1939: Alabama

Area and Population.

Admitted to statehood Dec. 14, 1819. Alabama ranks 28th in size among the states, with an area of 51,998 sq. mi. In population it ranks 15th, numbering 2,646,248 according to the Census of 1930; 2,895,000 on July 1, 1937, according to the latest Federal estimate.

The racial percentages of population are as fellows; whites, 64.3 per cent Negroes, 35.6 per cent. Members of other races constitute about 0.1 of 1 per cent. Of Alabama's white race 94 per cent are native born. The rural population of the state comprises about 71.8 per cent of the total.

Birmingham is the largest city in the state, and the third largest in the South, with a population of approximately 300,000, no official census having been made since 1930. In the Birmingham section iron, coal and limestone — the essentials for steel making — are found together in large deposits; there is likewise a year-round navigable river, with railroads, highways and air-lines contributing to make the city a strategic distributing center for the nation.

Montgomery, situated near the center of the state, with a population of about 82,000, is the capital and is striving constantly with the gulf port of Mobile in a race to become the second largest city in Alabama. Montgomery is essentially an industrial city, with packing-house products steadily increasing, due to the splendid pasture lands in the Black Belt area surrounding the city.

Mobile is, as its location implies, a busy port with growing industries and shipping facilities. The population within the incorporated limits of Mobile is approximately 85,000.

Agriculture.

Refrigeration for every community has been the Alabama policy for the past year. The work of the Department of Agriculture and Industries in stressing to Alabama farmers the advantages of refrigeration for meats, fruits and vegetables is producing results. The 'quick freezing' unit at the Alabama State Docks brought additional money to the strawberry growers for their crop in 1939, by taking care of all berries harvested after the price had dropped to a level below which profits would be endangered.

Quick freeze units operated in connection with adequate storage facilities are also being established in many communities, so as to permit the storage of fruits, vegetables and meats by individual Alabama farmers. Farmers who have thus stored their surpluses may draw on them during the balance of the year to feed their families.

Industry.

Many industries already located in Alabama are enlarging their operations, especially in Mobile and Jefferson counties. New industries are locating in many sections of the state, laying the foundation for industrial development in rural sections and providing cash for farm families through employment of some of the members. Enlargement of existing industries, however, accounts for the major portion of industrial expansion in Alabama at the present time. Worthy of particular mention is the expansion of the Aluminum Ore Company through the construction of a $4,000,000 plant; and the National Gypsum Company's completion of the first unit of a $2,000,000 plant for the production of wallboard. Naval stores, ply-wood, paper-board, are among the products scheduled for increased production. Other industrial expansions include bakeries, gas and oil terminals; and a new high voltage line costing $1,500,000 now being completed by the Alabama Power Company.

Mineral Products.

Lowered production of bituminous coal, Alabama's leading mineral, followed the trend in 1938 which was generally due to the business recession of that year. The mines furnished an estimated total of 19,950,000 tons compared with 12,440,322 tons (valued at $29,857,000) in 1937. The production of coke was proportionately less at 3,374,898 tons. Shipments of iron ore, the mineral second in importance in Alabama, amounted to 4,281,332 tons valued at $7,341,620. Pig iron, in production of which Alabama ranks third among the states, was about a third below that of 1937, the total being 1,990,342 tons valued at $29,190,091.

Education.

Alabama has a total of 884,281 children of school age (6 to 20), including 565,020 whites and 319,261 Negroes. These children attend 2,478 white schools and 2,413 Negro schools. Further classification would be: in the elementary grades from 1 to 6, white children 364,958 and 196,747 Negro children, totalling 501,705. High schools, comprising both Junior and Senior classifications, with grades from 7 to 12, are attended by 443,829 white children and 226,652 Negroes, with a total attendance for both groups of 670,481.

Alabama's expenditures on education amount to $21,132,741. From these funds come the annual salaries of the public elementary and high schools, with the average for the white teachers at $830.00 and for Negro teachers at $396.00.

The increase in average daily attendance in public schools from 1934 to 1939 was, in the elementary grades, 32,778: high school grades, 36,710. The per cent increase in attendance was 13.68. From 1930 to 1938 the number of illiterates of ages from 10 to 20 was reduced 15,245. The number of teachers employed has increased from 16,202 in 1935 to 18,411 in 1939, and a further increase is needed to eliminate overcrowding in classrooms. The training of public school teachers has been greatly improved. The number of white teachers with less than two years of college training has been reduced from 4,107 in 1935 to 1,466 in 1939, whereas the number of white teachers with four years or more of college training increased from 3,674 to 5,792 for the same period. The 1939 Legislature appropriated $1,967,000 additional Minimum Program funds to the public schools annually. The additional school funds, together with former appropriations, are about sufficient to provide the additional teachers needed, to pay the salary schedule in full, to provide capital outlay to cities on the same basis as to counties, and to operate a statewide term of seven months for elementary grades and nine months for high school grades. School consolidation has progressed rapidly and this movement has promoted economy and efficiency in school administration.

During the last four years $16,000,000 worth of additional school buildings have been constructed with the help of Federal PWA, WPA, and other grants and aids, with a resulting increase in the debt service of Boards of Education of only $4,000,000. County boards are gradually changing from private ownership of school buses to county ownership, resulting in improvement of school bus equipment and in slight reductions in transportation costs on a per pupil basis. Administrative overhead of the public schools of Alabama on a per capita basis is far below the average of the nation and is only sixty-one per cent of the average of the southern states.

Legislative Matters.

Alabama's Legislature submitted to a vote of the people in 1938 five amendments to the State Constitution, all of them being adopted. These constitutional amendments, sponsored by Governor Frank M. Dixon, have modernized and humanized the governmental functions affected, providing up to date methods of handling today's problems.

