactures in the larger establishments.

Legislation.—Important Acts were those establishing a state Board of Conciliation and Arbitration; employers' liability and workmen's compensation; regulating child labour and hours of labour; provision for medical and surgical devices in factories; safety and health of employees; and for reporting of occupational diseases. The Legislature of 1917 enacted a law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of spirituous liquors. The law took effect May 1 1918, superseding local option.

Finances and Taxation.—The following figures show the increase in expenditures during the decade:—

	1920	1910
Revenue	$4,344,322.20	$1,694,636.54
Payments	5,198,534.62	1,662,694.07
Debt	3,040,524.17	1,293,209.33
Bonded debt	2,589,500.00	1,071,070.00

The increase in expenditures was on account of increased cost of maintaining public institutions, and for highways. The increase in the bonded debt was nearly all due to the World War. In 1918 the state issued $500,000 of bonds to assist the Federal Government in the war; and in 1919 it issued $1,489,000 in order to increase the war service recognition from $30 to $100 for those who served.

The total valuation of property for purposes of taxation in 1920 was $511,456,583, amount of taxes collected $12,736,651, average rate of taxation $2.37 per $100. There were 115,169 persons paying a poll tax of $5 each, and 11,373 war veterans paying $3 each. The valuation of public service corporations was $52,085,125.

Education.—Important work was done in 1918 by the state committee on Americanization. In the parochial elementary schools the principle was established that instruction in designated branches and in administration should be exclusively in English; devotional exercises in any language desired. In the large industrial plants the plan was largely carried out by evening schools for adults. The system of public instruction was reorganized by the Legislature of 1919. In the bill “the work of Americanization in teaching English to non-English-speaking adults, and in furnishing instruction in the privileges, duties and responsibilities of citizenship is hereby declared to be an essential part of public-school education.” The governor and council appoint a State Board of Education of five citizens who are not technically engaged in education. This Board has the powers formerly resting in the superintendent of public instruction, the trustees of the normal schools, and the State Board of Vocational Education; it appoints a commissioner of education and four deputy commissioners. For the progress of Dartmouth College during this period see Dartmouth College. The State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts made rapid progress; the student body increased from 266 in 1910 to 818 in 1920; the teaching staff from 37 to 78; the value of the buildings from $900,000 to $1,720,000; the number of acres in the farm from 380 to 500. During the same period departments of education, forestry, home economics, industrial engineering, and poultry were added, and the laboratory equipment greatly enlarged.

History.—The Ninth Constitutional Convention, held in 1912, submitted to the voters 12 amendments, of which four received the necessary two-thirds vote, namely disfranchisement for treason, bribery and deliberate violation of the election laws; the substitution of plurality for majority vote in the election of governor, councillors and senators; extension of the jurisdiction of police courts; the substitution of a basis of population for that of property in the election of councillors. The Tenth Constitutional Convention was convened in the summer of 1918, adjourned until the close of the World War, and reconvened in Jan. 1920. It submitted to the voters seven propositions, all of which were rejected. In 1915 the office of assistant attorney-general was created, and the number of bank commissioners was reduced to three, and their term of office was made six years. The Railroad Commission became the Public Service Commission in 1911, its powers were enlarged, and the term of office of the three members was made six years. In 1913 the Fish and Game Commission was reorganized and the number of commissioners reduced from three to one. The Department of Public Instruction was reorganized in 1913 so that the superintendent holds office indefinitely; it was again reorganized in 1919. In 1913 the Department of Agriculture was reorganized with a commissioner instead of a board, and in 1915 it was further reorganized. In 1911 the name Board of Equalization was changed to Tax Commission, the members were reduced from five to three, and the tenure of office was extended from two to five years. The Bureau of Labor was reorganized in 1911, and in 1913 a Board of Arbitration and Conciliation was organized to work with it. In 1913 the License Commission was reorganized; in 1915 it was again reorganized and its name was changed to Excise Commission. The Highway Department was reorganized in 1915 with a highway commissioner at its head appointed by the governor for five years. A Department of Institutions was created in 1913 and reorganized in 1919. The state institutions were managed by seven trustees consisting of the governor and one member of the council, ex officio, and five appointed trustees. The institutions governed by the Department were the prison, the hospital, the sanitarium, the industrial school, and the school for feeble-minded children. During the World War the state sent into the service of the Government 22,000 persons, of whom 7,971 were called under the Selective Service Act. The remainder, more than 60% of the total, volunteered. Liberty Loans were subscribed as follows:—First, $9,894,900; Second, $15,484,400; Third, $17,282,300; Fourth, $29,346,640; total, $72,008,240, about $164 for each person in the state.

The governors after 1910 were:—Robert P. Bass (Rep.), 1911-3; Samuel D. Felker (Dem.), 1913-5; Rolland H. Spaulding (Rep.), 1915-7; Henry W. Keyes (Rep.), 1917-9; John H. Bartlett (Rep.), 1919-21; Albert O. Brown (Rep.), 1921- .

(E. J. B.)