STATE AND LOCAL EXPENDITURES 7 
larger proportion of state funds than any other function in 
1923 and later years, the expenditures for this purpose will 
be considered first. 
The state highway construction program did not get 
under way until late in 1922; capital expenditures for high- 
way purposes in that year amounted to only $3,038.1 Al- 
though the $60 million bond issue for highway construction 
was approved by the voters Nov. 2, 1920, the first bonds 
issued under the constitutional amendment bore the date 
Sept. 1, 1922, and very little new construction work was 
completed in that year. In the year 1923 capital expendi 
tures for highways amounted to $12.7 million, and expendi- 
tures for maintenance were $1.6 million. For the period 
1923 to 1928.2 inclusive, capital expenditures for highways 
amounted to $113.3 million, and maintenance expenditures, 
to $12.1 million. The combined expenditures for highway 
construction and maintenance in the six-year period amounted 
to $125.4 million, or 47.3%, of the net expenditures and 42.5%, 
of the gross expenditures. State highway expenditures were 
larger in 1925 than in any year, the total for that year being 
$28.9 million, or 56.9%, of the net expenditures. Of the 
total, $26.2 million were classified as for capital purposes. 
After 1925 the amount expended for highways showed a 
decline, and in 1928 the total was only $15.1 million. As 
$75 million of additional state highway bonds were approved 
in 1928, it is probable that an upward trend in highway ex- 
penditures will be evident beginning with the year 1929. 
Examination of the highway data in Table 2 in relation to 
the net and gross totals leads to the conclusion that the 
variation in highway expenditures was the principal cause 
of the rather unusual differences in the annual net and gross 
totals. If the amounts shown under highways for the years 
1923 to 1928 are deducted, it is found that the expenditures 
for all other purposes varied within narrow limits, and, since 
the expenditures for highway maintenance were relatively 
small. it is evident that the variations in state expenditures 
1 United States Bureau of the Census, Financial Statistics of States, 1922. } 
? According to the United States Bureau of Public Roads tabulations, capital 
expenditures in 1929 amounted to $20.5 million, and those for maintenance, to 
$4.7 million.