The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1900-09-28

not cotuo iSOm texntiou, hnd now lei
ne see 10 10 the school fund. A before
stated that fund Was created by tho
Republican constitution Of 1865 aud
was invested In United States bonds
aud the General government paid the
interest TO the state and that interest
largely supported the school. In viola
ton Of the constitution. which still
provides that that fund shall be accur.
ately Invested aud sacrcdly preserved.
the entire fund has been spent aud in-
stead Of a fund. there is q debt 10 that
amount 10 pay the interest on which
the people Of the state are annually
taxed, aud some Of them arc deluded
Into the belief that they are receiving
state school money from the interest
on = fund. They will be enlightened on
that point by reading page i40 OF the
Session Acts Of 1883. By then referring
to psge II Of the session Acts Of 1889.
the reader viii discover that the .um Of
$500.5i3 90 10 appropriated out OF the
state interest fund, annually raised BY
taxation TO pay Interest ON these certi-
ficates Of Indebtedness, which arr the
only evidence remaining that the chill
dren Of the state even had "a fund
securely invested and sacredlv pre-
served. only the Interest TO be used for
the support of the public schooi-.v II
these funds had remained as the Re-
publican constitution provided. invest
ed in United States bonds. the general
government would have paid the inter
est and many million dollars would
have been saved TO the taxpayers OF
ihs state.
Mi. Dockery boasts that his party
has reduced the rate OF taxation. hut il
careful not TO say IL WAS Ia obedience
TO a positive command OF the constitu-
tion, yet he does not tell You that the
same year that the rate was reduced
ten cents on each hundred doilars valu-
alton, that Nil farm property was ad.
vAnced In valuation twenty censs on
every hundred dollars. You who psy
taxes know that the rase or>axnsias u
higher to-day Than svsr sefore. II iosI
vheu the Nspub.tcaa party cAssss ina
powsr, tbe tax@ble wealth 81 The stat
was $3.50, 354. 1852. when they went ou
Of power cIxhf years isser In had near
~ doubled. In 1879 the valuation W..
1856, 100000. On this assessed vaIua-
ion the party conducted The sTairs vi
state, aud paid of fifteen millions OF
debt. How on earth did they do il! BY
economy which Is comparison with the
democratic extravaganza which has
since prevailed, was little short Of par
simoDy, aud before | have done with
Mr.. Dockery | will prove 1t TO YOU by
figures from Democratic reports. | do
not know what the books show, o
only the ring has ever bad access to
them in the lust twenty years. Up to
within a few years the auditors reports
gave II table of receipts aud expendi-
lures for many years. Oflate this table
has been omitted, but the figures are
obtainsble, but before proceeding TO a
presentation of them | want again to
quote from the Seiberi- Dockery speech
"But, my fellow-citizeus. .his Is not
all of the splendid financial record Of
the democratic party. ON January /,
1873, the cash capital school fund OF
the state amounted to S2,510,l0O; GU
july rs of the great present year IL ag-
gregaied $3,i5S,000. The interest upon
this handsome cash endowment fund.
larger than any other similar fund of
any state OF the republic, goes TO edu-
cate our children.
The seminary fund, the interest of
which Is used to support the state uni
v~ersity, has also been increased from
sos, 700. us IL was ON the LIST OF Janu-
AIRY, 1873, to S1,235,SS4,42 on the 18Th
of July lasi, The total amount OF mon
ey raised by taxation from all sources
to maintain the public school system
in 1871 was Sl.6S7,575. The total
amount raised for this purpose IN 1899,
under Democratic rule was 81, O7S.02l.-
"a.
III reiutation OF this remarkable
statement | refer yon to page 7 OF Sci
berts' last Auditors report, where the
cash school fund is stated as but $685..
40. II is possible that a candidate sLr
governor does not know that the
school fund has been dissipated aud
spent aud instead is represented by,a
debt, which undesthe constitution pro-
vides that the BONDED debt shall be
paid, aud when extinguished, the tax
authorized for the purpose OF paying
oil the state debt shall cease to be as
sessed. (Sea Sec. IA, Art. 10 OF the Con-
stituiion) Section "A, Art. 4, absolute
~ prohibits the legislature from Great
49,