66 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI to wealth of more than 19,. Of the remaining states, only Illinois had a higher ratio than Missouri. Although the debt of Missouri ranks third on this basis, the ratio is actually very small, and Missouri has provided for the ser- vicing of its debt obligations in a very capable manner. More important than the amount of indebtedness or its relation to other factors, such as population and wealth, is the establishment of a sound financial plan for meeting in- terest and principal payments as they come due. The State of Missouri has made careful provision for such a plan and has recognized the fact that only in that manner can its credit standing be maintained. Floating and Current Debt of Missouri and Other States At the end of 1928 Missouri had outstanding current debt obligations amounting to $318,596 and floating debt obli- gations of almost $4.4 million. The latter amount consists of school and seminary certificates and does not represent an outstanding debt, as the certificates are held in trust by the State Treasurer for the public school fund and the seminary fund. This indebtedness is of a permanent nature, the total having remained unchanged since 1902. Whenever one of the certificates matures, it is cancelled by the Board of Education, and a new certificate for like amount bearing the same rate of interest is executed by the Governor.! The re- quired renewal period is twenty years. Since Missouri has had no floating debt obligations out- standing in recent years, other than the semi-permanent school and seminary certificates of indebtedness, which have remained unchanged in amount, a consideration of the short- term indebtedness of the state involves only the current debt. The current debt as of the close of the year 1924 amounted to $460,783, which was larger than that for any other year, as may be seen in Table 20. At the end of 1923 current debt amounted to only $2,120, and, as stated above, it was only $318,596 at the end of 1928. For purposes of comparison the floating debt and the current debt of eleven other states are shown in Table 20. Since in a number of states the floating debt, or part of it, 1R. 8, 1919, Sections 11594 and 11595,