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VERMONT. however, a significant development of manufactures in recent years. The value of products in 1900, $57,646,715, was 50.4 per cent. greater than in 1890, and the capital invested, $48,547,964, had increased 48.2 per cent. during the same period. In 1900 there were 29,455 persons engaged as wage-earners, or 8.6 per cent. of the total population. The most important group of industries are those which depend upon the forests for their raw materials. The great increase in dairying has been accompanied by a rapid development of the factory production of butter and condensed milk. The superiority of the stone resources of the State has afforded a basis for the manufacture of monuments and tombstones and for the allied marble and stonework industries. Of the other industries, the more important are the manufacture of flour and grist-mill products, foundry and machine-shop products, woolen goods and hosiery, and knit goods. Burlington is the largest manufacturing centre. The following table includes the most important industries for the census years indicated:

. Considerable foreign commerce is carried on with Canada through Burlington, which is the port of entry of the United States customs district of Vermont. The imports and exports of merchandise from this district in 1901 were $12,242,835. The district of Memphremagog, with Newport as its chief port, had an aggregate value of imports and exports for the same year of $5,004,556. This commerce is carried on with Montreal, principally by the way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River; and by means of canals navigation is also practicable to Albany and New York.

. The railroads of the State are operated chiefly by the Central Vermont, the Boston and Maine, and the Grand Trunk railroad companies. The total length of roads was nearly stationary during the decade 1890-1900, about 1000 miles, of which 870 are local.

Improvement is being made in the public highways, the State having provided a system of State aid and supervision.

. The opposition to banks was so strong in Vermont at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries that there were no banks until 1806. In that year a State bank was established, which was owned and managed by the State. The conditions imposed upon it were so stringent that it had little success, and a law was passed to wind up its affairs in 1812, but the final settlement came only in 1845. In 1817 the first private State bank was chartered, and by 1827 there were ten of them. There was no general banking law, and each was governed by its charter. The act of 1831 introduced a safety fund system for the purpose of guaranteeing the circulation. The fund was made up of payments by the banks to the amount of 4½ per cent. of their capital stock. A 10 per cent. tax on profits was imposed at the same time. In 1842 another act was passed, relieving from this contribution all banks that should execute bonds guaranteeing all their obligations in specie. A free banking act was passed in 1851, allowing note issue only on deposits of reliable State securities. All these measures put the banks on a very sound foundation, and Vermont did not suffer any serious bank calamities. The introduction of the national banking system gradually reduced the number of State banks, and none were known to exist after 1890. There have been savings banks since 1850, and they are popular. Some of them combine the business of a trust company with that of a savings bank. In 1902 there were 48 national banks, with capital, $6,460,000; surplus, $1,515,000; cash, etc., $982,000; deposits, $12,620,000; and loans, $13,301,000. There were 41 mutual savings banks, with 128,529 depositors, and total deposits amounting to $41,987,497.

. The capital is Montpelier. The Constitution was adopted by convention July 9, 1793, and amended by conventions in 1823, 1836, 1850, and 1870, and by the people in 1883. Every tenth year after 1880 the Senate may propose amendments to the Constitution. If an amendment receives a two-thirds vote of the Senate, and a majority vote of the House of Representatives, and a majority vote of each House of the next following General Assembly, it shall be submitted to a vote of the people, when a majority vote determines its final acceptance or rejection. The State sends two members to the National House of Representatives.

Suffrage is granted to native or naturalized citizens of the United States who are twenty-one years of age, have resided one year within the State, and are of a ‘quiet and peaceable behavior.’ The registration of voters is required. New ballot laws based on the Australian system were adopted in 1890.

. The Senate consists of thirty members, apportioned among the counties on the basis of population. The House of Representatives is composed of one delegate from each town (township). General elections are held biennially on the first Tuesday of September of even years, and the sessions of the Legislature convene on the first Wednesday in the following October, and have no time limit. Revenue bills must originate in the House of Representatives.