Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1912-02-23

tiuh, was SS3. 600, with cash In the
State Treasury applicable to the
reduction thereof to a net indebt-
edness of ~$5l.l5l.27. On such
date there was available for
investment in the State School
Fund. S255, 220.27. so that the
State in effect will be able to bor-
row from itself.
The fact that the State. in 1903,
1905 and 1907. to go back no
farther in our history, exercised
its borrowing power to cover. in
advance. deficits in state revenue
over authorized expenditures.
leaves the present emergency by
no means anomalous in our fiscal
affairs. save that it was not pro-
vided for in advance.
The failure to advance provision
for this depletion of the General
Fund is not properly chargeable
against the Legislature or myself,
owing to the extreme difficulty of
arriving at any clear understand
ing of the financial affairs of the
State from the time-honored
system of bookkeeping that has
obtained in our State Government
since its beginning. Nor is any
State official justly blamable for
not introducing innovations in a
system that has always prevailed.
Nevertheless, | am convinced that
the financial condition of the State
should not be eft a mystery which
must be worked out or the princi-
pie of the solution of a puzzle.
The following table shows the
net cash balances in the State
Treasury at the beginning of each
of the last four fiscal years:
January l, l909..... S749,645 II
January l, l9l0..... 1882 II
January !, l91l..... 59O,035 81
January l.. lgl2..... 49l, 1922 70
The total receipts of the State
Treasury during each of the past
three years were as follows:
1909 Sl,OS2, 254 IA
1910 81 ,557 az
1911 994,S82 25
The total expenditures as shown
by the public accounts are as fol-
lows:
1909 l,297.3 1853 40
1910 l,04S, 1872 &c
1911 1902, 1896 40
The total expenditures, as above
given, include bond purchases,
which r not properly an expense
but an investment; and bond re-
demptiCns, which have status quite
distinct from the expense of the
State Government during any
given year in the ordinary sense,
since it amounts to the liquidation
of an Indebtedness contracted in
previous years. The expense of the
State Government. in the odd
numbered wears, is markedly
increased over that of the alternate
years by the cost Of the legislative
session and the fact that an excess
portion of the expenditures aris-
ing from special appropriations
has always occurred the legislative
year as compared with the fol-
lowing year. Excluding bond
purchases and redemptions and
the cost of sessions of the legis-
lature, we have the following COM
psrison of state expenditures dur
ing each of the past three years:
1909 ....,..........S 995, 1884,
1910 SSS, 1926
1911 934, 740.64
From the foregoing it is clear
that the present deficit in the
General Fund is not attributable
to any abnormal increase in state
expenditures. On the contrary
they indicate that at the con-
c~lusion of the present fiscal year
the expenditures of the two years
will possibly show some reduction
over the previous biennial period.
The receipts Of the General
Fund during each Of the past
three years are as follows:
1909 ...............S 45l,4S9.dG
1916. ......,....... 451,463. 95
1911 ............... AS, 639 rs
The figures for 1911 are mis-
leading in this respect, that during
the year the sum Of 1896. 80
was transferred from the Prison
Building Fund to the General