all accidents and upon the petition of an interested party to fix rates for the transportation of persons and freight. In 1909 an anti-pass law was enacted.
Education.—New Hampshire formed a part of Massachusetts when, in 1647, the General Court of that province passed the famous act requiring every town in which there were fifty householders to maintain a school for teaching reading and writing, and every town in which there were one hundred householders to maintain a grammar school with an instructor capable of preparing young men for college. Although not much enforced, this, with some slight changes, continued to be the school law until the close of the colonial era. The beginning of the new era was marked by the founding of Phillips Exeter Academy (1781), and later several other similar schools were opened. Their excellence aroused a much greater interest in the common school system, and throughout the 19th century various experiments for improving it were tried; among them were the division of towns into districts, the appointment of county school commissioners, and the establishment of a state board of education. These, however, have been abandoned, and the system is now administered chiefly by towns and a few special districts under the general supervision of a state superintendent.
Each town is constituted a school district, and some special districts are organized under special acts of the legislature. Some of the business relating to the schools is transacted at the annual district school meeting in which women as well as men have a vote, but the schools of each district are managed very largely by a school board elected at this meeting, one-third each year; in districts without a high school the board has only three members, but in districts having a high school the board may have three, six or nine members. The superintendent of public instruction is appointed by the governor and council for a term of two years, and it is his duty to prescribe the form of register to be kept in the schools, to investigate the condition of the schools, to make suggestions and recommendations for improving them, to lecture upon educational subjects in the towns and cities, to hold at least one teachers’ institute each year in each of the counties, and to designate the times and places for holding examinations of those who wish to teach. The free school system now provides free high schools for all children within the state; for an act of 1903 requires any town not maintaining a high school, or school of corresponding grade, or not uniting with adjoining towns in maintaining one, to pay the tuition of any of its children who attend a high school or academy within the state. Evening schools for the instruction of persons over fourteen years of age must be established in any city or town of more than 5000 inhabitants if 5% of its legal voters petition for them. Any town upon application, and by contracting to appropriate annually a certain fixed sum for its maintenance, may receive state aid for establishing a library, and in 1904 libraries had been established by this means in 146 towns. Every district is required to keep its schools open at least twenty weeks each year.
All children between the ages of eight and fourteen and those between the ages of fourteen and sixteen who cannot read and write English are required to attend either a public or an approved private school for the full term unless excused by the school board on account of physical or mental infirmity. The schools are maintained chiefly out of the proceeds of a district school tax, which must not be less in any district than seven hundred and fifty dollars for every dollar of public taxes apportioned to the town or district, a proportion which has gradually increased from five to one in 1789 and from ninety to one in 1817. To this is added a “Literary Fund” (designed originally for founding a college) which is derived from the proceeds of a state tax on the deposits, stock, &c. of savings banks, trust companies, loan and trust companies, building and loan associations and other similar corporations not residing in the state, and a portion of the proceeds of a dog tax, both of which are distributed among the several districts in proportion to the number of pupils not less than five years of age who have attended school at least two weeks. The state also makes appropriations for the payment of a portion of the tuition in high schools and academies distributing it among the districts in proportion to the rate of school tax in each, appropriations for paying a portion of the salary of school superintendents where two or more districts unite to form a supervising district, and appropriations for general school purposes to be distributed among the districts according to the number of teachers trained in normal schools and to average school attendance.
The plan of 1821 to use the Literary Fund for founding and maintaining a state college for instruction in the higher branches of science and literature was abandoned in 1828 and the only state institutions of learning are the Plymouth Normal School (1870) at Plymouth, the Keene Normal School (1909) at Keene, and the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, organized as a department of Dartmouth College in 1866, but removed to Durham, Strafford county, as a separate institution in 1891. The normal schools are managed by a board of trustees consisting of the governor, the superintendent of public instruction and five other members appointed by the governor and council for a term of five years, one each year, and they are maintained out of annual state appropriations. The College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts is managed by a board of trustees consisting of the governor, the president of the college, one member chosen by the alumni, and ten members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the council for a term of four years, and it is maintained out of the proceeds of grants by the United States government, annual state appropriations and a private endowment. The principal institutions of higher learning in the state are Dartmouth College (non-sectarian, opened in 1769), at Hanover, and Saint Anselm’s College (Roman Catholic, opened in 1893), at Manchester. Dartmouth College receives some aid from the state.
