T HE month of fairs is ended. The siren call of the vendor's whistle has faded away on the breezes, not to be heard until the next autumnal season. The giant ferris wheel no longer revolves its sluggish way through the heavens, carrying its burden. of frightened young ladies clutching the manly sleeve of their masculine protectors. The last toy balloon has drifted lazily skyward, leaving its aggrieved and weeping young owner. The shouts of the excited throng and the rapid thud of the hoofs upon the race-track are things of the past. We breathe a sigh of relief which has a little note of loneliness in it as we realize that the gayety of the season is past and we are again face to face with another winter. One of the oldest of the Anglo-Saxon institutions which were inherited by our New England fathers is the agricultural fair. We may turn back the pages of that quaint old English narrative, "The Vicar of Wakefield" and read the story so familiar to every school boy-"Moses at the Fair." Fair time was the very apex of the season's activities in the days when New England was young and robust. It was a time when the sturdy farmers brought the best results of their year's work to compare them with the exhibits of their neighbors in friendly competition. It was a time when political and patriotic feeling ran high and many a statesman soared to his greatest oratorical heights before the cheering throngs who were made eager listeners by the spirit of festivity which reigned among them. James G. Blaine, the silver-tongued orator of Maine, Ben Butler, who so loved to flaunt the bloody shirt in Massachusetts, and Cy Sulloway the "tall old pine of New Hampshire," were familiar figures in the old New England fairs. These yearly festivals were fairs not carnivals. The midway was decidedly a minor feature in their proceedings. Those lovers of New England who are to-day striving to rejuvenate her spirit and repopulate her hills would do well to turn their attention to the transformation which has been taking place in our fairs. To be sure the various promoters of these celebrations will inform us that larger crowds attended them this year than ever before. It has seemed to us, however, that we have never seen New Hampshire fairs present a more meagre exhibit of livestock and produce. We saw few of those magnificent specimens of the various herds owned within our state. We saw little of the beautiful handiwork of the housewife. Lovers of horses would scarcely go into rapture over the races. The feature of the fairs which appeared to be gaining the most was the one which is to us the least desirable. The midway is growing. We have never before seen so many doubleheaded calves, five-legged dogs, and wild women who subsist on live serpents. Had we possessed the disposition to gamble we could have spent a king's ransom and returned with a few blankets and a couple of dolls as our prizes. To be sure, some of our statesmen graced the occasions and delivered addresses, but to every person who listened to them in a half-hearted way there were ten who preferred to spend their time gazing in open-mouthed wonder at a bearded woman or a giraffe with a sore throat. The state of Maine has been obliged to cancel the stipend which it has furnished to support some of the country fairs because of the cheap character of the entertainment. On the other hand, New England can well be proud of the Eastern States Exposition at Springfield which was an old-fashioned fair with some of the finest exhibits ever shown. Those who believe that the public are interested only in the vaudeville attractions of a carnival should think upon the fact that although this celebration charged the largest entrance fee of any fair in New England it had by far the largest attendance. The state of New Hampshire has contributed to the support of its fairs. Our Commissioner of Agriculture has stated that he was satisfied with those of this year. We grant that they had many good qualities and were probably much better than those which Maine has had to discontinue. But on the other hand, we wonder if all of our fairs were the type which New Hampshire really wants. Before another year comes round let us "think on these things." OUR CONTRIBUTORS The GRANITE MONTHLY feels fortunate in being able to present to its readers the article, "Is New Hampshire Completed?" by its associate editor William S. Rossiter. Mr. Rossiter is a well-known figure in New Hampshire as well as in the nation at large. He is a former newspaper man of wide and successful experience, having been connected with the New York Tribune and the New York Press. Succeeding the late William E. Chandler as President of the Rumford Press, he has made Concord one of the printing centers of the country by his successful efforts in building up that concern. Mr. Rossiter's specialty, however, is his work as a census expert. With a knowledge derived from his services in that department of the United States Government, he has been able to interpret the meaning of the shift in population in a most striking manner. His article entitled, "Three Sentinels of the North," which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly and his various lectures upon the conditions of New Hampshire's population has made him the central figure in a movement among various state leaders to remedy the conditions which brought about our decrease in population. H. Styles Bridges is well-known to readers of the GRANITE MONTHLY because of the articles upon matters pertaining to