Amendment No. 1 permits the Legislature to make it possible for any person charged with a felony to plead guilty fifteen days after his arrest, and thus begin serving his sentence without having to wait for a grand jury to bring in an indictment. By doing this the prisoner is enabled to receive credit for practically all of his detention instead of spending perhaps 3 to 6 months awaiting indictment.

Amendment No. 2 provided for the installation by Alabama of a modern pardon and parole system. Enabling acts were passed by the Legislature to provide for a full time 3-member Pardon and Parole Board and to relieve the Governor of all power over prison sentences, except to commute or reprieve sentences in cases involving the death penalty.

Amendment No. 3 provided for biennial sessions of the legislature.

Amendment No. 4 permitted the Legislature to extend the field of investment of trust funds to securities guaranteed or insured by the U. S. Government.

Amendment No. 5 empowered the Legislature to pass laws permitting the installation of voting machines in those cities or counties which desire them. Mobile and Birmingham have now installed them.

Other major legislation included the creation of a state Civil Service or Merit System to take the state workers out of politics.

In a general reorganization of the state agencies brought about by Governor Frank M. Dixon, active commissions were abolished in favor of single executives for the Department of Revenue and for the Highway Department. Four departments were brought under the head of the Department of Conservation, which is headed by a Commissioner. The Departments include Game, Forestry, Fish and Seafood, Parks and State Geologists, each of which has a head responsible directly to the Commissioner of Conservation.

The Department of Industrial Relations was formed by the consolidation of five separate agencies: Unemployment Compensation, State Employment Service, the Division of Labor. Workmen's Compensation, and Safety Inspection. This particular reorganization saves the state $600.00 a day. Total savings through reorganization of state agencies amount to over one million dollars annually.

The Legislature also balanced the budget, providing for additional appropriations however as the State's income increases to take care of them, and to be allocated at the discretion of the Governor.

Finance.

General fund revenues for the fiscal year were estimated at $8,797,102. Contributing to the total are Alabama liquor store profits, estimated at one million dollars, and licenses at $273,000. Appropriations from this fund to the Department of Education amount to $2,043,848, in addition to earmarked funds which provide for most of Alabama's educational expenses.

Alabama Unemployment Compensation operations are financed from two funds. The administrative fund is supplied by a Federal appropriation to the Social Security Board and allocated to the states. In the nine months from January to September 30, 1939, the Social Security Board allocated $209,854.54 to Alabama for the expenses of the Division of Unemployment Compensation. No state money is used to supplement this fund. The Unemployment Trust Fund, created by the employers paying 2.7 per cent of their pay-rolls and the workers paying 1 per cent of their wages, provides benefits which are paid to eligible workers who are unemployed. Total contributions to this fund between Jan. 1, and Sept. 30, 1939 have been $6,200,176.10. The Commission has received $105,557.74 earned interest on this fund from the U. S. Treasury. Out of the fund a total of 508,577 checks, amounting to $3,456,708.64 have been paid to unemployed beneficiaries.

The facilities of the Department of Finance have been extended to counties and to municipalities by assisting the groups in making purchases through the State Purchasing Agent's set-up and by supplying auditors for special audits where needed. This assistance has resulted in savings to Alabama's tax payers.

Banking.

Banking conditions in Alabama in 1939 showed decided improvement in State Banks. In 1938 there were 153 State banks and 15 branch banks in the state. One of these banks, with 14 branch banks, converted its set-up from a state banking institution to that of a national bank, removing it from the list of state banks and reducing for a time the total state banking assets some $4,700,000. There were other liquidations which brought the total number of banks to 149 State Banks and 1 branch bank, as of October 2, 1939. Notwithstanding the reduction in capital and assets by the conversion of this system of banks, Alabama showed an increase of $8,500,000 in total assets and an increase of $12,100,000 in cash deposits.

Welfare and Correction.

The state institutions caring for various classes of unfortunates in Alabama includes the Alabama Boys Industrial School at East Lake, and the Alabama Training School at Birmingham for Girls, which take care of white juvenile delinquents; the Alabama Reform School for Juvenile Negro Law Breakers at Mt. Meigs, The State School for the Deaf and Blind at Talladega; the Partlow State School for the Feeble Minded at Tuscaloosa; the Bryce Hospital at Tuscaloosa for the insane among the whites, and Searcy Hospital at Mt. Vernon for Negroes. On the Kilby Prison Reservation is Rogers Hospital, the tubercular hospital for state prisoners. There are no state-supported institutions for the care of children, although a number of such homes are operated by private agencies, principally church and fraternal organizations. All of these are carefully inspected and supervised by the State Department of Public Welfare. This department also administers State and Federal money for the aid of dependent children in their own homes or in the homes of reputable families or boarding mothers. The only institution operated by the state for the aged, the Home for Confederate Soldiers and their Widows at Mountain Creek, was recently closed, the few remaining inmates being boarded with relatives or reputable families. The state contributes to the support of the dependent aged from a fund created by the matching of money made available through the National Welfare Board. This matching is on a 50-50 basis, counties and State contributing one-fourth each in the matching process. In the fiscal year of 1939 ending September 30, there had been expended by the Department of Public Welfare $4,040,074. Of this $1,830,208 was for the aged, $53,214 for the blind, $824,434 for dependent children, and $266,754 for other direct assistance. The Department cooperated with the program of the various Federal organizations handling relief problems, and also with the U. S. Children's Bureau.

State Officers.

The chief state officers are Governor, Frank M. Dixon; Lieutenant Governor, A. A. Carmichael; Attorney General, T. S. Lawson; Secretary of State, John Brandon; State Treasurer, Chas. E. McCall; Auditor, Howell Turner; and Superintendent of Education, Dr. A. H. Collins.

United States Senators.

John Hollis Bankhead, Lister Hill.