1940: Missouri

Area and Population.

The 'Ozark State' ranks 18th in area, with 69,420 sq. mi. Since three-quarters of the total consists of farm lands, agriculture is an important activity. The population, as shown in the 1940 census, numbers 3,784,665, an increase since 1930 of 155,297; Missouri still ranks 10th among the states. More than half the population are city-dwellers, 80 per cent of them living in the three chief cities: St. Louis, 816,048; Kansas City, 399,178; and St. Joseph, 75,711. The other large centers are Springfield, 61,238; Joplin, 37,144; University City, 33,023; and Jefferson City (the capital), 24,268.

For more than a century St. Louis and Kansas City, at the opposite ends of the state, have been rail and river 'gateways' to the West: St. Louis at the junction of the Missouri with the Mississippi, and Kansas City at the junction of the Kaw with the Missouri. Both cities have long ranked next to Chicago as great rail centers in the Midwest. St. Joseph is also a river port, on the Missouri. Kansas City has become the major air center between Chicago and the West Coast.

Agriculture.

Among Missouri's farm products corn leads, valued at nearly $70,000,000. Wheat, hay, cotton, and oats follow in that order, all four combined being worth about the same as the corn crop.

Industry.

The manufactures of the state total above a billion and a half dollars, within some 150 classifications. Food processing and manufacture leads, with products worth about $370,000,000; wearing apparel is second, with output worth above $200,000,000 (boots and shoes being the main item), machinery and metal products (including railway cars) are third, with products worth some $190,000,000; printing and publishing rank fourth.

Mineral Products.

The chief natural products are five: lead (first in the state and the nation), zinc, bituminous coal, cement, and glass sand. Lead production has in recent years been worth annually nearly $20,000,000. Coal has been worth about half that amount; cement about a third. The total value of the state's minerals in 1938 amounted to $39,560,739.

Education.

Inhabitants of school age (6 to 20) were reported by the Superintendent of Public Schools on June 30, 1939, as numbering 946,475, including 59,903 Negroes. Those attending the 8,750 schools were 712,326 (664,367 white, 47,959 Negroes). There were 519,830 in elementary grades, 192,496 in secondary. Teachers were 26,342: white, 6,268 men, 18,610 women; Negroes, 360 men, 1,089 women. Salaries for white men teachers in city schools average $942 in elementary grades, $1,422 in secondary; for white women teachers, $1,201 in elementary grades, and $1,367 in secondary. Negro men teachers in city elementary schools average $1,234 and in secondary schools $1,850; Negro women, $1,660 and $1,682 respectively. Rural salaries average from 70 to 30 per cent of city salaries. State school expenditures in 1938 were $57,875,789.

Banking.

The 549 State Banks and trust companies were reported by the Commissioner of Finance on June 30, 1939, as having in loans and discounts, $263,883,340 (an increase over the previous year); capital stock, $58,316,645 (a decrease); surplus funds, $23,242,964 (an increase); undivided profits, $15,230,889 (an increase); total deposits, $829,517,678 (an increase).

Events of the Year.

The 1939 political clean-up in Kansas City was strengthened and consolidated during 1940, with a well-trained city manager imported from Michigan, and a non-partisan mayor and city government in control. Substantial savings in government costs began to appear in garbage-collection and other city contracts.

Kansas City led all large cities in the nation in its safety record for the year: only 22 persons were killed by automobiles in 1940, a reduction of 30 per cent.

Missouri is one of eight states which have kept their records clear by giving a majority to the winner in every presidential election in this century. The state gave President Roosevelt 52 per cent of its total vote of 1,833,729; a plurality of 87,467 over Wendell Willkie.

The gubernatorial contest was extraordinarily close. McDaniel, the Democratic candidate, appeared safely elected; but the final returns gave Donnell, his Republican opponent, a plurality of 3,613. When the Legislature met, the Democratic state organization proceeded to contest Donnell's election and delay his inauguration. Donnell took the case to the courts.

A revolutionary change in the system of selecting judges in the state Supreme Court, the three circuit courts of appeal, and the circuit and probate courts of Jackson and St. Louis counties, was made mandatory by the adoption of a Constitutional amendment at the election; for all other courts optional. This amendment, called the 'non-partisan court plan,' is the result of many years of effort by individuals and organizations of both parties, to take the state judiciary out of politics. It substitutes the appointment system (with some voted approval) for the election system previously in exclusive use.

National Defense.

A huge training center, christened Ft. Leonard Wood, has been established by the U. S. Army, near Rolla. It will accommodate 20,000 officers and men; and it will cost about $50,000,000 of the $240,000,000 which will be spent by the Army for expansion in the 7th Corps Area.

At Lake City, 18 mi. east of Kansas City, a plant for the manufacture of small arms ammunition is being built at high speed, for the Remington Arms Co. Its 3 main buildings and 100 smaller ones, on a 27-acre tract, will employ 8,000 men; the plant will cost $18,000,000.

State Officers.

Governor, Forrest C. Donnell; Lieutenant Governor, Frank G. Harris; Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown; Auditor, Forrest Smith; Treasurer, Robert H. Winn; Attorney General, Roy McKittrick; Superintendent of Public Schools, Lloyd W. King.

United States Senators:

Bennett Champ Clark, Harry S. Truman.