agriculture which he has contributed in the past. He is also becoming well-known to the people of the state as a whole through his efforts upon the platform and through the press to promote the interests of New Hampshire Farm Bureau of which he is Secretary. It is highly appropriate that he should give to the people of the state the story of the birth and growth of this important organization. The first of his series of articles appears in this number. Two other old friends of the Granite Monthly are Professor A. W. Richardson, the author of another interesting account of poultry raising in New Hampshire and Miss Daisy Deane Williamson, who gives us a vivid mental conception of the amount of human energy wasted in a poorly arranged kitchen. Mrs. Lillian M. Ainsworth who recently concluded her successful work on the Manchester Daily Mirror to join the editorial staff of the Concord Monitor has favored the GRANITE MONTHLY with a heretofore comparatively unknown chapter in the life of one of New England's greatest poets. Mr. Philip W. Dodd is a young newspaper man who is taking special work in the department of journalism of Bostor. University. He recently made a study of New Hampshire's yearly toll of mctor accidents and in this issue gives us the result of his investigations. CURRENT OPINION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE A Page of Clippings The First Candidate for Governor A real "honest to goodness" candidate for the republican nomination for governor has announced himself. Personally we have never met the man, but those who are acquainted with him speak in the highest terms, and those who know him best have no word of criticism. Even democrats admit that he is about as nearly perfect as it is possible for mere man to be. He has had experience in both branches of the legislature, is a good business man, has large interests, both in business and in better things, is a World War veteran, and as much entitled to a nomination and election as any man in the state. Judging by all these things it looks as though the republicans of New Hampshire are to have a standard bearer in John G. Winant in whom they can put full confidence-Franklin Transcript While the talked-of candidates for governor on the Republican side were. thinking it over, John G. Winant of Concord has thrown his hat into the ring. He is an able man who has already had quite an interesting public career and who declares in his announcement that he was the original introducer of a fortyeight-hour bill in the legislature. He thus evidently hopes to steal the Democratic thunder. Senator Moses makes the comment that at this time he is unable to determine whether Winant is the early bird who catches the worm or the early worm that is caught by the bird. We don't imagine that anybody is very much excited by the announcement just now, but it is a reminder that a political campaign is approaching. The editor of the Concord Monitor and Patriot states that, as Mr. Winant is a part owner in the paper, he prefers that no editorial comment on his candidacy be made. Which affords quite a contrast to the attitude of some past candidates who have gone into the newspaper business to secure editorial support. -Rochester Courier Captain John Winant of Concord, World War aviator, has announced that he will be a Republican candidate for governor at the primary. Capt. Winant is an extremely likeable chap, and he's done quite well in politics over in Concord. But just now he appears to be taking a long chance on having his political ship wrecked in a tail spin. -Keene Sentinel Maj. Winant promises to come forward within a few days with his platform. There is no doubt that he will proclaim himself an advocate of the 48hour law, as, indeed, he has a right to. for he was one of the first Republican leaders to do anything in favor of 48 hours as a maximum week's work for women and children. He will also take a stand in favor of a reasonable poll tax in place of the present high tax and will advocate a number of other progressive measures that are expected to rally to his standard the progressive wing of the Republican party. . . . It is true that in the last Legislature there had been talk of Winant for Governor. But it had been speculation, not for 1924 but in the distant future, after Morrill, Barnes and six or seven other distinguished gentlemen had been taken care of and taken their places either in the ranks of former Governors or defeated candidates. Maj. Winant is only 34. years old, and it was the opinion among the regulars that he could wait anywhere from six to ten years before being a candidate. This is on the old New England theory that children in wellbehaved families are made to be seen and not heard. Hobart Pillsbury in the Boston Herald When Editors Disagree The enemies of Mr. Hughes have been very active and they think they have got Mr. Coolidge into such a position on the World Court issue that Mr. Hughes will find his continuance in office an embarrassment. On this line, we suppose, was the recent editorial utterance of a New Hampshire newspaper which concluded: "The World Court proposition is a fine thing to let alone right now. Thus far President Coolidge has had the good sense to let it alone. The Union hopes he will continue to do so.” The Monitor-Patriot hopes he will not. It hopes he will carry out, in accordance with his general promise, the policy of President Harding in this regard: and that he will have the invaluable support and close and cordial cooperation in this