Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1917-02-16
(By George Gallarno.)

Des Moines, Iowa, Feb. 13-(Spe-
ciaD-Trying to fit square peg into
round hole, with all its puzzhng
difficulties, has nothing much on the
! problem which now confronts the ap-
propriations committees Of the two
houses of the general assembly, for
when the new biennial period, for
which they must appropriate, begins
on July list the state treasury will,
according to figures furnished the
committees, show q deficit OF muca
more than q million dollars. To meet
this deficit the 37th general assembly
must not only be mighty chary with
new appropriations, but If they want
to overcome the shortage. must au-
thorize the raising OF sum OF money
by taxation that will add practically
one mill to the tax levy for state pur-
poses. According to figures furn1sheo
by the auditor and treasurer to the
committees the state will have, avail
able for expenditures, in receipts from
all sources for the six months ending
June 3Oth next, q total OF $4,239, AT,
while expenditures, all of which were
authorized by the legislative body OF
two years ago, to be made during the
same time, cover the total OF $5,724,-
95S. Here is q difference between re-
ceipts and expected expenditures az
S1.4S5.511. It is estimated, however,
that something like $185.000 OF the
authorized appropriations will not DO
used during the period, and that that
amount will revert to the treasury.
This would leave the exact deficit as
$1,300,511. The heaviest appropria-
lions to be drawn during the time be-
tween now and June 30th are those
made for the state educational insti-
tutions, nearly two millions being in
volved in these authorizations.
Legislature Is Blamed
Officials say the legislators OF the
35th general assembly are to blame
for the present condition of the treas
ury: that they recognized the growing
pains of Iowa at that time but IN
stead of making preparations to cut
tho cloth to fit this growth they en-
deavored to remodel the goods they
then had on hand. and ut the same
time snipped OF fair sized bolt OF
the cloth in the way Of ordering q re-
duction In the state levy. The S5tn
assembly found q pleasant condition
existing in the treasury In the shape
of working balance Of about $1.5oO.-
600. practically the same as the short
age being faced now. The appropria-
lions Of that assembly sought to avoid
new levies by using up a part OF this
generous surplus, and they proceeded
to do so. Then they ordered the ex-
ecutive council to raise a certain
amount by taxation, which the coun-
Gil found could be done with a reduced
levy from that Of the preceding per-
iod. Under these economic impulses
the treasury was soon found to be
rapidly depleted of its comfortable
working balance, until now the day
Of reckoning is at hand and the pres
ent legislature finds itself Obliged to
shoulder the problem. II the diff
Guilty is to be met by the present as
sembly they will find it necessary to
order q levy of practically Sc mills.
Modest Normal School Move.
The movement which was before the
Both general assembly to invest sew
eral educational institutions of the
state with normal school privileges
and responsibilities, but which was
turned down because of the fear that
it would start an unending drain on
the treasury, has had slight echo in
the present assembly. The request
which comes to the state this time is
brought to the law makers by Senator
Foster of Guthrie county. The SEN
ator has introduced bill which will
convert the county high school at Pa I
nora into a state normal. The bill
provides that the school building and
all it's property shall be turned over to
the state by the county authorities and
that it be at once converted by the
state into a state normal school. The
asked for operation ex- .
penses for the biennial period after
the school is so established is $4,000
\ year. The building at Panora is a
stone and brick structure and is To-
Gated in the heart of the town. 1t
and represents the only
county high school in the state, al
though there has been a statute on
the books for something like quarter
Of century permitting the erection
on vote of the people of such central :
led schools.
Still After Irvine Factory.
1t is becoming so in Iowa that a
session of a legislature is never really
set going on it's way and never really
comes fully into it's own as legisla-
tive body, unless the members have
\ prison binding Irvine bill to contend
with. Beginning as early as the Goth
general assembly Some ambitious
has introduced at each meet
ing Of the solons bill for the utiliza-
ion of the prisoners confined at Ana
nosa, in the manufacturing of binding
wine. The bill. viewed from a COM
nercial standpoint, has always been
lble to conjure forth a number Of