The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-03
STUBBORN FACTS.

STUBBORN FACTS.
 Thoughtful citizens, and equally thoughtful members of tine incoming general assembly will find much to in- tcrcst and concern them in the annual reports of the state treasurer and state comptroller this year They point to the fact not so much that Connecticut is already in a financial condition to call for serious Investigation as that the tendency she has taken on Is to- wards a condition which may sooner or later call for either marked rctrcnch- mont in expenses or an increased rev enuo.
 So far as the treasury is concerned. the report shows that the state spent last year in excess of her revenue SS16 . GOO This brings the funded debt of the state to $S7i,iOO and tho net debt to s54S,5S6. This is by no manner of means an alarming showing compared with many other states, which have on the whole followed less thrifty pol icy, but It does nevertheless suggest the need of prudence in the manage ment of affairs It Is true that many of the items, which have brought the expenses of the year up to largo hg- ure, may be called unusual and not to be soon repeated, but the fact remains that there are always unusual demands upon the public purse and they arc es- caped only by the exercise of the sharp est judgment. There is, for example, widespread and intelligent demand for a state reformatory and should it be gratitied, in accordance with the conservative report of the commission which reported four years ago, there would he immediate need for an addi- tional half million
 some idea of the way expenses have increased in the state in ten years may be gathered from thcso figures while at the same time they suggest of them selves the approach of the time when a more business like administration of the public purse will have to be lntro- duced. Contingent expenses have grown in that number of years from $l1,000 to over $l5GoO0 The cost for car ing for state paupcrS has run up from $i,000 to $3l00O The needs of the hu- manc institutions have increased from '$3l4,o0o to $926,0Oo. The agricultural in- terests of the state, which ten years ago, were satisfied with $iS,0OO, used up $l36000 during the last fiscal year Nearly twenty thousand dollars more was spent last year In the printing of public documents than was spent ten years ago. The same proportionate increase is shown in tho expenses ol the fish and game commission. Good roads take twice as much money and moro today than they did that number of years ago The total increase ir expenditures, not including state bonds and interest in ten years has beer over $2oo0,000 Other expenses con. nerted with the judicial department the department of education, the com. mon schools and the normal schools and the state library have gone sky. ward with tho rest
 Il is not so clear where the addl tional revenue will come from 1T 8 con. tinuance of the liberal policy is assur. ed, or even assured in part The bulk of the income of tho state is now de, rived from the corporations There are few other sources of reasonably large revenue, but they are not importan enough in comparison to make relanc, upon them possible It is a question whether the telegraph and telephon, companies, which pay only q lttl, more in excess of the fees received from automobiles, pay enough, but al general proposition it would D, against public policy to tax the corpor ations more They collect from tn, public and an eXtortOnate tax would therefore become a tax on the service which the public must receive to trans act it's business. So that while there is no theoretical limit to the expenses the state may create, there is q practi cat limit to its ability to obtain rev. cnue. its credit is first class, but cvel that may become impaired iu publi, opinion before t is actually exhausted hy failure on the part of the stat, to Introduce more and more business methods of doing the peoples business
 The point. in other Words, involve, in this sort of d study of the tinanela