Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-04-30

~ NJ IN Apill Zi,--1dklng ad-
vantage of the protest that is being
made in many parts of the state
against the nprecedentedly large an
preparation budget of the 1909 legis-
lature certain newspapers and poli-
tlcal leaders are endeavoring to
create popular opposition to the in
creasing appropriations for the main
tenance of the state institutions of
higher education. Chiefly singled out
for an attack is the state college at
Pullman, and a leading newspaper of
Seattle has recently undertaken to ex-
ploit the cost of maintaining that in
stitution so as to show it in an un-
favorable light when compared with
the expense of maintaining the state
university
Financial statements show the col
lege to be far the more efficient insti-
tuition of the two when it comes to
getting results from the money ex-
pended.
What the Records Show
From the time the college was
opened, / 8 years ago, records of the
state auditor show there has been ex-
pended on plant and equipment at
the college a total of $732,642 and at
the university $953,42I
A comparison of the reports of the
two institutions indicates that the
plant of the college is fully equal if
not actually superior to that of the
university, both in size of its build
Iings and the thoroughness with which
they are constructed. while the scien-
tific character of many of the courses
taught at the Pullman institution has
involved a much wider range of ex-
penditures for scientific equipment.
In addition to this the site of the
college, together with its large expert
mental farm is fully paid for, while
the site of the university is a section
of state school land purchased from
the state in 1890 for $2S,313, no part
of which has yet been paid, and even
the interest of which is in arrears
since 1890.
People Get Value Received
For neither of these institutions
does this sum appear exorbitant in
consideration of the value that has
been received for the money and the
lofty purpose to which the property
is being devoted, especially when one
compares it with the wastefully eX-
travagant expenditure of state money
in certain other directions.
For instance, the total cost of the
plants of both of these institutions
during a period of / 8 years has not
quite equalled the appropriations of
the 1909 Legislature for state road
construction, most of which will be
extravagantly expended, and the
greater portion of which, II expended
as directed by the Legislature, will be
practically wasted.
The entire cost of maintaining the
state college for the 8 years has been
but $542,839, only about Sl50,000
more than the cost to date of the
capitol building, 100000 less than
the appropriations this year for the
state penitentiary and less than one
third the sum which it is now pro-
posed to expend on the erection of
new capitol building
Education Less Than ReformatOries
The cost of maintaining the state
university for the last 8 years has
been $1,339,096, or just about the
sum appropriated by the recent leg
islature for the two insane asylums,
the state reformatory and the state
training school. The 1903 appropria-
tions for the university aggregate
$637,222. which is about $1,000 less
than those for the state penitentiary
and only $4,000 more than those
for only one of the hospitals for the
insane.
The maintenance cost OF the uni
yersity for the two years ending with
April I, 1909, was $362,623, less than
$4,000 more than was appropriated
this year for the eastern Washing
ton hospital for the insane, and only
$4,000 more than was appropriated
this year for the maintenance OF the
state land commissioner office and
the state fish commissioner office.
The maintenance cost to the state
of the state college for the last two
years was but s20S,35o, which is.