The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-10-05
Some Facts on Extrnrnrnnce.

IN making statements showing COM
parative expenditures Of the MacCorkle
administration of twenty years ago and
the Hatfield administration OF today,
slatisticians fail in most cases to nut
inc Keen light OF analysis on their
products.
unquestionably the increased expen-
dltures made by Republican admins
tratlon are amply justified by
growth. by development OF resources
ana Increase of population. The state
mad to have a building era, in order
mat the physical properties of its in
situations might be brought IN TO al
least semblance OF adequacy and
modernity. In the period during
which the expense Of state government
mas gradually grown from what II was
IN MacCorkle's time to what II il to-
DAY we have been building. We have
punt the university, the Huntington
state hospital, and the Miners hos
pitais. Marshall College, the tubercu-
Losls sanitarium. and have, in addi-
non TO the work done on these instf-
tuuons, increased the capacity of all
the normal schools, asylums and other
elemosynary and corrective institu-
tons. We could have kept down ex-
penses by neglecting these buildings.
by letting our insane run wild and our
/ blind gropc in poverty and neglect We
could have kept down this expense
| by leaving the university, Marshall
College and the normal schools desti-
tute, stihed. and deprived of the right
OF growth
But this is not the main point
There is point which no man has
publicly suggested and of which, per.
maps, hut few have taken thought dur
ing all this discussion Of expenditures
and more or less odlous comparison
Here 1t is:
| II costs practically twice as much to
! erect public building as it did twenty
| years ago. The towns and cities where.
in our institutions are located are
growing, and the price of real estate
is going up, 1t costs ten times as much
to buy building site in Huntington
or HairmOnt today as 1t did twenty
years ago.
\ Building material is one hundred per
cent higher today than it was twenty
\ years ago.
Labor in the building trades cost
\ practically twice as much today as il
I did twenty years ago.
I A barrel Of flour for one of our hos.
I pitfalls costs eighty per cent more today
4 than II did twenty years ago. Shoes
4 clothing and all other necessities
4 which are required for the comfort Of
our wards cost much more than they
cost under the MacCorRle regime.
4 fY, hn
normal and preparatory schools arC
+. paid much more than they were twenty
gears ago, and they are undergrad yet
Helpers at the hospitals. all forms o.
employment demand better standard
OF pay than was received twenty
years ago
The advanced standard OF prices
whether for material or human help
accounts for large part OF the differ
ence between figures of 1896 and those
of 1916
Take your own county, your owl
home. You know that these things ar,
true. Twenty years ago you paid YOU
school teachers S25 or $40 Der month
Now you pay them $50 OF $50 or ever
S75. You could hire farm hand foI
fifty to seventy-fve cents per day. Nov
you must pay at least $125 and prob
ably not secure sufflcleut help at an,
price. because the advanced price
paid elsewhere take the men ava.
from you.
Deduct fifty por cent for increased
cost Of real estate, labor. provisions
clothing and salary, by no means a
extravaSant reduction, and the cost O
state government under Hatfield !
very little above that under Mac
Corkle.
Then take into consideration wha
has been done to increase efficiency
tho new departments added in order b
meet the demands OF progress, and you
! win ind that the charge Of extrav