1939: New Hampshire

Area and Population.

One of the thirteen original states, New Hampshire is sometimes also referred to as the 'Granite State.' With a total area of 9,341 sq. mi. its population, according to the U. S. census of 1930, was 465,293. The estimated population for July 1, 1937, was 510,000. The capital is Concord, with 25,228 inhabitants. Other important cities are Manchester, 76,834; Nashua, 31,463; Berlin, 20,018; and Portsmouth, 14,495. In 1930, of the state's population, 273,079, or 58.7 per cent, were urban; 464,350 were whites, and 790 Negroes. Of the white population, 381,690 were American born, while 82,660 were of foreign birth. Among the foreign-born population were: 11,539 from the United Kingdom and Ireland; 37,682 French Canadians and 13,277 Canadians chiefly of British origin.

Education.

There are in New Hampshire 1,693 public schools, including 103 approved public high schools, 16 public academies approved as high schools, 5 accredited private academies, 608 private schools, and 2 teachers' colleges (formerly normal schools). The last are located at Plymouth and Keene respectively. There are four institutions for higher education: University of New Hampshire, at Durham; Dartmouth College, Hanover; St. Anselm's College, Manchester; and Colby Junior College for Women, New London. In 1939 there were 198 juvenile camps listed as licensed by the State Board of Health.

The total expenditures for public education (including elementary, secondary, and normal schools) in the year ending June 30, 1938, amounted to $7,458,043. The last available report of the State Board of Education shows an enrollment of 82,181 public school pupils and 33,037 private school pupils, making a total of 115,218 pupils in all schools. The same report gives the number of public school teachers as 3,661 and private school teachers as 1,648. In 1938 there were approximately 21,000 pupils enrolled in elementary parochial schools, said to represent a larger proportion than in any other state in the union.

Agriculture.

The principal farm products are milk and cream, potatoes, apples, and poultry, marketed principally in cities of eastern and central Massachusetts and in New York City. The estimated acreage in 1934, utilized for crops, was 448,000; for pasture, 961,000; woodland, 1,274,000. Farms in 1935 numbered 17,695 with an average of 119.6 acres; average value per acre $31.64. Lumber production was estimated in 1936 at 161,000,000 board feet. Throughout the year 1939 lumbering operations were continued on a large scale, in an effort to salvage the enormous amount of timber felled by the hurricane of 1938.

Industry.

The principal manufacturing concerns of the state are engaged in producing textiles, boots and shoes, lumber and wood products (including paper), and machinery. Value of manufactures in 1937, $249,631,724. Electric power produced in 1937, in kilowatt hours; water power, 706,000,000; fuel power, 56,000,000. New Hampshire's mineral products include granite, mica, sand and gravel.

Summer resorts and camps, and recreational activities, including winter sports, are also an important source of income to the state. In 1936 they produced an estimated total of $9,641,503.

During the year 1939 the State Planning and Development Commission issued an important report on New Hampshire industry, which estimates that there was more than a 50 per cent increase in the value of manufactured products during the period from 1933 to 1937. Estimates of the Unemployment Compensation Division show that employment in manufacturing industries in New Hampshire increased by almost 6 per cent from the first quarter of 1938 to the first quarter of 1939.

A report submitted to the Commission for the Promotion of the Wealth and Income of the People of New Hampshire in 1939 found that while the people of the state as individuals saved $13,761,000 in 1936, yet the net loss in business, banking and government expenses for the same year amounted to $17,750,000. Of the total income of the state in 1936, 51.5 per cent came from manufacturing; 19.6 per cent from service; 13.6 per cent from trade and finance; 9.9 per cent from transportation and communications; and 5.4 per cent from agriculture. The report embodies what is claimed to be the first such economic analysis ever made of a state as a unit.

Banking and Finance.

Savings banks and savings departments of trust companies reported deposits of $204,464,415, as of June 30, 1939, representing an increase over June 30, 1938, of $3,263,868. For the third consecutive year there was an increase in the number of savings accounts, the total of 312,144 on June 30, 1939, being 2,079 greater than for June 30, 1938. There were, in 1939, 28 building and loan associations with assets of $11,970,454, an increase of $293,562 over the preceding year. Cash receipts of the State Treasury Department, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938, were $44,320,965; cash disbursements, $43,072,192. The net bond and note indebtedness, on June 30, 1938, was $13,683,000. The average tax rate in 1936, was $34.30 on each $1,000 of valuation, or double the average rate in 1916.

Legislative Matters.

The 162nd session of the New Hampshire General Court lasted for 24 weeks, or from January 4 to June 17, 1939. Among the important measures passed were an act authorizing a $5,000,000 bond issue for construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of highways, and for reimbursement of towns for hurricane and flood damage; a tax levy of 15 per cent on all tobacco products as a means of eliminating the direct tax of $1,200,000 a year; an act approving the acquisition by the Federal Government of land at four sites in New Hampshire for construction of flood-control dams; provision for the reimbursement of local communities for losses in tax valuation sustained as a result of the construction of such dams; an act authorizing the State Milk Control Board to fix the price of New Hampshire milk shipped into other states from sections not already subject to Federal regulation; an act extending the legality of pari-mutuel horse race betting through 1942.

Welfare and Correction.

The principal state charitable and correctional institutions are the New Hampshire State Hospital for the Insane, at Concord; Laconia State School, for feeble-minded children, Laconia; New Hampshire State Sanatorium, for tuberculosis patients, Glencliffe; New Hampshire Industrial School, for committed minors, Manchester; State Prison, Concord; and Soldiers' Home, Tilton. On July 1, 1938, the State Board of Welfare and Relief as organized in separate Divisions of Welfare and Relief was given up, and the department is now known as the State Department of Public Welfare, with Harry O. Page as Commissioner. In October 1939, 34,728 persons, or 6.8 per cent of the state's population as estimated in 1937, were receiving either general relief or public assistance. This represented an increase of 2.9 per cent over the number of persons receiving relief in October, 1938.

State Officers.

The chief state officers are: Governor, Francis P. Murphy; Secretary of State, Enoch D. Fuller; State Treasurer, F. Gordon Kimball; Commissary General, Charles W. Howard.

United States Senators.

Charles W. Tobey, H. Styles Bridges.