The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1909-10-08
About Increased Taxes.


There issome Com plaint because thu
expenses of the state government arr
Increasing. That complaint Hay b'
just or 1t may not. This mere fac
that the expenses of government are
Increasing In Kansas is not a grount
OF complaint provided the taxpayers
are getting the worth Of their money,
and provided further, that there Is ne
extravaganza or graft la the manage
ment of the public affairs.
The expenses of the state government
are bound to increase as the state
increases in wealth and population
All the state institutions are growing
and the cost Of running them is
nearly certain to increase in proport-
ton to their growth. One Of the
largest increases in expenses Ia on
account OF the State university,
Now, it. Is proper subject for
Inquiry as to whether the university
can be run for less money than ID is
being run for now and still do as
good work as it Is doing now. 1t
must be remem bered, however, that
only few years ago there were Ouly
a thousand students at the uni verslJY.
Now there are about $500, and
within five wears their will be more
theB 5000.
No one, | think, will be so IN
reasonable as to suppose that
university with $500 students can be
run on the same amount of money
that a university with only thousand
students can be operated. LII there
was 40 state university it would be
debatable question as to whether or
not q st ats is justified In maintaining
Q university at public expense 10
educate the children OF com
paratively few However, that
question is not debatable new. The
people of the state are committed 10
the policy Of maintaining q great
university. They have already spent
several million dollars 10 building
and equipIing the M verify ana
Manufacturing 1t, No matter VIVA
administration may be put into p jwel
In Kansas The university viii be
taken care Of, and what is more, the
appropriations will continue to
increase Ia all probability, because
the Kansas people are proud as well
o. rich. They want their university
TO be ss good as any university in the
United States, and they are going u
have it that way, no matter how
much 1t costs.
Then there Is large Increase 10
the cost of maintaining the State
A 5ricultural College. The expense
OF that school will increase, 40 matter
what administration may be In power
because the people are just coming 70
realize what an imperaDb thing an
!rlcultural college and an agricultural
education is. The Agrcul ural
college may be doing as good work as
1t IL possible for it to do, or ~ us
not, but the farmers know now thal
the successful farmer needs 10 be a
student as we'll as a farmer. They
are waking up to the fact that 10
order to make money out of lInds
that cost all the way from S75 to 500
per acre, the farmer has to studj
crops aud soils and fad If possible
some way ta increase his outpu'.
Forming Is not the hard work, hi
and miss business 1t used to be ana
1t never will be that again.
That was the resso, the last
legislature appropriated practically
every dollar to the State Agricultural
college that was called for. And the
appropriations will increase. Tue
institutions at EmporIa, at Pittsbu y
and Hays City are all growing and
requiring more money. A big share
Of the increase Ia state expenses is on
account Of educational iustitusions.
It's possible that these institutions
could be managed more economically
aud keep up their standard. II so
that is what aught to be done AS
we get more psople We will have more
and more inmates IN our state charity
hospitals, and she expense OF manage
msnt will Increase.
The question is not, has there been
an increase, but has the increase
been justified. Are we getting the
worth OF our money? The peogle OF
the state OF Kansas we're never as able
60 pay their taxes, perhaps, as they
are this year, but that is no reason