The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1914-02-03
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 3. 1914.
DEBT AND PROSPERITY.

Some recent discussions OF public
debt. especially the debts OF munici-
|:palitics. suggests the reflection that
|;of all tho misleading things in this
world. statistics or public debt oc-
.cupy n place pretty close to the top.
Statisticians OF all kinds. federal. state.
local. sociological, and what not, have
compiled tables by the rcam showing
tho debt OF this. that and the other
organization. and the whole conglom-
Grafton is about as c%nlighteninE as ii
would he to tell how many rooms of a
givcn size a million dollar bills would
paper.
The trouble is that the figures are
given without analysis. without any
statement of their relation tu other
FACTS. and without any recital OF other
facts. The bare statement that a ma
or a municipality owes so mucli mon
ey means absolutely nothing at all.
One ma ma owe 81 million dollars
and he ON the very crest Of the wave
of prosperity. while another may w
oib' ~ Al tItl e u
a be applied to one without either
assets or liabilities. often in a COM
munity some nan is pointed out as
the n who owes tho most money Of
anyone in the city or county. And in
a good many cases that very man will
be found to be the most prosperous
man in the community. His prosper
ity is no due to the fact that he owes
money, but the fact that he owes
money does not stand in the way of
his prosperity. Often it tends to pro-
mote it.
1t is SO with Il city. 1t may he
bonded up to the limit and be pros
Eperous, or 1t may not be- bonded at all
land have nc debts of any kind and be
lin d~cplorablc financial condition.
There would he some value in the
statistics if. instead of being mere
statements of lump Indebtedness they
consisted of carefully prepared state
ments OF assets and liabilities. pre-
Ethe anne care that the similar state
ments Of a large business corporation
Eare prepared. Then we could toll
hfrom the tables what relation existed
kbetween the financial obligations of n
city and the value of the property
(which II owned. AS it is. there is Moth
ping on which To base Intelligent COM
parisons.
Some day VIC will have a number OF
good things which We have not now.
One of these will be a system uf uni
form accounting for all public bodies
kof similar character. Every county
will have its kept in cxuctly
Ethe same manne as every other coun-
Hty. An item of income or expenditure
occurring in any county will be en-
stered in the same account. Township
accounts will be uniform in the man
ner suited to them. Villages will
ghave. a system of their own to apply
ito all villages alike, and cities will he
treated on a like uniform basis. 1t
will he one of the duties vt the pub
ss1ic examiner to inspect carefully at
frequent intervals all public accounts.
ssand to see hat they are all kept in
ifhe proper manner. There will be
"a public appraiser. or a hoard of ap-
..praisers whose duty it will be to an
praise all public property, see that it
Us correctly invoiced and that a proper
record Of It is kept. When we have
5sall of this it will be possible to take
fthe accounts Of municipal bodies, as
tEemhle them, tabulate them, and as
certain some facts which it is worth
while to know. The present system
As about as useless as anything that
could be devised.
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