USA > New Hampshire > New Hampshire Sesqui-centennial celebration. One hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of independent government > Part 2
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Of John T. Gilman of Exeter, who, hearing the news of Lexington, marched as a volunteer to Cambridge, stopping only for the night's rest at Andover, reporting for duty the following noon, and who was accounted worthy to be fourteen times elected governor of his state.
Of General Benjamin Bellows who, when prices were steadily rising by reason of the fluc- tuation of paper currency, at great personal loss, maintained a uniform price for everything he had to sell.
Of obscure soldiers unknown to fame, who had trials of cruel sufferings, were slain with
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the sword, wandering in forests, tracking the snow with their bleeding feet.
Of women who toiled in weariness and suf- fered in silence, of others who were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might at- tain unto the immortality of the just.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having greeted them from afar.
Tuesday, June 1, Official Reunion Day
The exercises for Tuesday, June 1, charac- terized as "Official Reunion Day," which, more appropriately, would have been held following, instead of preceding the Anniversary Day prop- er, since there were no government officials till the government itself had been established, were carried out in accordance with the pro- gramme as printed, except, as previously stated, that the Invocation, in the afternoon, was given by Rev. O. W. Peterson, Chaplain of the Legisla- ture, in place of Dr. Vannevar detained by ill- ness, and Judge Parsons and Senator Keyes failed to appear, the latter prevented by official duties.
. The reception by the Governor and Council and Supreme Court, in the Council Chamber at 11 A. M., was largely attended, Secretary of State, Hobart Pillsbury, acting as Master of Ceremonies, and a delegation of Concord law- yers as ushers.
Speaker Wood, upon being presented as Chairman at the afternoon meeting, delivered
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an address of considerable length and much his- toric interest, and felicitously introduced the several speakers; while the musical numbers were finely rendered and generously applauded.
Following are the addresses, in the order given :
Address of Ex-Gov. Nahum J. Bachelder
Mr. Speaker and Fellow Citizens:
I am aware that my appearance in these ex- ercises is due to the fact that I once held an important position in the state government, rather than to any personal qualifications for this distinguished honor.
The practice of reviewing the past is as old as government itself, and the habit of observ- ing anniversary events is equally venerable. As these events have multiplied in recent years their observance has become noteworthy in civic and public affairs, and when the event is the Sesqui Centennial of one of the thirteen original states it becomes of national, and even international concern.
It is therefore well that we pause in this strenuous age to pay homage to the memory of the noble men who laid the foundation of this state government, not forgetting the honorable women who doubtless played a prominent but unrecorded part in the deliberations resulting in its establishment. When many sections of the territory now known as New Hampshire were reached only on horseback along spotted trails; when the chief interest of the people was clear- ing the land of forests, building rude cabins, rearing large families of healthy children and protecting them and themselves from wild beasts and the fiercer red man, they assembled
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in solemn convention and constructed the frame- work of the government of the state of New Hampshire which has been so effective in the past and that we live under to-day. It is dif- ficult to appreciate the patriotism and far-sight- edness exercised by those sturdy pioneers in the midst of primitive surroundings. Their strug- gles and privations are common knowledge and their patriotism has world wide reputation.
While we recognize the wholesome vigor with which they went about their tasks, and believe they found enjoyment of a certain kind in their labor, we cannot refrain from rejoicing that our existence is in the present, strenuous and exacting as it may be.
The spotted trails, and later the famous New Hampshire turnpikes, have given place to a magnificent system of highways; the means of communication requiring days and even weeks to distant points within the state, have given way to the telephone and radio; the means of transportation from horseback and later the stage coach, have been superceded by swiftly moving trains and airplanes; the means of ed- ucation from the little red school house, hon- orable as it was, has been succeeded by an elab- orate system of education, supported by state and municipal governments, and philanthropic individuals, with public libraries almost at every crossroad; electricity with its marvelous devel- opment, and the vision of our statesmen extend- ed from town and state lines to world-wide con- sideration, are a few of the changes that make for broader and happier life to-day.
And yet, the bounds have not been reached. It would be a bold prophet indeed who could predict what the future has in store in the field.
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of electricity, the surface of which has only been scratched; in the development of means of com- munication and transportation through the air now in its infancy; the part which representa- tives of our state may take in the consideration of world problems; the development of our ag- ricultural and industrial interests throughout the state.
It may be that a celebration the nature of that we observe to-day will be held at the completion of another similar period, and the people then assembled may have reason to note our present condition as primitive as we to-day consider the beginning of the period which this occasion commemorates.
May we, and our descendants be as loyal and patriotic in the development and perpetuation of New Hampshire as were those who laid the foundation of the state government in the in- terest of the people, for the people and by the people. Then as to-day, New Hampshire will be the pride of every citizen and the peer of any state.
