The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-01-02
statement Showing Expen-
ditures Of University is
Made in Annual Report
FINANCIAL HISTORY is GIVEN
Accumulated Savings Of the University
Amount to Large Sum and Cost to
the Students is Shown to Have Been
Materially Reduced by Management


To what use every dollar received
by the University Of Wisconsin during
the past two years was expended, IS
comprehensively set forth in the busl-
ness managers biennial report now
ready for distribution and available
to any citizen upon request. The re-
port is easily the most complete imam
cial statement Of any Of the large uni
versities Of the country, and dl1ers
from the usual run Of such reports IN
that it not only shows that every ex-
penditure was lawfully made, but IN
that it Classics and sub-classi1ies the
items of expenditure in such detail
that every citizen can judge for him
self whether or not the university s
income was wisely used.
The plan of the report is briefly
this: every section begins with an IN
troductory note briefly summarizing
and commenting upon the figures in
that section. To the busy man these
summaries give the whole financial
history of the institution in nut
she'll In addition to these summaries,
Business Manager III. G. Bumpus has
worked out a detailed system of cross
references and schedules, which relieve
he general statement of much detail,
but at the same time afford the cltl-
zen interested in some special phase q
convenient means for tracing q given
expenditure down to it's smallest de-
tails. Wherever there is a substan-
tial increase in expenditure, note ex-
plains the reason for such increase.
Among the striking facts set forth
in the report arc the following
While the total income of the uni
versity during 1910-1912 was $4,006,-
1871, only $2,78o, 298.29 or sixty-nine
per cent came from the state. The
remaining thirty-one per cent is the
result of receipts from students, in
Eestments, federal grants, gifts, and
by-products.
If the expenditures for construction,
purchase of land, and other permanent
improvements, are excluded, the oper-
ating cost Of the university to the
commonwealth is little over a mil
lion dollars per year.
The accumulated savings that has
been made from year to year from the
funds available for regular current
expenses now total $249, $500. This
reserve has an increased Importance
since it is used as capital during the
first four months of the school year
and thus reduces the amount that is
temporarily transferred from the gen
eral fund of the state or otherwise adj
vanced to meet the current expenses
until the receipt of the milltax appro-
priation from the state, which occurs
in February.
The students contribute approx
mately onet third of the total cost of
maintenance Of the university in the
form of fees.
The combined cost to the student
body of attending the university and
of paying for room and board is esti-
mated at approximately one-half again
as much as the current cost of the
university to the state. In other words
for every $500 spent by the state for
general current expenses, connected
with the education of students at
Madison, the student body contri-
butes $500.
The university earns through the
sale of by-products, such as butter and
cheese made by the students in the
dairy courses, live stock no longer
disable for demonstration purposes,
farm and garden products, cinders and
scrap, and through receipts from
technical inspections such as stallion
certificates, dairy tests, and water
analysis, about 1913, 100000 of its avail
able biennial income. Even the
waste paper is collected by the jani-
tors and sold at $500 a ton.
The report also shows that the past
two years have witnessed many i'm
provemcnts in the methods of conduct
ing university business. For instance,
the university has installed an cleo
trical distributing system, which
annually saves the university 100000.
Current is bought wholesale from a
local company and distributed by the
university.
Another instance of economical ad-
ministration is the maintenance of a
purchasing department and of lniver-
sity store rooms, which makes possible
the combination of minor orders so
J that wholesale prices can be secured,
and which insures competitive bidding
on all but trivial orders.
ROOM AMI R0i or