The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-04-22
vEanoNT,s DEsI ANo FuNcs
Per Capita Debt in 1918 Was Only
sf5e

FrI laNita lrIt ~ va va my
sf.5e
Washington. April .o.-Prelimin-
arp figures from the forthcoming bul
letin pertaining 20 national and state
Indebtedness and funds and invest
ments have been given out b. Di-
rector ". J. Harris. o. the bureau OF
the census. department OF commerce..
The bulletin carries Information for
the state OF Vermont. as weil as Tor
the other states and the United
States. The data we're compiled I'M
der the supervision OF John Lee Coul
ter. expert special agent In charge OF
the inquiry on wealth. debt and taxa
ton.
The bulletin. which viii soon be Is
sued. viii contain statistics for each
state for each year from 1880 90 1915
inclusive. as far as statistics are
available and will also contain de
tails for the year most nearly cor
responding 10 1850. thus making IL
possible TO show the general move
ment during a period OF over 30
years. The bulletin will show the
total debt of the states as well as
many details such as the various
classes OF outstanding bonds and
special debt obligations 10 public
trust funds. n will also show the
floating debt and is component
parts. Under funds and invest
ments" viii be shown separately all
the different funds and in each case
cash and securities will be shown.
The population OF the states for each
year under consideration viii be us
ed. and the per capita deb. less
sinking fund assets will be given.
An Inspection OF the tables for
Vermont in the bulletin soon 10 be
issued shows that the state had no
bonded indebtedness from 1891 TO
1875 $4,000 was outstanding in 1850.
The special debt obligations to pub
lie trust funds, amounting 10 S347.
600. remained unchanged through
out the period. The floating debt
changed from year to year bu. shows
a general tendency TO increase. Si75,
600 In 1891 rising TO $4,000 in
1915.
In the case OF funds and invest.
ments tho securities remained un'
changed until 1908. when $4,000
was reduced to s34s.O00; this
amount was subsequently increased
and in 1913. Sl.249O0O was held in
; securities.
No sinking fund assets .as such
were recorded in any year, thus leav
ing the debt (less sinking fund as
sets) the same as the total debt.
The debt OF the state increased
during the 3o-year period. and III,
slight increase in population was
NO. sufficient to bring about a de
crease in the per capita indebted
ness.
7 In 1880 the total debt OF Vermont
at the close OF the fiscal year, June
90. was 1851. 900: In 1891 II was 1922
900, and in 1913 amounted to $50.
600. The population OF the state in
creased from $4,000 in 1880 TO 800,
GOO in 1913. In 1880 the per capt..
, debt was IS cent?; In 1891 it had ad
vanced to s1.5G: following the fluc
tuations Of the total debt. The pc
capita debt rose to s2O2 in 1899 ant
fell &c the minimum. 80 cents. in 1870
in 1918 the per capita debt wa
$1.5S
In contrast with the state OF Ven
mont. we find that. taking the cntir
7 debt less sinking fund assets 10
the 4s states. the per capita debl
according to the latest report, is SS5:
or S194 more than the per capt.
debt for Vermont. Comparing tn
movement of the per capita debt q
Vermont and the as states, for the 3
year period. we find that s5.4S fell t
$3.50 in the average for the As state
and As cents advanced to S15S /
Vermont.
At the presen; time about pc
cent Of the total population of III
United States will be found in tn
state Of Vermont, and per cent {
! he total debt (ess sinking fund al
setsl is attributed TO that state.