16 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI

Minnesota, Illinois, and Ohio. The net expenditures of
Minnesota were 3.29, larger than those of Missouri; of Illinois,
 86.7% larger; and of Ohio, 11.2%, larger.
The ratios of the expenditures of the eight other states to
those of Missouri are presented in the last column of Table 3.
These ratios show that the net expenditures of Missouri for
the six-year period were considerably more than the combined
 net expenditures of Kansas and Nebraska. The same
is true of the combined expenditutes of Oklahoma and
Arkansas and of other combinations of two states.
Probably the most significant comparison on the basis of
the data in Table 3 is between the capital expenditures of the
several states and those of Missouri for the six-year period.
Only one state, Illinois, had larger capital expenditures than
Missouri, and none of the other states expended 75% as
much for capital purposes. The capital expenditures of
Ohio, a state having a much larger population and greater
wealth, were only a little more than three fifths as large as
those of Missouri. The capital ratios in Table 3 are highly
instructive and show conclusively that the capital expenditures
 of Missouri during the period were much larger than
those of other states of comparable population and wealth.
In Table 4 the maintenance, capital, and net total expenditures
 of the several states are presented on a per
capita basis. In 1928 the net expenditures of Missouri
amounted to $10.76 per capita, a smaller amount than for
any other state in the group except Ohio. Minnesota showed
the highest per capita net expenditures, $18.95. In 1927
the per capita net expenditures of Missouri were $12.21,
while in 1925 and 1926 they were $14.40 and $13.79, respectively,
 and in those years the net expenditures of the state on
a per capita basis were exceeded only by Minnesota. The
decline in the figures for Missouri after 1925 is largely attribatable
 to the decrease in highway expenditures.
Per capita expenditures in Missouri for maintenance in
1928 amounted to $6.77, a smaller amount than in any state
except Illinois. Although Missouri’s per capita expenditures
for maintenance were higher in both 1923 and 1924 than in
the later years, the difference was not great. The variations
from year to year in Missouri have been much less than for