Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-12-11

ficials to the associations repre-
sentatives. Not only have they not
/ treated us with any lack Of cor
diality-or as interlopers-bu al
most every administrative official,
state, county and municipal, has
gladly welcomed the associations
cooperation. That this co-opera-
ton has resulted in great good, es-
pecially as regards levies and bud
gets, they now generally admit.
With all we have tried to do,
with all the legislature and the
governor, and the newspaper have
tried to do in recent years to cut
taxes and costs. the glazing fact
remains that our present status is
Tar from reassuring. In order to
present this to you as graphically
and briefly as possible we have
prepared a number of charts.
The first chart shows the per-
centage increases in taxes levied,
and in various governmental ex-
penditures for the decade of 1910
to 1920, as compared with similar
percentage increases in our popula-
ton and wealth during the same
period. The population, which was
$4,000 in 1910. and approximately
100000 in 1920. increased only 10
per cent. Our measure as to the
wealth was in the terms of assessed
valuation of all property at these
two periods-about SITS, 100000 in
1910 and $4O5, 100000 in 1920. an
increase Of 10 per cent, 1t may
10 10 hn
assessed valuation is not an ade-
quate measure Of our wealth, but
it is the only approximate measure
available to us. If anything
it errs in favor of property
in 1920, which more nearly
approaches its actual value than
it did in 1910.' Our next line
shows the increase in total bonded
Indebtedness, state. county, school
district and municipal, which in
1910 was approximately $4,000, 900,
and in 1920 reached the rather ap-
palling sum of 15,625,000, an in
crease Of 140 per cent. At an av-
erage rate of u per cent this in
debtedness now calls for an annual
interest charge of $S25,000. / am
sure these figures will astonish you
and they do not include the 1921
bond issues, which will approx
mate about $3,000,000. Mounting
up in our cost scale we find the
taxes levied in 1910 approximately
amounted to $3,400,000 as con-
trasted with the total levy Of 1920
of $11.250,000, an increase Of 231
per cent. So it is fair to state that
in the ten-year period the tax levies
increased twice as much as the
total wealth of the state. The total
state expenditures in 1920 increas-
ed by 473 per cent over what they
were in 1910; namely, from $9Ol,-
794.10 to s5,167. 069.96.
The state educational expendl-
lures in 1910 were 1921, 633.72, AMI
in 1920 these same expenditures
amounted to $1,477S40.62, an Nm
crease of 53S per cent. This group
of expenditures does not include
school revenues derived from
county levies, district levies nor
tho earnings Of institutions, In re-
gard to which we have no data
available for this whole period.
Our second chart is for the Same
decade and is a more complete
analysis of state disbursements
during these 10 years. This shows
that the total state disbursement
between 1910 and 1920 were in al
most constant increase except for
the years 1914 and 1916, when
they showed a slight decrease, but
that the rate for the last five years
has been decidedly marked.
Our line for highway expendi
lures in 1910 showed the expendi-
ture Of s70,S19, which annual ex-
penditure did not materially in
crease until 1915, from which year
it has advanced until in 1920 it
reached the sum of $2,24S,000.
General government expenditures,
which are, after all, the last item
in the total burden of govern
mental costs, increased from $685.
900 to s366,600 in 1920.
Our third chart shows certain
cost data for the years 1915 to
1920, for which data are not avail
able prior to 1915. This shows
that the municipal costs, which
means total expenditures of incor-
porated cities, towns and villages
to approximately 100000 |
in 1915, and $1,250,O00 in 1920.
The cost of maintaining state In
stitutions increased from $6SS, |
S54 in 1915 to $1,671,577 in 1920. |
Other expenditures for state pur-
poses amounted in 1915 to $1,457-
600 and in 1920 to s3,391,000. AS
for county costs they aggregated |
in 1915, $3,702,716, and in 1920 to |
$6,696,553. The broader line which |
indicates a rise in the total cost of |
Is, as you see. so start |
ling as to be almost perpendicular. |
1t Is to be regretted that we have |
not similar data for the years prior
to 1915. In 1915, however. the
total aggregate of all government
costs in the state was S6.34S,832, |
and this mounted up in 1920 to the
total of no less than $13,009,469.
The fourth chart shows, in an
other form, the striking increase |
in total levies for all purposes from |
1910 to 1920. What these charts
emphasize, and what |
wish to bear in upon you is this
that whatever the cause, whatever |
the reason, whatever the excuse,
whatsoever the fault (if it be a
fault the legislatures, |
the peoples, or the administra-
tion's-the burden of taxation on
the taxpayers of the state as a
whole Is constantly growing at an
sver-increasing ratio, quite out of
to our increase in popu- |
lation and wealth, and that this |
burden has already reached pro-
portions which are well-nigh un-
bearable. We shall not again go
into any extended analysis of our
conception Of the cause of or the |
cure for this condition. No one
can more fully realize the COM
plexities Of the problea. So far
as the association and commission
are concerned, their conclusions |
are ON bOdiaH In tho apyo MT ecia,,e !