The state charitable and correctional institutions consist of the New Hampshire School for Feeble-minded Children, at Laconia; the New Hampshire Soldiers’ Home, at Tilton; the New Hampshire Industrial School, at Manchester; the New Hampshire Hospital for the Insane, and the State Prison, at Concord; and the New Hampshire Sanatorium for consumptives (1909) near Warren Summit, about 75 m. north of Concord. The state also makes annual appropriations for the care and education of blind and deaf and dumb persons in institutions outside of the state. Each county has an almshouse and house of correction. Here, too, many of the insane of the state were formerly confined; but by an act of 1903 the counties were entirely relieved of this care, and the insane were removed to the state hospital. Within the state are also sixteen orphan asylums, and though these are private institutions, in all but one of them children are boarded at county or city expense. Each of the state institutions is under the management of an officer or board of trustees appointed by the governor and council. In 1895 the legislature established a State Board of Charities and Correction. This consists of five members appointed by the governor and council for a term of five years, one each year, and its duties are chiefly advisory and supervisory. It is required to inspect both state and county charitable and correctional institutions, except the state prison and the state hospital, to recommend such changes to the state government as may seem desirable, and to have a special care for dependent children whether in institutions or placed in permanent homes.
Finance.—The income of the state, counties and towns is derived mainly from taxes levied on real estate, on male polls between the ages of twenty-one and seventy, on stock in public funds, on stock in corporations that pay a dividend and are not subject to some special form of tax, on surplus capital in banks, on stock in trade, on live-stock, on railways, on telegraph and telephone lines, on savings banks and on the stock of fire insurance companies. Except in the case of railways, telegraph and telephone lines, savings banks, building and loan associations and fire insurance companies, the taxes are assessed and collected by town officers, but every fourth year the county commissioners are required to inspect the taxable property in the towns and report any misappraisal to the state board of equalization whose duty it is to equalize the valuation of property in the several towns. This board, which is composed of five members appointed by the supreme court for a term of two years, also assesses the taxes on the railways, and on telegraph and telephone lines; for railways the average rate of taxation is assessed on the estimated actual value of the road beds, rolling stock and equipment, and for the telegraph and telephone lines this rate is assessed on the estimated actual value of the poles, wires, instruments, apparatus, office furniture and fixtures. Savings banks pay to the state treasurer a tax of three-fourths of 1% upon the amount of deposits on which they pay interest; building and loan associations pay to him a tax of three-fourths of 1% upon the whole amount of their capital stock paid in or shares in force, less the value of their real estate and loans secured by mortgages on real estate situated within the state and bearing interest not exceeding 5%; and fire insurance companies pay to the same officer a tax of 1% upon the amount of their paid-up capital. The railway tax is distributed as follows: one-fourth is paid to the towns through which the railways pass; such a portion of the remainder is paid to any town as is equal to the portion of stock owned in that town; and what is left is reserved as a part of the state tax. Such a portion of 75% of the tax on fire insurance companies is distributed among the several towns, in proportion to the amount of stock owned in each, as the amount of stock owned within the state bears to the whole amount of stock, and the remainder is reserved as a part of the state tax. All taxes on savings banks are distributed to the towns in which the depositors reside, the tax on non-resident depositors constituting a Literary Fund which is distributed to the towns on the basis of the number of pupils in each. The whole tax received by the state treasurer from each building and loan association is paid by him to the treasurer of the town in which it is located. The state also derives an income from fees charged for chartering banks, railways, insurance companies and other corporations. The financial condition at the close of the War of Independence was alarming, and in September 1785 a mob at Exeter demanded relief through the issue of more paper currency. This was refused them
