THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI

StaTE EXPENDITURES
It is common knowledge that the annual expenditures of
the state governments have been increasing rapidly. Each
year the combined data for the forty-eight states indicate a
total appreciably larger than that for the previous year.
Numerous reasons might be presented for the increasing
volume of state expenditures. The most important are perhaps
 the extension of state activities into fields previously
left entirely or largely to the local governments and the
assumption by the state of certain functions that formerly
were not regarded as within the proper sphere of government.
Then, too, the public has become accustomed to a higher
standard of living and consequently demands governmental
services that are more extensive in scope and of a higher
quality than was once deemed satisfactory. Governmental
expenditures have naturally increased with the growth of
private expenditures. Our economic and social order is in a
state of change, and it follows that the province of government
 and the distribution of governmental functions must
andergo continuous alterations, if government is to keep
pace with economic and social changes. It is probable that
the increase in the expenditures of the states as well as of
other governmental units can be explained largely on the
basis of this concept of change.
While state expenditures have been increasing rapidly,
it does not follow that the trend for any particular state has
been continuously upward. Capital expenditures are frequently
 very irregular, and as a result the total expenditures
of a number of states may actually show a decline over a
period of several years, although there is a gradual or very
striking increase in the combined expenditures of all state
governments. Occasionally, administrative consolidations
and reforms, effective over a period of several years, will
contribute toward a decline in a particular state in the face
of the general upward trend. However, where a rapid decline
 or an unusual variation in the total expenditures of a
particular state is noted, the most important factor contributing
 to the result is usually found to be the fluctuation
of expenditures for capital purposes. As will be seen later.