Gloucester County Democrat., 1909-01-21

now taken Dy the legislature in maxi
ing appropriations, coupled with the
right of the governor to veto any item
in the appropriation bill, there is no
danger of excessive appropriations.
In this connection it may be well to
disabuse the possible impression that
may be abroad or that some have
sought to convey that the state treas
ury is on the verge of bankruptcy.
The contrary is the fact. No state in
| the Union is more sound financially
or more prosperous than New Jersey.
We have the enormous sum Of 81, ,S43, =
| 1,178.44 of ratabIes subject to taxa
| tion. We are without single dollar
| of debt of any kind. For twenty-four
| years there has been no direct tax
| upon the property of the people for
state purposes. Our state has had
! sufficient and to spare for it's pur
poses from revenue derived from other
| sources.
| The difficulty which is presented at
| the present time arises from the fact
that for all these twenty-four years
the constant effort has been to take
away from the state its surplus rev.
enue for local purposes.
There was in the treasury of the
state on Jan. 1, 1909, over $4,000,000-
derived from railway taxation, which
was at some time in the past, either in
whole or in part, assessed for state
purposes. The one-half of / per cent
on second class railroad property,
which,. under the act of 1884, went to
the state for state purposes, was in
1897 given up by the state to go into
local taxation. Later the state released
| from property assessed as main stem
! all it's one-half of per centum interest
in the ten acre terminals that were
included in the main stem under the
act of 1884. No railway property is
now assessed for state purposes ex-
cept strip 100 feet in width, which
now constitutes the main stem and
| the tangible personal property and
franchises of railway companies.
If all the tax which comes from this
source alone went to the state we
should now have in the treasury over
two million and a quarter of dollars of
surplus fund. 1t is simply because of
the fact that the state, by chapter 146
of the laws of 1906 has appropriated
out of the states revenues more than
| it should for distribution to counties
for school purposes that any difficulty
arises. The repeal or modification of
that act would relieve all the embar-
rassment
What the state is doing for the pub
lie schools can be stated here with ad-
vantage to evidence that the proposed
repeal or modification Of the act of
1906 is just both to the schools and the
state.
The total cost of the free public
schools in round figures for the year
ending July 1, 1909, shown by the va
rious appropriations, state and local,
will be $16,673,0O0.
For the fiscal school year endins
July 1, 1905, the cost of the public
schools of the state was SO, 556. 800.
| Thus the increased cost of the oper-
alton of the public schools for the fis-
cal year ending July 1,v1909, over the
fiscal year ending July 1, 1905, is
over $7,000,000.
The public schools should be sup
ported generously but care must be
taken to prevent prodigality and reck-
less expenditure The state should do
everything it can to aid the free
school system, but there are other
equally just demands upon the treas
ury under the administration of an
honest, efficient and economical state
government
If the legislature in it's wisdom
deems it wise not to repeal chapter
146 OF. the laws of 1906, which
should regret, and decides that mod
ification is preferable, then / suggest
that the rate for state purposes upon
the railway property now taxed for
state purposes be raised to three-quar-
| ters of / per centum and that the fol-
| lowing items of public school expendi-
| lures, now charged against the state
fund, be hereafter deducted from the
amount appropriated to the public
/ SCIOOlSs Uy CudptGI lfO VI lAc ldNS VI
| 1906 before the same is paid over to
| the county collectors of the several
counties for apportionment among the
several school DISTRICTS viz:
Industrial education .................. S95, 1000
| State Normal school at Trenton.... $4,000
| State Agrl cultural college. .......... 500
| New Jersey School For the Deaf.... 45, 900
| County superintendents ............ AZ 1000
| State Normal school at Montclair
Heights ......................... $4,000
| Superintendent of public instruction 25, 600
Manual Training and Industrial
| School For Colored Youth. h........ 1900
Evening schools for foreign born
residents .......................... 10000
Free school libraries. es.-................ 1000
| Practice teaching .................... 5000
State board of education. n...... $500
Teachers retirement fund ........ 5000
School fund expenses. 5000
High school inspection. .............. $500
| Farnum Preparatory school ........ 2,25C
Teachers Institutes .................. 2,0oe
| EIl ,o,71ar