78 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 
cases where a large amount of bonds is issued by a local 
government with a particularly strong or an unusually weak 
credit position, differences due to the respective credit posi- 
tions would tend to offset one another, with the result that 
market conditions would be the most influential factor 
affecting the average rate. 
The modal, or most typical, rate for the four-year period 
was 4149%,. More than 439, of all local bonds issued bore 
that coupon rate. The modal rate in this instance is not so 
significant as the average rate, for the reason that the mode 
is largely the result of the predominance of 4159, bonds 
among those issued in 1929. Since the bonds issued at rates 
of 49, and 414%, when combined, exceed those issued at 
the modal rate, it may be concluded that, although the modal 
rate indicates the point of greatest density, because of the 
concentration at the lower rates the average is better suited 
for purposes of interpretation. Reference to the percentage 
distributions for individual years indicates that the modal 
rate is not particularly significant except in the year 1929. 
In all other years the average is to be preferred. 
For the year 1928 the average rate borne by local bonds 
issued in Missouri was 4.319%, a figure close to the average 
for the four-year period. This average of 4.31%, compares 
favorably with the average for all state and local bonds issued 
in the United States in that year, which was 4.44%. 
INTEREST PAYMENTS BY MissoURI AND OTHER STATES 
The interest payments made by a governmental unit in 
any fiscal year cannot be said to represent the aggregate 
cost of money in that year. Interest dates are adjusted in a 
manner that will accord with fiscal requirements, and as a 
result the payments made in a given year are not exclusively 
for money used in that year. At the close of a fiscal period 
there is an accrued interest liability on account of interest 
due on obligations that do not bear an interest date the 
same as that for the close of the fiscal period, and allowance 
would have to be made for this fact if interest payments were 
1 National Industrial Conference Board, Cost of Government in the United 
States, 1927-1928, p. 55.