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Address of Hon. George H. Moses
Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The five minute rule under which the program is conducted and which has been so pointedly called to our attention, was doubtless adopted for my special benefit. But I hasten to assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that I have no pur- pose to speak in the manner which a mistaken public opinion too often attributes to the Sen- ate Chamber, namely of speaking without lim- itation of time and with no reference to the subject before the house.
The central theme of this week of celebration is, of course, New Hampshire, which I have been proud to describe often as the little state with the big history. This observance takes us back to one of those significant first things which New Hampshire has accomplished and it is a source of great satisfaction in this ses- qui-centennial year for us to recall that, after having struck the first armed blow in the war of the Revolution, New Hampshire recognized that laws are not always silent among arms and adopted the first written Constitution in the land, thus giving to us a double significance for our celebration.
Proud though we are of the great past whose glories have been recounted to us, this celebra- tion would serve us ill indeed if we kept our eyes only upon the past. We should consider the present and we should look as far as we may into the future.
We see New Hampshire to-day with a prac- tically stationery population and with a taxable inventory which cannot be largely expanded even through the utmost efforts of the State Tax Commission. We recognize as never be-
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fore our geographic isolation, our lack of raw materials, our remoteness from the source of supply and, above all, the increasing competi- tion which is thrust upon us by communities more favorably situated. Thus far we have maintained ourselves and have made our ad- vance through the enterprise, the initiative, the skill and the thrift of our people. We have brought here hides from Texas, wool from Mon- tana, cotton from Alabama, steel and iron and coal from Pennsylvania, and we have trans- formed them into fine machinery, into beautiful fabrics and into handsome and substantial shoes-then shipping them out again to carry the repute of New Hampshire to every corner of the Nation and to every quarter of the globe. We cannot hope for further advance and it may be that we cannot hope even to maintain our present position if we increase our geographic and economic handicap by ill-advised legisla- tion or by mal-administration of public affairs. The thrift and the prudence which have marked New Hampshire's public and private life and which have brought us from the simple begin- nings of that day of organized state conscious- ness which we now celebrate must not be aban- doned.
. Nor will they be. They formed and form the greatest element in our strongest asset which lies in the character of our people. So long as that continues with us unchanged and unchang- ing we may look to the future with complete confidence that our successors, celebrating this day in another epoch, will find New Hamp- shire, as she always has been, self-sustaining, self-respecting and self-compelling in the course which the fathers set for us.
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Address of Hon. Leslie P. Snow
Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens:
It seems appropriate that I should devote the few minutes assigned to me to some of the per- haps forgotten facts incident to the evolution of the office for which I am asked to speak.
The presiding officer of the upper branch of our General Court occupies a station which has always marked the boundary line between the executive and legislative functions of our gov- ernment, but which has sometimes been on one side of that boundary line and sometimes on the other.
As a background for an understanding of the development, through its several stages, of this unique feature in our New Hampshire form of government, we need to have in mind three facts.
(1) The prevalent hatred and distrust of kingly power which marked the Revolutionary period, and the consequent disinclination of the people to delegate any executive powers to in- dividual rulers.
(2) The fact that the New Hampshire Con- stitution of 1776 was the first one to be adopted by any of the American colonies, and was writ- ten while the animosity towards George the Third was at its height, while the final consti- tution as perfected sixteen years later (1792) was one of the last, and was formulated after the antipathies for the mother government had largely subsided.
(3) The fact that during this period, from 1776 to 1792, the philosophy of government was more studied and more scientifically applied than in any other period of the world's history, .
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before or since; so that in the final draft of their fundamental law our forefathers not only worked in a less prejudicial atmosphere but had the advantage of the accumulated wisdom of all of the many able American constitutional- ists and publicists whom that epoch of written constitutions had produced.
Under the very simple plan of government of January 1776, the adoption of which we cele- brate to-day, the state had no executive head. The upper branch of the dual ruling body con- sisted of twelve freeholders-chosen in the first instance by the House of Representatives-and later by the voters of the several counties. This branch was denominated the Council. It was authorized to elect its own President, in whose absence the Senior Councilor presided.
As the two assemblies were endowed not only with the legislative functions of government, but with such limited executive functions as the people were then willing to delegate, the President of the Council was the most impor- tant single figure in the state government. As these bodies could not remain constantly in ses- sion, it was a logical consequence that this of- ficer should also be made, as he was, the Chair- man of the Public Safety Committee, which held the reins of government during the recess of the House and Council. These allied offices came as near to the embodiment of kingly power as the sensitive spirits of the colonists were then will- ing to sanction.
