The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-07-26
BRATrLEBoRo, FRIDAY JULY 20, 1907
NEW HAMPsHIRE's TROUBLES.

land2 is the subject of series OF artl'
cles by Frank Putnam now appearing
in the New England magazine Ihe
first article, which dealt with the po-
litical, social and industrial conditions
of Maine. called forth a storm of com
meut-adverse and favorable-from the
Pine Tree state. The second instalment
is calculated to stir up New Hampshire
to an equal extent. Its title is New
Hampshire: A Study in Industrial Vas
salage. Political Mediaevalism, and the
Ar;stocratic Ideal in Public Education
What Mr.. Putnam thinks of conditions
in the Granite state is summed up IN
his opening paragraph, which follows;
New Hampshire is burdened with an
army of superfluous tax-eatlng poll
ticians She is ruled by alien corpora,
tions. which use or devour her natural
resources. employ her inhabitants at
low wages, and take the profits out OF
the state. Her educational system is
now. as always in the past, shaped more
to facilitate the progress OF a rev
through college and university than TO
helm the children of the rank and file
to get sound school preparation for
useful careers and good citizenship
Like Maine. she has lost and is still los
inc. because of these conditions, thou
sands of the ablest of her sons ana
daughters of the old stock, and is re
placing them with poor grade OF I'M
migrants from other countries, who
lower the average of political morality
and general intelligence and who are
rather burden upon than pillar OF
support for the state.
At the outset Mr.. Putnam calls New
HAMPSHIRE the vassal of Massachusetts
because most of the mills in the former
state are owned by Massachusetts, men.
He admits, however, that the New
Hampshire mills are good mills, that
their employees are paid wages as high
as the industry offers anywhere and
that the work people are contented with
their surroundings. He tacitly ac-
knowledges, too, that the money paid
the employees is spent in New Hamp
shire. that the mills themselves are
taxed in New Hampshire and that the
state is otherwise benefited by the in
dustries even though the surplus IN
many cases goes to Massachusetts.
Regarding railroad control Mr.. Put
nam asserts that "the true capital of
New Hampshire is the North Union
railroad station in the city of Boston
No matter who sits in the governor s
chair in Concord, the real governor of
New Hampshire is the president of the
Boston & Maine railroad" Nearly
everyone is familiar with the fact that
Boston & Maine interests play an i'm
portant part in New Hampshire politics,
but statements like the above, when
backed up by no more actual proof
than Mr.. Putnam produces, are of little
value. When he says also that "not
the least important public officer can
be elected in state, county, city or
township without either whipping or
surrendering 10 the political agents OF
the Boston & Name railroad" Mr.. Put
nam is doubtless overstating the actual
conditions. He is frank enough to ad-
nit, however, that railroad domination
has prevented ''vast amount OF
wasteful expenditure of the people S
money, proposed by the locust army of
nameless greedy legislators eager to
make a showing at home"
Mr.. Putnam critieizes the New Hamp-
shire legislature on account of its I'M
wieldy size and says that the people OF
the state should "reserve to themselves
the power of direct legislation through |
the initiative and referendum and the
recall" He praises the state agricul'
tural school, the private schools and col
leges but claims that large proportion !
of the rural schools are the prey of
petty politicians, $50 that the teachers
are more likely to be chosen for politi-
cal pull than for proficiency" He also
calls attention to the need of public
school fund in the state. In closing the
writer says:
From the little lonely farms that
nestle IN northern valleys southwark to
the overcfowded "quarters of the mill
cities, evidences multiply that the state
of New Hampshire, as a business in
stitution, needs undermining. 1t needs
to overthrow the corrupt control of
alien corporations. 1t needs to take an
intelligent survey Of its resources, with
view to getting the best and the most
out of them for its people. 1t needs,
perhaps most of all, to develop com
plete and efficient public freeschool
system, from primary to university, so
that every child born in the state may
be fitted to render to the state a full
account of its talents.
Mr.. Putnam's comments on condi-
lions in an adjoining state are inter
esting and many of his suggestions are
wise. He errs, however, in failing to
produce the actual proof Of many of
the assertions he makes, and he does