The State's Empire: A Plan for Washington’s School Fund
Tax Commissioner T. E. Skaggs argues for the careful conservation of state land assets to generate a massive, self-sustaining educational endowment.
The story, cleaned up
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The state of Washington in time will have a yearly income of $4,150,250, derived from its permanent school fund, for current school expenses, is the estimate of T. E. Skaggs, member of the tax commission and of the state land board. 'The state has been endowed with natural resources of almost fabulous values,' declares Mr. Skaggs. 'Title to 80 per cent of the original grants remain vested in the state. This state owns an empire in its own right larger than the state of Connecticut, containing billions of feet of lumber and hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land.' Skaggs points out that the original area of school land granted to the state was 3,035,025 acres, of which 2,509,000 acres has been retained. 'With intelligent conservation, the proceeds of these lands ought to produce in time a permanent fund of nearly $100,000,000,' says Mr. Skaggs. 'Conservation does not mean the sealing up of resources. It means that the resources shall be disposed of when the time is right.'
“This state owns an empire in its own right larger than the state of Connecticut.”
This 1914 argument about the 'intelligent conservation' of Washington's natural resources to fund public education touches on a debate that still defines state politics: how to balance the commercial extraction of resources with the long-term needs of the public.
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