Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1911-02-21
STATE APPROPRIATIONS.

The taxpayers of Oregon are much
given TO straining at gnats ana sWal-
lowing camels They will shout them
selves hoarse with Indignation at some
little legislative appropriation OF d le"
hundred dollars, and then turn around
and accept some measure calling ior
million dollars of the public money
without batting an eye. Ihe sanie
spirit seems to prevail among the
legislators themselves. During the ses-
sion inst closed, it was the bill carry
ing $1,000 that found the sieooihs
hard. The measure approprlatihs
s100. 600 or 100000 would go through
with scarcely dissenting vote.
The cause of this complacency to-
ward the large appropriations Is not
hard to find 1t lies in the fact that
the average taxpayer or Legislator
thinks in hundreds-not in thousahus
or millions. The $500 Appropriation
is easily comprehended by the ordln-
ary citizen; the million-dollar rald on
the public treasury Is beyond ms
mental grasp. The very enormlty Oh
the greater amount awes him TO SUD-
mission--if not to complete silence
If this explanation of the apparent
attitude of complacency toward the
large appropriations made by the re-
cent legislature, and of outspoken nos
tility toward many of the smaller, put
nrobably equally meritorious meas
ures. is not correct, the Observer IS
ready to listen to a bekter.
The fact Is, much of the objection
ia appropriations, large and small, Is
not well founded Oregon is no longer
a little frontier settlement, 1t Is one
of the growing states of the Unlon'
and its needs are great. While the
nainful admission must be MADE tha'
it's growth in the last ten years mas
not kept pace with some OF its sister
states it Is not true that this compar-
alive lack of development has been
altogether due to a nggardly attitude
toward its state institutions Ihe
truth is. oregon has not been niggard-
w Considering it's population and
wealth. it has voted much money lof
state purposes But this money hHs
not always been spent wisely. The
state government like that of many
cities and counties in the state, has
wasted much of its substance or
'makeshifts." Oregon has built fol
the "present"-not for the future!
AS a result its buildings are dis
grace to its boasted civilization. uh
calmly. illy-constructed, combining th'
architecture of half-doZen decades
and crowded to overfowing at al
times these buildings are in no prac
tical sense worth the enormous
amount of money that has been spen
in their construction. They represen
great cost. but little value. Even th'
small prairie states, with less thai
one-fourth of our wealth and popuia
ton. have public buildings that shame
those OF Oregon by comparison. 1t l
not condition of which any eitizel
of this state can feel proud.
While the taxpayers have a right L
object to any eXtravagant approprla
ton, large or small, the time has com
for them to pay less attention to IN
comparatively unimportant appropria
ton bills and TO turn their atttentio
TO the measures carrying the large eN
pendltures. They should cut out tn
expensive 'makeshift" policy and IN
sist that the state officials give theT
the worth of their money In the shap
of buildings that will be permaner
monuments Of usefulness and prid'
The question how much money al
we spending?" Is OF far less import
ance than the question what are "
getting for our money!"