358 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI

in the Missouri school reports. The amount deducted was obtained
 by multiplying the school indebtedness reported in the 1928
Report of the Public Schools of the State of Missouri by an assumed
 interest rate of 4.3%. Certain duplications in expenditures
for education and debt redemption could not be eliminated.
The reason for regarding the amount of $19 million, shown on
page 33, as a minimum is found in the fact that certain payments
for debt redemption and education, as explained above, could not
be eliminated from the total for functions other than the five to
which the estimate of $19 million to $22 million applies. Likewise,
the elimination of the interest duplication was only approximate.
It has no doubt been noted that Joplin has not been included in
the expenditure and other tabulations for cities over 30,000 in this
study. Although this city now has a population in excess of 30,000
and was included in the United States Bureau of the Census tabulations
 for cities over 30,000 a number of years ago, in recent years
data for this city have not been compiled, since the Census population
 estimates did not indicate the requisite population.
The estimate of local net bonded debt for 1928, presented in
Chapter II, was obtained as follows: The figure for the net debt
of all local governments was obtained from Public Debt, 1922, a
publication of the United States Bureau of the Census, and from
this figure there was deducted a small amount of floating debt
reported for the large cities in the Financial Statistics of Cities
series. Bonds issued during the period 1923 through 1928 and retirements
 for the same period were obtained from tabulations in
the State and Municipal Compendium, a publication of the Commercial
 and Financial Chronicle. The retirements were then deducted
 from new issues, and the remainder, after allowing for such
sinking fund changes as could be ascertained, was added to the
1922 figure.
Tables 50 and 52 in Chapter VI may not be readily understandable
 to one not familiar with statistical procedure. Each of these
tables consists of a frequency distribution and a cumulative frequency
 distribution. A comparison of the first and sixth columns
and also of the fifth and tenth columns should indicate clearly the
difference between the two forms of distribution.
The discussion of capital requirements in Chapter IX is based
very largely upon the estimates prepared by the State Survey
Commission. Although $40 million is used as a basis for discussion
in the latter part of this chapter, it is not claimed that this amount
represents an accumulated deficiency. Although it is generally
admitted that there is a deficiency, the exact amount of the de-