To these important stations was elected Mes- hech Ware, whose supreme loyalty and devotion were unquestioned. During the eight and one half years of the existence of this first plan of government (1776-1784), he held, not only the
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combined positions of President of the upper branch of the dual government and Chairman of the Public Safety Committee, but also that of the Chief Justice of the highest court. His tempered and impartial administration did much to allay the suspicions of the people, to prepare them, later, to adopt an independent executive branch of government and to finally endow the incumbent thereof with larger powers.
This period of repose under our very modest plan of administration also enabled us to escape experimentation with the many utopian and fantastic ideas of government advanced during that epoch in which constitution making was receiving such universal attention. But the plan of 1776, by its terms, was to endure only "during the present unhappy and unnatural con- test with Great Britain," and accordingly would have expired in 1783. In anticipation of this limitation, however, the consideration of a more comprehensive form of government inter- mittently engaged the attention of our people for fourteen years from 1778 to 1792. In order to give adequate time to complete the consider- ation of a new constitution the old plan was re- vived and continued by the people for a year beyond its prescribed limitation.
At the first session of a convention of delegates from the towns held in 1778, the majority, after arguments which lasted two days, were of the opinion that it would be safer to leave the exe- cutive power, as it had been, in the hands of the legislative branch than to have any chief magis- trate. In the two rejected drafts of a proposed constitution submitted by the Convention of 1781 it was, however, proposed to invest the su-
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preme executive power in a "Governor." In the first report of this convention to the people (1781) it was said of the proposed chief magis- trate of the state: "The convention * *** have thought it best to lodge the executive power in one whom they have styled 'the Governor.' They have, indeed, arrayed him with honors, they have armed him with power, and set him on high. But still he is only the right hand of your power, and the mirror of your majesty." But the people would have none of it. This provision was wholly rejected.
The continued popular distrust of an execu- tive was further evidenced by a provision in the second rejected draft submitted to the people in 1782, in which it was said, "To prevent an un- due influence in this state, which the first Mag- istrate thereof may acquire by long possession of the important powers and trusts of that of- fice, as also to stimulate others to qualify them- selves for the service of the public in the highest stations, no man shall be eligible as Governor of this state more than three years in any seven." If such a stimulant was then neces- sary, as Prof. Colby suggests in his admirable treatise on the constitution, it has not been evi- denced in the present generation by any scar- city of candidates. However, even with this limitation, the proposal for a Governor was for the second time rejected by the people.
Under the Constitution of 1784, which has sometimes been called our "first permanent con- stitution," which was adopted in 1783 and went into effect on June 2, 1784 (after a Constitution- al Convention which lasted two years, held not less than seven sessions and submitted to the people two unacceptable drafts), the executive
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power of the state in a limited form, was invest- ed in a President of the State of New Hamp- shire He was, however, given no veto power. The President of the State was to preside over the Senate and was given the same right to vote therein as a Senator.
Thus, while for eight and one-half years, from 1776 to 1784, the President of the upper Legislative branch had been the acting execu- tive head for the succeeding period of eight years from 1784 to 1792, we had the anomalous situation of the Chief Executive of the State presiding over the Senate. Under the so-called permanent constitution whenever there was a vacancy in the Presidency of the State it was provided that the Senior Senator, for the time being, should exercise such restricted powers as the Chief Executive had been given under that constitution.
In 1791 the Convention of that year proposed seventy-two amendments to the Constitution of 1784. These were adopted, but only after radi- cal changes in their first draft had been accept- ed upon a re-submission to the people. Under this amended constitution which became effec- tive in 1792 the executive power was finally in- vested, as now, in a Governor who by its terms was to be addressed as "His Excellency," while the presidency of the Senate was to be filled by election by the Senate of one of its own mem- bers, whose appellation was to be "His Honor."
In these early essays in the evolution of the executive branch there appear no suggestion in the records of any attempt of our people to fol- low the more ambitious plan adopted by some of our sister states, providing for a Lieutenant Governor in the line of succession. It is a sig-
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nificant fact that the Convention of 1781, which copied largely from the Massachusetts constitu- tion omitted this provision altogether. It was left to the Convention of 1852 first to make such a proposal. But like all of the other amend- ments submitted by that Convention this pro- posal was rejected by the people.
Thus it comes about that the office of the President of our Senate, as our organic law was finally perfected, has carried in fact, though not in name, the lieutenant governorship of our State.
The time at my disposal forbids individual references to the distinguished men who have served the state in this capacity under our per- manent constitution. Suffice it to say that of the eighty-nine men who have held the office, several had been distinguished patriots of the Revolution and others had taken prominent part in the framing of the Constitution; one had served the state in a judicial capacity, and five subsequently served upon the state's highest courts ; seventeen were later elected to the gov- ernorship of the State, three had previously served in the Federal House of Representatives, while ten were subsequently elected to Con- gress; three had previously served in the Feder- al Senate, while seven subsequently represented the State in that august body. Certainly no bet- ter evidence is needed of the respect in which the office of the President of the Senate has been held by the electorate of the State.
