The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1915-10-29
Statistic of Interest Given
By Byron Defenbach
Every Tax Payer in Latah
County Should Read
This Article.

This Article.
The following article appeared in
the Lewiston Tribune of Sunday
October II and gives the views of
Byron Defenbach whom everyone in
the county knows and. should be read
with interest by every taxpayer in
the county.
"The showing made by Latah coun-
ty is an excellent one. The. per CAPT.
tai cost of the proper care of the
poor is atleast reasonable and there
is every reason to accept Mr.. Defen-
bach's statement that the place is
made home for the unfortunate.
It is to be doubted if it would be
proper to charge interest on the val
ue of the plant in defining the cost
of the maintenance of the poor. Un-
der proper management there should
be an increment of value of the
plant sufficient to pay this interest
charge. Nor do we ever figure the
cost of government as including the
interest on the investment made in
roads, bridges, school houses, court
houses, machinery, books and all the
other impedimenta attached to gov
ernment. 1t is understood the COM
missioners of Nez Perce county have
in mind the purchase of a poor farm
and the caring for the county's un-
fortunate in that way. 1t is possible
the experience of Latah county in
this matter may be regarded as valu-
able.
The statistics of the recent year
showed that the cost of the public
in caring for it's poor and INDECENT
citizens was in Kootenia county,
$4,000, Nez Perce $500, and Lat
ah 1900, 1t is a we'll established
rule that the existance of a large
town in any county adds materially
to this class of expense.
From the above figures it becomes
that the care of our un-
fortunates is larger question than
most of us like to admit, absorbing,
as it does, from ten to twelve per
cent of our total expenditures for
strictly county purposes.
Latah is one of the few counties
in Idaho which seeks to handle this
problem, at least in part, by main
tanning county poor farm, altho
they never call it by that name Off
cially. 1t is always spoken of as the
"Latah County home," and an hon
est effort is made by all concern ed
to make it worthy of its name. The
home comprises of 134 acres of ex-
cellent land with fairly substantial
buildings, located on a main high
way about a mile from the city linn
its of Moscow. To the casual passer-
by, there is nothing in the appear
ance of the place to differentiate it
from the typical Palouse farms.
Most of the buildings were on the
place when it was acquired by the
county and are not especially adapt
ed to their present use. There are
several acres of orchard, bearing
rather inferiof fruit, and large
garden is planted every year, but
the bulk of the land is devoted to
the growing of ordinary field grains.
AS with most public institutions,
there has been frequent change in
the policy of the home, owing to the
varying ideas held by successive
boards of commissioners. Formerly
the plan was to raise as much wheat
as possible and dispose of it in open
market, but of late there has been
rowing tendency to produce more
live stock and more material for
strictly home consumption. But
while the county commissioners have
frequently changed their politics,
they have wisely continued to en-
ploy the same immediate manage
ment.
An inventory of the land, build
ings, and equipment taken last
spring amounted to approximately
$40. 1000. This is considerably more
than the amount actually expanded
in purchase, as the land has natur-
ally increased in value and is esti-
mated at conservatively at S100 per
acre. The natural ACQUIRING of this
profit has given rise to discussion as
to whether or not interest on the
investment" should be considered in
arriving at the cost of maintenance.
Latsh county has practically no in
debtedness of any kind, but any
private concern would figure inter-
est on the inventory value at per-
haps seven per cent, thus adding
material to the per capital cost of