U niversity
of
O regon M onthly
37
For example, the student who, this year, is working u p the sources
of revenue S the University of Oregon siuce its founding, will
present in graphic form the curves to show the increase Of the Uni-
versityrevennesand their relations to the expenditure curves, k
Some of the material for the research class is easy of access,;
and the work of the student is simply tp;coH'ect, and tQ bring into
one paper material-,from variou^^p.t6rçés.,;?^pt someXtimës?the
material is hard to get, and is :obscured under the law systems of
record keeping in the early days of-the state;-, Onei stydent spent
several weeks working oyer the published reports^.oL.Jhï State
"treasurer and the> secretary of state..for the first two*years.of ..states
hood. R e p e a te d ly w a s found that; the .totals given eould not be
•obtained from the items given.
Another thing thé" strident in economic research. is taught to
do is to weigh the material he finds. For example take this report
-of the secretary of state bn Oregon’s finances for 1860-62 :*
*Oregon Laws arid Journals, Vol XI.
Balance S e p t/10, 1860 ....................... $ 3,899.0.1’
Receipts .\ ................ ; .....................9 91,788,04
$95,68/^,05
Expenditures................... I...... : . . . ' 55,372.39
Balance, Sept., 1862 ........... . .........$40,315.00
At first sight it looks plausible, but a little inspection shows
the disregard for the/bdd cents in the final subs tract io n.AA'further
examination ¿hows that the first balance and the receipts’ are cash
items, while the expenditures £jgj ,tlie sum b i'th e warrants issued.
Not all of these warrants were paid during the .period given, and
the secretary ignores some, $6,000 worth of warrants that were out
standing a t the opening of the fiscal period.
In investigating-the fee system, the student’ often found law«
passed granting tp county officers certain sums,’ with butt ¿light at
tempt tp/give the reason for the appropriation, and the enactments
regarding county boundaries were often vague.
All of thes£/>muddlks in tbe>sbooks of the eatfy' Oregon officials
serve only to teach the'^tudent the necessity; for, verifying .state
ments, no matter “-^hat their soupefe, and train him to ’&e, a,«keen ana
lyst pf whatever'material he has "to wOrk with.
Thus'-by searching out widely diffused/material and, gathering