1941: Louisiana

Preparations for defense, acceleration of production to meet war needs, and the staging of the largest U.S. Army peacetime maneuvers in history highlighted the Louisiana scene during 1941, as this state assumed a key position in the nation's all-out defense effort. With four great Army camps, the world's biggest oil refinery, vast chemical industries, shipyards, port facilities and strategic air bases located here, Louisiana turned in 1941 from the turbulent politics which had held its attention for a decade, to organize its vast resources to meet wartime demands.

Area and Population.

The state has an area of 48,506 sq. mi., which includes rich farm lands, oil fields, timberlands, sulphur and salt deposits, and water bottoms teeming with wild life. The population numbers 2,363,880 according to the 1940 census. Historic old New Orleans, with a population of 494,537, remains the state's largest city, as well as the largest in the South. Shreveport, 98,167, center of the oil and gas industry, ranks second, while the state capital, Baton Rouge, 34,719, is third. Alexandria, the center of the Army camp area, almost doubled its 1940 census population of 27,066 during 1941.

Education.

State-supported colleges in Louisiana supplied major news in educational circles in 1941. The presidents of four colleges were replaced, and the year also saw the restoration to the accredited list of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, of those Louisiana institutions which had been placed on probation as a result of the Louisiana scandals of 1939. Maj. Gen. Campbell B. Hodges retired as Commander of the Fifth Corps, U.S. Army, to become President of Louisiana State University, which was one of those taken off the probation list of the Southern Association. New presidents were also named for the Louisiana State Normal College (whose standing was restored), for Southwestern Louisiana Institute, and the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute.

The State Department of Education reported 617,706 children of public school age in 1940-41 in Louisiana. Of these, 370,046 attended the state's 2,572 public elementary schools and 102,326 pupils were enrolled in the state's 486 public high schools.

Teachers' salaries showed a small but steady increase throughout the state. The average annual salary for the 1940-41 session was $981,67 for elementary teachers, and $1,274.81 for high-school teachers.

The state's contribution for public-school support reached an all-time high of $35,479,148.89, which included a portion of the tobacco tax as well as the severance tax. This sum provided for free textbooks in both public and private schools, and for free library books, paper and pencils, as well as for current expenses.

Agriculture.

Louisiana's principal crops suffered greatly from adverse weather conditions in 1941, but in spite of this the returns jumped up to $27,000,000 because of price increases. Crops produced during the year were valued at $116,384,000, a 31 per cent increase over the previous year.

The 1941 cotton crop amounted to 315,000 bales, the shortest since 1921, and pecan production, which totaled 3,150,000 lb., was the poorest in years. Rice growers had the smallest crop since 1935, with 19,905,000 bu., while cane producers had a poor year with only 318,000 tons of sugar. Crops were harvested from 4,164,000 A. Of this total corn accounted for 36 per cent, cotton 25 per cent, rice 13 per cent, hay 9 per cent, sugar cane 6 per cent, and truck and other minor crops 11 per cent.

Mineral Products.

Production of the leading mineral resources of the state exceeded in 1940 the amounts for 1939, when the total value of all equalled $168,902,949, giving Louisiana the rank of seventh among the states for mineral wealth. The outstanding item, petroleum, for which Louisiana ranks fifth since Illinois has risen to fourth place, increased to 103,961,000 bbl. in 1940, compared with 1939 when the yield of 93,646,000 bbl. had a value of $98,000,000. Natural gas production also rose, from 294,370,000 M. cu. ft. to an estimated 324,000,000. Sulphur, for which the state ranks second, advanced to 512,935 tons, from 446,242 in 1939. Salt again added over $2,000,000 to the state's mineral wealth.

Under the spur of a national arming for war, Louisiana jumped its oil production in 1941 to 115,000,000 bbl. At the same time the oil industry increased its potential reserves with the discovery of new fields and new production in old ones. Oil men estimate the present reserves at 926,000,000 bbl. More than 600 wells were completed during 1941, and 73 per cent were oil or gas producers.

Indicative of the trend toward conservation of natural resources was the establishment of two new recycling plants.

Industry.

Louisiana's industrial development continued during 1941, with approximately $100,000,000 in new investments during the year. The largest expansion came in oil refineries, and chemical plants which make essential war materials. The Standard Oil Company of Louisiana started construction on a synthetic rubber plant, and also expanded its facilities for making aviation gasoline. Other plants making tetraethyl lead, ammonia, magnesium and salt cake, and other chemicals, began construction on additional units.

Events of the Year.

The state Legislature did not meet in 1941 — unusual in Louisiana where during recent years the lawmakers have held from one to six special sessions in addition to the regular biennial meetings.

Seldom a day went by during 1941 without some new development dealing with the barrage of court litigation besetting the Sam Jones Administration, the political group which in 1940 ousted the entrenched Long machine from control over state affairs. By the year's end, the Jones Administration had lost its crime commission, set up to investigate the scandals of the preceding administration, and had lost likewise most of its governmental reorganization plan. But it had pulled its civil-service system through court attacks unscathed, assured voting machines for New Orleans, and had salvaged temporarily a portion of the reorganization plan which did not interfere with governmental agencies constitutionally provided for.

Former Governor Richard W. Leche lost last-minute appeals from mail-fraud conviction in Federal courts, and was denied a plea for clemency. As the year closed, he entered Federal prison to serve a 10-year term, in spite of a formal statement in which he denied his guilt.

Revelations of cruel whippings of prisoners at the state penitentiary led to a ruling by the Attorney-General that such whippings were illegal and the practice was banned by Governor Jones.

The state continued its welfare program, providing old-age assistance, aid to the needy blind, and aid to dependent children, with an average of some 135,000 persons on the rolls. The average expenditure was $1,000,000 a month.

Defense Activities.

The most interesting event of the year was doubtless the army maneuvers in September, when Uncle Sam's Army, newly-trained, poured into Louisiana from Army camps throughout the nation, entering the war games, and emerging from the month-long exercises hard and happy and ready for a fight. Nearly 500,000 soldiers explored western Louisiana hills with tanks, airplanes, paratroops and full regalia, battling for a strategic spot named Feeson Ridge — unknown to most persons native to the state.

Every section of the state has felt the prosperity brought on by defense spending. This was estimated by the state Department of Commerce and Industry as totaling almost $500,000,000, in both the military and industrial phases of the defense program. A large share of this constituted private investment. Defense outlays included great new shipyards at New Orleans, huge chemical plants and additions at Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, and Monroe, a shell-loading plant at Minden, scores of airports, housing projects, cantonments and similar projects.

Finance.

The state's financial condition in general was healthy, but a foretaste of difficulties to come appeared in December when collections for the gasoline and liquor tax fell far below normal. The gasoline tax provides funds for highway bonds and aids in parish finances, since one cent of the tax goes to Louisiana parishes (counties).

During 1941, the Division of Employment Security collected $9,944,003.87 in unemployment compensation contributions, and paid out in benefits the sum of $7,164,996. The state employment service placed 73,706 individuals during the year, and at the year's end $20,724,870.34 remained in the unemployment compensation fund.

State Officers.

Governor, Sam H. Jones; Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Marc M. Mouton; Secretary-of-State, James A. Gremillion; Attorney General, Eugene M. Stanley; State Treasurer, A. P. Tugwell; State Auditor, L. B. Baynard; State Superintendent of Education, John E. Coxe.

United States Senators:

John Holmes Overton, Allen Joseph Ellender.