matter and all others of foreign policy of one of the greatest heads of the State Department in the history of this nation. Concord Monitor-Patriot New England's Future In New Hampshire men like Frank Knox of Manchester and ex-Governor Robert Bass of Peterboro have initiated a "survey" of the condition of their State and a prospective "program" for arresting the decline which it has shown in many particulars and for changing that decline into an advance. Ex-Governor Bass has incubated an ingenious proposed law for impounding water in new reservoirs at public expense on New Hampshire rivers, while meeting that expense in the end through contracts. made before hand with private manufacturing plants for the paid use of the surplus water. The future of New England, according to Mr. Bass, lies in cheap power from water sources, in skilled labor of the highest training, and in manufactured products so clearly and uniquely the result of such labor that they will be able to travel great distances at high freight rates and still on their merits find a market at high profitable prices.... To regenerate their railroad transportation system and to get renewed good rail service; to regenerate their agriculture and to get a renewed effective countryside; to discover and develop new sources of power in order to supplement or replace the coal which comes so expensively from mines. so distant at final costs so high-such are the problems that New England must solve if it wishes to retain its position in American life, and they exceed by far in difficulty the problems which confront the North west. -The Nation This program has struck a responsive chord in many audiences where it has been informally suggested. It is said, in fact, that any gathering of representative citizens of over 50 years of age can be depended on to hail the Burleson movement as the first step in the path back to normalcy. The women especially are enthusiastic over it in some quarters. No canvass for membership has been made, no is one necessary. The proposition sells itself. No effort is being made to proselyte among such leaders as Judge James W. Remick, former Gov. Robert P. Bass or the editorial staff of the Granite Monthly. Nor will the organization submit questionnaires to candidates like the New Hampshire Non-Partisan League or the People's Progressive Political Party.... -Boston Herald LOREN D. TOWLE Loren Delbert Towle, born in Newport, N. H., March 25, 1874; died in Newton, Mass., September 28, 1923. Mr. Towle was the son of George H. and Mary A. (Goward) Towle. He graduated from Newport High school in 1892, among his classmates being Olin H. Chase, now of Concord, and subsequently pursued a course of study in the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He served for a time as a clerk in a Boston dry goods house, and in 1894 commenced business for himself as a real estate operator, in which line he continued until death. Starting in without capital he succeeded, through the exercise of keen business judgment and farseeing sagacity, in gaining a fortune seldom equalled in the same length of time by any man in any line of business. His operations included the purchase, development and sale of some of the most important pieces of real estate in and and expense of its appointments anything of the kind in New England. His death came suddenly, following an operation at the Newton Hospital for some internal trouble, and was a sad surprise to his many friends, not a few of whom were in his native town, to which he had given $150,000 for a modern high school building, and where he was an honored guest and speaker on Old Home Day, August 23, only five weeks before. Loren D. Towle around Boston, and the carrying out of some of the most extensive building plans; while at the time of his death he was engaged, among other things, in the development of a personal estate on Newton Highlands, exceeding in the magnitude, variety REV. HOWARD F. HILL. Rev. Howard F. Hill, D. D. died at his home in Concord, October 21st. Dr. Hill was in his 78th year, having been born in Concord, July 1, 1846. He was educated in Concord High School, Norwich University, Dartmouth College, Episcopal Theological Seminary, and received honorary degrees from Trinity College, Bishops' College, and the University of Vermont. Masonic organizations. Mr. Towle held many positions of and responsibility, and was a member of numerous societies and clubs. He was President of the Newton Improvement Association, in which city was his home, a director of the International Trust Company, a member and director of the Boston Real Es tate Exchange, and of the Boston Chamber of Commerce. He was also a member and deacon of the Eliot Congregational Church of Newton, a director of the Newton Y. M. C. A., and a trustee of the Pilgrim Memorial Fund. He was also active and prominent in the various He married, June 28, 1899, Helen M. Leland of Dover, Maine, by whom he is survived, with two daughters-Evelene Marion, a sophomore at Wellesley, and Charlotte Frances, a student in the Newton High school. His activities were not confined to those associated with his sacred calling. A Democrat in politics, he served in Concord City Government, Constitutional Convention, and two sessions of the Legislature. He was also chaplain of the Vermont Legislature and of the Vermont National Guard. For five years he was editor of the New Hampshire Patriot and later in life published a periodical of the Episcopal Church. Dr. Hill was ordained to the Episcopal |