Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/313

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Expenditures and Population. — The variations in per capita cost to the people of Oregon through the past half-century of their state government is a matter of some significance. In comparing the growth of public expenditures with the growth of population caution is needed against taking the numbers secured for per capita expenses through the successive decades as by themselves measuring the burden of the support of the state organization. If, for instance, it were found that five dollars of the average individual's income were taken by the state now, though only one-half that sum had sufficed for the state's share in the earlier decades, the conclusion should not be drawn that the cost of the support of the same public service is twice now what it had been. Universally is it true that public agencies are doing more for the citizen now than formerly. It should be noted in this connection that public business is normally one of decreasing cost. As the numbers of a people increase, the per capita cost of their public service should decrease. The reluctance of the Oregon people during the fifties to assume the support of a state organization was based upon sound views of the cost of public service : it showed clear recognition of this principle. But not even the strongly individualistic early Oregon was to realize an actual diminishing cost per capita of its state government with its increasing numbers. The scope of the state's activities widened quite regularly. More and more duties were assigned to an increasing number of state officials. A rising rate of per capita state expenditures was inevitable. As elsewhere, the stream of wealth diverted to the state treasury in Oregon has been growing more rapidly than has the number of its people. Other evidence, however, than this fact will be required if judgment is to be passed upon the economy and efficiency of Oregon's state government. The individual's increased power of production in the Oregon of today compared with that of the sixties and the higher standard of