22 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. 8. DEPT. OF AGRIUCLTURE 
FINANCES OF THE STATES 
FUNCTIONS AND EXPENDITURES 
The governmental cost expenditures of all of the 48 State govern- 
ments in 1929 were about two-thirds of those of the Federal Govern- 
ment. These State expenditures (exclusive of debt redemption) 
amounted to 1,954 million dollars, which had the functional distribu- 
tion shown in table 5 (3, p. 20). 
TaBLeE 5.—Dzistribution of State expenditures, 1929 
Percent- Percent- 
Function Amount age of Function Amount age of 
tot total 
Ign Ways nena $669, 000, 000 34527) Publiciutilitiess2=2=ss2255 $15, 000, 000 0.8 
I ducatione ee 548, 000, 000 28.1 || Miscellaneous__....-...__ 7, 000, 000 .4 
Social welfare....__--_-__- 254, 000, 000 1350) eENCEReS Ga eee 94, 000, 000 4.8 
iRrotection === ee 175, 000, 000 8.9 ——_—______ 
General government-_-_-_-_- 127, 000, 000 6.5 Totalss!2es= seer 1, 954, 000, 000 100. 0 
Economic development---_ 65, 000 | 3.3 | 
Table 5 does not include expenditure of the sums received as grants 
from the Federal Government, since these have been accounted for 
among the Federal expenditures. Among State expenditures, pro- 
tection assumes a minor role, and roads and schools account for the 
greater portion of the total. This is in sharp contrast with the 
functional distribution of Federal expenditures. 
If attention be given to the separate States, it appears that in all 
sections of the country and in every State, expenditures for highways 
are either the largest or the second largest item of State governmental 
expense. In Vermont 74.4 percent (3, p. 24)” of net State expendi- 
tures were for highways, a larger proportion than in any other State. 
On the other hand, New York spent the least share, only 22.9 percent, 
of its funds for road purposes. 
State expenditures for education in the New England States con- 
stitute a much smaller share of the whole than in the other parts of 
the country. On the other hand, in New England and the Middle 
Atlantic States, expenditures for social welfare are much more impor- 
tant than elsewhere. 
Expenditures for general government purposes are not a large part 
of the total in any State except Rhode Island, where they make up 
over 21 percent of the total. Expenditures for State-operated public 
utilities, i.e., expenditures not charged off against operating revenue, 
are important, 24% percent of the total, in North Dakota, while in all 
other States they are relatively unimportant (8, pp. 24-25). The 
maximum and minimum expenditures by State and rate for each of 
the various functions are presented in table 6. 
12 In computing these percentages for individual States, payments for interest were not included. This 
omission makes all the percentages slightly larger than they would otherwise have been. These percent- 
ages therefore do not correspond precisely to those for all the States together in the table immediately above; 
of course the relative positions of the States and of the items of expenditure are not affected. 
