Hillsdale Whig standard. (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1846-1851, 1850-01-22


other than for interest on our state debt. ought
not, and will not probably after 1851. excee
SoOOOO year, AMI the Interest due ths school
and university iruts aud on lhe balance OF our
funded debt on which he interest Is not proyid.
ed for by the above mentioned act, after ee luci-
ing the amount due from the S. Y. r. Co. would
b. about $40 600 there would seem 10 be leti q
larger amount applicable as q sinking fund than
this department mas ever veninred 10 suggest a.
desirable or al least ailainahle, and more Than
would be necessary 10 io.ally extinglL.h our
slate debt hy the lime Of rs malurity.
That however is an evilnoi 50 much 70 be ap-
prehenled or thai wOul work as much. il any
INJURY, as Ihe rr 'sei want of adequate piovis-
ION being made Tor tax equ;i 20 ihe annual in
terest accruine ~ orr pan pail bonds untl
iunlcdi AMI which IL &c mean 10 keen our state
debt from increasing annually shoulI be raised
and the amount applied until these bonds are sur
rendered Tor new bonds, in The extinguishment
ol an equal amount Of our other state indebted
ness Ii II is urged as q n argument against ere
ating any such surplus over what Is actually
wanted 10 meet the interest on hat portion of
our debt now adjusted and funded Eat We have
CATER the redemption Of the interest bonds due
Jan. 1850, no more hoads which mature before
1870, and therefore no s;ate Indebtedness which
We could take mp ill then il may be answered
thai the legislature OF 1919 in authorizing the
funding OF Internal improvement warrants re-
served the privilege OF calling in any OF the bonds
issued for them after Jan. 1850, ana that they
also made provision by another act TAct No
500, 1915 for The application of any surplus, il
we should ever be fTtunate enough TO have any
beyond our existing liabilities, in the purchase
OF outstanding stale stccRs not at the lime due or
past due
The expenses Of the state government for one
or TWO years longer are estimated at sS15 600 af-
ter which they may and probably will be, redu-
ced by the action of the Convention 10 revise the
constitution, TO about $4,000 year Until
more OF our pant paid bonds are funded the an
nual interest on our state debt, including The in
teresi accruing upon hcm and on the sums due
ihs school and university funds, will be about
Sll0 600. ia order 10 keep our state debt from
increasing, we ought therefore, for the next year
or two 10 have a state revenue OF about SlS5,-
OOO Estimating our income from other sources
than direct tax, at about $40 600 year for the
next two years, which is probably full as much
a. will be realized We ought therefore 10 have a
direc state tax OF about @l05 600 which is all
thar we should have under existing provisions
OF law, unless more OF our part paid bonds should
be funded before the apportiOnment OF the tax for
interest on our Internal improvement debt un-
der Acts No. 73 1913 and No. l13, 1913 in Sep
tember next. II is anticipated that some now
outstanding Of those bonds will come in 10 be fun
ded before that, but perhaps not any very large
proportion OF them.
Ii our part-paid bonds should however all he
funded before 1851 The annual interest on our
state debt would then be about $3.50 600; and es
timating the expenses of the state government
alter that al $40 900 we should then require
revenue of about $3.50 600 TO barely pay Interest
OF our debt and current state expenses. And II
intended, as IL ought 10 be, TO cXunguish our state
debt in twenty or twenty one years al flr,h 50
we ougnt to commence with a sinking fund Oi
$50 600 70 $4,000. As our revenue In 1852 and
thereafter from specific state taxes and other
rr Isr.... Inn.
ted at about $7S 900 We might, by having iii
rect state lax annually of about SlI0G0O and
with an economical state government, have
surplus of about $50 900 10 commence with as
sinking fund. Il may look rather hard ana dis
couraging TO as as IL 10 doubt does, that about
Two. thirds or threc-lOurlhs OF our whole stale re-
venue should be used up ia meeting The interest
and paying up the principal Of an outstanding
state debt, incurred mostly for Ubcc's from which
We have derived bat comparatively little Dene-
fl; but at the same lime, il may not BE- void OF
some degree OF consolation, 10 remark, that even
IL We submit To rate OF taxation, suinclent To
pay the interest aud exlinguish the principal OF
our state debt in about twenty years we shall
then be more tightly taxed than any of our ad-
joining aud sister states having any state IN
acbtedness TO provide for. As our direct state
AK 10 accomplish the above resutO cXtDguish-
ing our state debt, within period but litle lon
ger than our state government has already been
in existence and constituting but briet period
in history of Il stale or even IN The average
lifetime of an iniividual need not at any time
exceed over Sl0 600, being a tax even now OF
only 33 cents a head and constantly decreasing
a. our n0puiatiOn increases aud only about hall
per head of what is now borne by ihe people OF
OHIO and Pennsylvania, or two thirds OF what
is raised per head in Indiana and Illinois, we
certainly ought not to think ourselves unable 20
bear IT, The Object of obtaining i0r ourselves
and our posterity an entire freedom nom state
debt aud as a consequence thereof an entire eN-
emption from any necessity for dircc state
TAX. forever afterwards. as our other revenues
would then be ample for the supporter The state
government and the interest on what might be
due 10 the school aud university funds, is surely
an object worth making some sacrifice for; even
ii paying one-half or twothiris as such state
tax as the tax payers in adjoining sIatcs have 10
bear should be felt and considered as much. And
IN making comparative estimate OF the rate OF
taxation per head on our population. II shouiJ
also b. borne in mi D. that about nineteen pr
cent of our taxes are collected from NONRESIDENT
lands, a large proportion of which are owned by
citizens OF other states. Ii the holding % non
resident and unimproved lands especially for
specializing upon the prospective Increase "a
value caused by the labor and Improvements OF
actual settlers is all wrong in principle and IL
furious in its re ulis TO any country effected oy
IL a. well as a very improbable Investment gen.
admitted to be- bY every one who has witnessed
Us effects or watched It's results, yet there Is al
least this one small advantage ia IL, ii NO other
thatihe owners can be made TO contribute some
thing towards dciraying lhe state, county ADD
town expenses, although probably never hali E.
nough 10 counicrhaance The drawback upon the
growth and prosperity OF the neighborhool Of
their lands in consequence OF their being with
held from settlement and Improvement.
EXPENSES or stats PRISON.
The expenditures al this Institution over and
above the earnings OF the cOnvicls during The
last fiscal it will be seen, have been much high
er than were estimated IN the last ANIMAL report
from this office. This excess arises from more
having been expended on the centre building,
now completed OF nearly SO than was then AMI
cipated for the past year, and in parl also. %
would seem by The vouchers forwarded here ior
allowance, since March last from paying mp ar
fearages of Indebtedness left Outstanding 10y the
late agent, whose term then expired.
II is to be hoped. after the completion Of n
centre building, which I am inform d by Ia
~ "A Il. N - fI.a