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Address of Mrs. Mary I. Wood
Mr. Speaker and Friends:
I am very highly honored to be accorded a place upon this program, with such a distin- guished group of gentlemen as these to whom we are privileged to listen on this day, when New Hampshire so proudly celebrates her Ses- qui-Centennial of Independence.
If I had been allowed to choose my subject, there is none upon which I would be so glad to speak as the one assigned to me by the worthy chairman of the program committee. There will be much said, to-day and to-morrow, con- cerning those citizens of whom our state is just- ly proud, and I am glad that I may say just a few words on behalf of the state's interest in that part of her population who, some for one reason and some for another, falter by the way- side and are not able to keep step with the van guard.
Much credit is due to Mrs. Sarah G. Blodgett for the agitation which resulted in the enact- ment of legislation establishing the State Board of Charities and Correction. Whether her own interest was due to the unenviable position in which, according to the United States Cen- sus of 1890, New Hampshire found herself, or because of the personal contact which Mrs. Blodgett had with unfortunate cases, augment- ed by the long experience of her husband, Chief Justice Blodgett, it is impossible to say, but it is true that in the Census of 1890 New Hampshire appeared as having the highest ratio of any state, of children in almshouses in proportion to her entire population viz: 46 children to every 100,000. Vermont came next with 27 to 100,000.
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The same census report showed New Hamp- shire heading the list of states in the ratio of paupers in almshouses to the entire population.
These startling statements from such a relia- ble source, together with much first-hand in- formation, led Mrs. Blodgett to travel the length and breadth of the state to ascertain the loca- tion and care of such people as were, of neces- sity, because of affliction of mind or body, un- able to care for themselves.
The story of her findings, and the efforts put forth by Mrs. Blodgett and her associates, is the story of the inception of the organized effort to bring about improved conditions which resulted in the establishments of the State Board. Coun- ty farms were visited and jails were inspected and many individual cases followed up by Mrs. Blodgett in her search for data. To relate her findings would far exceed the time accorded to the entire program this afternoon. Let me cite but two instances: one, a county farm where every inmate save nine were feeble minded and those nine were insane: the other a county farm where four generations of one family were housed: the great grandfather, a man past seventy, thievish, dissolute, feebleminded, a pub- lic charge during practically his entire life, his daughter, the mother of feeble-minded children of whom one daughter, herself feebleminded, was the mother of the five months old baby of the fourth generation.
Whether this family was the one of whom I recently heard it is said that a single family in New Hampshire had cost the state $132,000, I do not know, but I do know that there were more than one family whose members have been found in county almshouses, jails, the school for
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feebleminded, the insane hospital or state prison, with the resultant expense of untold thousand of dollars.
It seems like a long call from conditions such as were found by those pioneer workers, to the present time when no insane person may be cared for in a county institution, but are all under trained supervision and care at the State Hospital; when no little child may remain at a county farm for more than sixty days; when provision is made for feeble minded men from five to twenty-one years of age and feeblemind- ed women from five to forty-six (practically the entire child bearing period of the women) in an institution which is an honor to the state, at the head of which is one of the finest of men as well as one of the most able institution heads of the country.
Mrs. Blodgett made her tour of investigation in 1892: the Legislature of 1895 created the Board of three men and two women to whom were entrusted the welfare of these wards of the state.
The members of the State Board of Charities and Correction have included some of the most distinguished of New Hampshire's sons and daughters; men and women whose names are written large in the history of the progress of the state during the past thirty years. They were such men as Oliver Gilman, John Kivel, James F. Brennan, Oliver E. Branch, Sherman E. Burroughs, Dr. Charles Bancroft, Rev. Father Brophy, Charles E. Tilton and others. There were rare women also: Mrs. Julia Car- penter, whose name was known in every good word and work; Mrs. Melusina Varick, leader in all work of social progress in our largest city .;
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Mrs. Lillian Streeter, who served as chairman of the Board for many years and to whom our state owes much for her devotion to its humani- tarian advancement; Mrs. Kate Howard Brown, that staunch temperance worker for the north country ; Mrs. Ella H. Follansbee, the foster mother of New Hampshire's orphan children and the present members, whose works speak daily in their praise. Nor would I feel that I could leave the subject without a word regard- ing one who, while not a member of the Board, has contributed more than all the members. I refer to him to whom the office force refer lov- ingly as the "chief," the Executive Secretary of the Board to whom, whether at his desk direct- ing the work and giving advice, or in these legis- lative halls contributing his masterly influence to the enactment of measures for the relief and care of the State's most unfortunate wards, or abroad in the state adjusting with county and town authorities questions of vital importance, at all times keen to the importance of the work of the Board, I refer to William J. Ahern to whom the state owes a debt which can never be repaid.
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