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��SOCIAL CHANGES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
��Fifty years ago the prosperous New Hampshire store-keeper, manufacturer or farmer was accustomed to add to his conveniences of living what was then called a bellows-topped chaise, with two wheels. After planting in the spring, or haying in the summer, the "fore-hand- ed " farmer and his wife, in their new chaise, with a small trunk strapped to the axle, went across the country, or to another State, to visit relatives. They drove at leisure forty or fifty miles a day, enjoyed the cool air, the bright sun and the delightful scenery. At noon they dined at the old-fashioned inn. with all the varieties of the kitchen and the pro- ductions of the season for twenty-five cents each, and the horse enjoyed his hay and oats for the same sum. At even- ing they were received with open arms and warm embraces by kind friends. Here they spent the joyful days of visit- ing in sweet intercourse, pleasant drives and hearty, happy entertainments. Life was domestic in those days. Men lived at home and took care of their families ; now they live abroad and serve the pub- lic. The old mail stage from Concord set down its living freight at Elm Street in Boston, after a whole day's ride, for about the same fare that is now paid on the cars. There the traveller was served with the best products of the season for one dollar a day. Recently I paid five dollars a day at the Parker House for a room. The price of a chicken-bone was one dollar, and everything else in pro- portion. Truly the world moves! The number that move on the cai's among an equal population is ten-fold greater than in 1830. Sitting, the other day, in a crowded car. with my friend, Judge Nes- mith, I asked him if it was probable that the people had turned out to see one of us, as they did to see Gen. Grant. He replied that it was as cheap living on the cars as anywhere, and therefore people traveled. But whence comes the money to pay the bills? From 1830 to 1S60 farmers and manufacturers acquired property very rapidly. Fifty years ago many a New Hampshire boy commenced business in our cities, in a single room, on a capital of a few hundred dollars. Now he must pay from one to three thou-
��sand dollars rent for a room ! I know at least six New Hampshire men in St. Louis, who began business in that hum- ble wa}% who now count their money by hundreds of thousands, possibly by mill- ions. No enterprising young man can do so now. Fifty years ago only two millionaires, in trade, were mentioned — Wm. Gray of Boston and Stephen Girard of Philadelphia. Now the same cities have scores of shoddy millionaires. Three men in New York can control the finances of the commercial emporium of country. They have done it. An aris- tocracy of wealth is as burdensome and oppressive as an aristocracy of birth. Wealth has nominally increased during the last twenty years. It is due solely to the depreciation of our paper money and the unnatural and unhealthy rise of real estate, and the consequent exorbi- tant prices of produce and manufactures. Our wealth has accumulated precisely as the covetous Frenchman's did, who made, in one morning, ten thousand dol- lars by marking up his goods. The peo- ple are poorer than they wei"£ twenty years ago by all the money and time ex- pended during the war, and by the im- mense national debt that remained at its close ; and, while our country may be adding a thousand millions annually to our capital, it will require the utmost skill in our rulers to preserve the nation from bankruptcy. This is fact, not fic- tion. We must pay honestly and punc- tually every farthing of the national debt. This must ultimately come from the soil, and till paid, will remain a sore burden upon our industry. Besides her share of the national debt, and of the State debt, New Hampshire owes, in the form of town and county debts, several millions more. Some flippant dema- gogues tell us this is a mere bagatelle. We can pay it any time. " Any time," says the proverb, " is no time at all." Did you ever know of any people in any age who did not want to use what wealth they had? Did you everjhear of a state or nation that took pleasure in paying old debts? We have grown reckless, ex- travagant andjcriminal in consequence of collecting and using freely large sums of money during the war. We talk of mill-
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