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1939: Florida

Area and Population.

Admitted to statehood March 3, 1845, Florida ranks 21st in size among the states, with an area of 58,666 sq. mi. In population it ranks 31st, numbering 1,468,211 according to the census of 1930; 1,670,000 according to a Federal estimate in 1937. The population is concentrated in specific areas, with vast tracts of almost uninhabited land between. The largest cities are Jacksonville, 129,549 (1930 census), 146,289 (1935 state census); Miami, 110,637; Tampa, 101,161; St. Petersburg, 40,425. The capital is Tallahassee, 10,700.

Florida's population is over two-thirds white and predominantly of American stock. According to the last census the largest foreign groups came from Great Britain, Canada, Germany, and Italy. Interesting foreign centers comprise the Hispanic groups living around Miami and Tampa and the Greek sponge divers of Tarpon Springs. By the census of 1930, Florida's population was about equally divided between those native born and those from other states.

Of the 1935 population whites numbered 1,139,063; Negroes, 463,205; and all others, 4,574, including 578 Seminole Indians.

Agriculture.

Florida has three agricultural sections: South Florida, devoted to market vegetables; Central Florida, where citrus fruits predominate; North Florida, concerned with tobacco, cotton, corn, forage crops, peanuts, and tung oil. One fourth of the tung oil in the United States comes from Florida. The state had a bumper citrus crop of 41,000,000 boxes in 1939.

Industry.

Among the important industrial products of Florida are naval stores, lumber and paper, cigars, and sponges. For the last Tarpon Springs is the largest market in the world. Canning, cattle raising and fishing — including the shipping of shrimps, oysters and clams — are also leading occupations. The accommodation of tourists constitutes the chief industry of the state.

Mineral Products.

The 1938 production of phosphate rock, Florida's chief mineral, was somewhat below that for 1937, but it was still far in the lead in the United States with 2,707,335 tons, valued at $8,773,680. This compared favorably with 2,996,820 tons valued at $9,142,985, in 1937.

Education.

Florida has 396,824 children enrolled in school from kindergarten through the 12th grade. Of these, 292,959 are white and 103,865 are Negro. The University of Florida and the Florida State College for Women are the institutions of higher learning for the whites, and the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Negroes. Their enrollment was as follows, 1938-39: University of Florida, 3,278; Florida State College for Women, 1,850; Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College, 822.

The average salary for 1938-39 was $94.48 per month for white common school teachers and $47.44 for Negro teachers. State appropriations for the common schools are based on $800 per teacher and transportation unit. For 1939 the appropriation was $12,091,793.33.

Welfare and Correction.

Florida maintains the following institutions: Florida School for Deaf and Blind Children, in St. Augustine; Florida State Hospital, for the insane, Chattahoochee; Florida Farm Colony, for the feeble-minded, Gainesville; Florida Industrial School for Boys, Mariana; Florida Industrial School for Girls, Ocala; Florida State Prison Farm, for men and women, Raiford; Florida State Tuberculosis Sanatorium, in Orlando.

The state provides for the administration of the Social Welfare Fund and the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The expenditures for social welfare services (old age pensions, aid to the blind, and care of dependent children) amount to $3,800,000 annually. Unemployment insurance is self-sustaining.

Finance.

The Legislature of 1939 made a total appropriation of $19,284,416, the largest in state history. Failure to provide adequate revenue for this amount led the Governor to veto nearly $5,000,000 in specific appropriations for education, state parks, agriculture, and general welfare. The state budget for 1939 was $7,514,000. There is no state debt, as this is prohibited by the Constitution.

Events of the Year.

During the 1939 session of the Legislature the chief measures to be adopted were a school code, and a crime code prepared by the Florida Bar Association; retirement plans for public school teachers, circuit judges, and firemen, in cities where no pension funds are provided; a non-contributory pension plan for municipal officers who have held elective, salaried office for 20 consecutive years; a pure food, drug, and cosmetic act based on the Federal law; regulations in the citrus industry; and an act placing the milk control board, a price-fixing agency, upon a permanent basis as long as the Governor deems the industry to be in need of supervision.

Six Constitutional amendments to be voted on in November 1940 were finally passed upon. These propose: the prohibition for state purposes of ad valorem taxes on property, except on intangibles; an extension of the terms of county commissioners from two to four years; an increase in the number of Supreme Court judges, from six to seven; Legislative authority to create a parole commission; Legislative authority to allocate and distribute to the counties certain excise taxes; exemption from taxation up to $500, for widows and those disabled through war or misfortune. The main controversy in the Legislature concerned tax reform, but nothing was settled.

The most interesting news of the year was the Government's decision to develop Florida as a base of national defense. The sum of $25,000,000 was appropriated for a Naval Air Base near Jacksonville, a Southeastern Army Air Base at Tampa, an Auxiliary Seaplane Base on the Banana River, and additions to the Pensacola Naval Air Base.

State Officers.

The chief officers of the state are as follows: Governor, Frederick Preston Cone; Secretary of State, Robert Andrews Gray; Comptroller, James Martin Lee; Treasurer, William V. Knott; Auditor, W. M. Wainwright; Attorney General, George Couper Gibbs; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Colin English.

United States Senators.

Claude Pepper, Charles O. Andrews.

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