Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-05-01
Indebtedness Due to School and State Govern
ment Twice as Large as This Years
Tax Levy for All State Purposes
CONSTITUTION IS WANTONLY DISREGARDED
Debt for Schools Alone Aggregate SIG, 6,94I, 1852.
Debt for Education Has Multiplied
So Times in q Years

Section /, Article OF the state
constitution limits the Indebtedness
Of the state in the following express
terms: THE state may, to meet cas-
ual deficits or failures in revenue, or
for the expenses not provided for,
contract debts, but such debts, d.
RECT AND CONTINGENT. SINGLY
OR IN THE AGGREGATE. shall not
at any time exceed $4OO,000."
In defiance of this mandate of the
highest authority in the state, legisla-
ture after legislature has lodged and
twisted that plain clause of the con-
stitution until we have "a state debt
A times as great as the legal allow
ance. The story of the growth of
this debt is well told by E. D. Cowen
In the Spokane Spokesman-Review
which appears below:
The consolidated school and state
government debt is twice as large as
this years tax levy for state, school.
military, highway and higher educa-
tional purposes. 1t amounts to $14.50
per head for each man. woman and
child in the state. While the total is
$780,, 1893, the state obligation. in the
nature Of overdraft of the general
fund against the other state fund bal.
ances, is only $726,647
The school debt of s16,941.352, com.
piled as of June 80, 1913, is perverse
affair. 1t continues to pile up indus
triously in the interest of the bond
broker, and in % years of statehood
has multiplied So times. The state
now owes for its public schools more
money than it has cost since the first
legislature of 1890 and including the
appropriations of 1918. to construct
and maintain the II charitable, in
sane, penal and reformatory institu-
tions. The public school debt OF
Washington, in fact. is $1.145.402 in
excess Of the total Indebtedness of
Idaho, including that of the state,
counties, cities, towns and villages.
school districts and highway districts.
Governor MeGraw Sounded Warning
Note In 1895
Executives have time and again
counseled the state legislatures to
keep within revenue bounds, but with
out avail. In 1895, Governor McGraw
noticed the session that
"The disbursements of the state
rsised the audited outstanding indebt-
edness of $570,432 in 1890 to 1886, 5,906
in 1892 and to $1,3O7.222 in 1904.
II all the revenue resources
are available on March 81 only half
the current Indebtedness can be ex.
tinguished. Granting that the receipts
between October 81. 1894 and March
81, 1895, should equal Those of the
same period two years ago, the leg
islature still has to face the dilemma
OF a positive current debt approximate
ing $1,200,000. 1t will be seen, there
fore, that the anticipated revenues for
t"O yCoio SOiiCStCo III ouVohSV NoNAN
scarcely redeem the current debt of
March 81, 1895. Does this state of
affairs not demand the most rigorous
precaution and imply the severest re-
sponsibility in the law-making pow
err?
Governor Rogers Repeated Caution
Against Debt in 1901
Said Governor Rogers to the legis.
lature Of 1901:
-Four years ago the total state debt
was $2,176,347. This in spite of the
fact that our state constitution in the
most explicit terms forbids any in.
debtedness in excess of 100000"
The interest charge was s150,0O0
per annum. Governor Rogers mes
sage affirmed that almost $1,000,O0O
(the total interest charge) of the tax
payers hard-earned money had been
wasted.
Following the precedent set by his
predecessors Governor Mcbride, in his
message to the legislature Of 1903.
said:
1T is TO be hoped that the appro-
priations made at this session of the
legislature from the general fund may
not exceed the anticipated revenues,
and that there may be no necessity
of further borrowing from the per-
manent school fund"
The state general fund owed the
school fund at the time $11G5,000
bearing 3R per cent interest.
Constant Struggle 70 Hold Down
Legislature
Again when Governor Mcbride was
about t. retire from Office his /; Il