1939: Missouri

Area and Population.

Known as the 'Ozark State,' Missouri was admitted to statehood Aug. 10, 1821. Its area of 69,420 sq. mi. makes it 18th in size in the Union. Three-quarters of this area is farm land, hence agriculture is predominantly important. Missouri is 10th in population, with 3,989,000 (Federal estimate July 1, 1937); more than half live in cities, and four-fifths of these in the three largest cities: St. Louis 821,960, Kansas City 399,746, St. Joseph 80,935. Next in size are Springfield 57,527, Joplin, 33,000, University City 26,000. Jefferson City (the capital) 21,596. Nearly 6 per cent of the population are foreign-born, chiefly Germans, Russians, Italians, English; 5 per cent are Negroes.

Geographic Features.

A distinctive feature of Missouri is the famous Ozark Mountains region. It is famous for its primitive mountaineers (close kin to those of Kentucky and eastern Tennessee), for its growing reputation as a playground for tourists, and for its great Lake of the Ozarks made when 60,000 acres of water were impounded by the Bagnell Dam to form the second largest artificial lake in the world.

The state includes two of the key transportation centers of the Midwest, St. Louis and Kansas City. Both (like St. Joseph) are river ports: Kansas City on the Missouri and St. Louis at its junction with the Mississippi. Both are great rail centers — second in the Midwest only to Chicago. From the days of the Santa Fe Trail, Kansas City has continued to be 'the gateway to the West.' Its importance as an aviation center is steadily increasing; distinguished visitors stop at its airport almost daily; and the terminal there has within a few months been much enlarged.

Agriculture.

The crops of this predominantly agricultural state are economically and industrially important. Corn is the chief crop, with production valued at approximately $50,000,000, or as much as the other leading crops combined. Wheat is second; then hay, cotton, and oats.

Industry.

Economically, manufacturing is the most important business in the state. There are some 150 active classifications, with manufacture and processing of foods far in the lead (more than $300,000,000 worth; chief item, meat-packing). Metal-working and machinery manufacture come second (more than $200,000,000 worth); and clothing is a close third ($185,000,000; chief item, boots and shoes); printing and publishing are fourth in rank.

Mineral Products.

The state's most valuable product, lead, in which it leads the Union, showed a reduction in 1938 to 122,027 tons, from the high figure of 157,631 tons in 1937 valued at $18,600,468. The output of zinc was also lowered, by about 50 per cent, from 20,600 tons to 10,226 in 1938. Production of bituminous coal amounted to 3,412,000 tons. Shipments of cement totaled 4,570,389 bbl. valued at $6,871,120. Glass sand, an important product in the state, fell off to 167,605 tons in 1938 from 200,475 in the preceding year.

Education.

The Superintendent of Schools reported on June 30, 1939 that the state has 946,475 persons of school age (6 to 20), including 59,903 Negroes. Of these, 712,326 pupils (664,367 white, 47,959 Negro) are enrolled in 8,750 schools, including 519,830 elementary and 192,496 secondary. There are 26,342 teachers (white: 6,268 men, 18,610 women; Negro: 360 men, 1,089 women). Vocational courses enroll 20,124 pupils. Students in private and parochial schools numbered 76,645 in 1936. Salaries for men in city schools average $942 in elementary grades, $1,422 in secondary; for women, $1,201 in elementary and $1,367 in secondary grades. Negro men teachers average $1,234 in city elementary schools and $1,850 in secondary; women, $1,660 and $1,682 respectively. Rural elementary-school salary averages run from 70 to 30 per cent of city school averages. School expenditures for 1938-39 were $57,875,789.

Banking.

The Commissioner of Finance made reports on June 30, 1939, of 549 state banks and trust companies, as follows: Loans and discounts, $263,883,340 (an increase of $18,431,596 in twelve months); capital stock, $58,316,645 (a decrease of $1,383,055; surplus funds $23,242,964 (an increase of $694,524); undivided profits, $15,230,889 (an increase of $1,723,385); total deposits, $829,517,678 (an increase of $60,201,592). Only one bank failed in the state during 1939, and it paid back 100 per cent. The Commissioner reports a marked improvement in the general condition of banks and banking in 1939 over 1938, due to better general conditions and to continued improvement in crop production.

Finance.

The 1939 Legislature appropriated out of the general revenue fund a total of $228,892,171 for the biennium 1939-40, an increase over the preceding biennium of $40,536,611. This included, for eleemosynary purposes, $4,741,943 (an increase of $367,539); for penal institutions, $3,369,850 (an increase of $391,135); for free public schools, $28,000,000 (an increase of $2,312,251); social security, $29,750,000 (an increase of $5,012,140); Federal funds, $47,754,166 (an increase of $26,420,666). The total assessed valuation of all taxable property in Missouri in 1938 was $3,845,691,056 — a decrease in seven years of 19.6 per cent.

Events of the Year.

The political event of the year — perhaps the most important from any angle — was the collapse of the powerful Democratic machine operated by T. J. Pendergast in Kansas City, in control of the city, Jackson County, and the state. Election frauds, gambling and narcotics 'rackets,' and income tax evasions brought in Federal investigators and law enforcement agencies, who secured convictions of Pendergast and his chief lieutenants, and their transfer to the Federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. (See KANSAS CITY POLITICAL MACHINE.) In this connection, the biennial Legislature provided for state control of the Kansas City police department, as in St. Louis.

General conditions improved during 1939 in manufacturing. Industrial research continued vigorously to seek newer and more efficient processes and methods, particularly in plastics. Legislation regarding industry was more conservative. Employment increased slightly, but relief conditions were not materially better, in spite of improved business.

State Officers.

The chief state officers are: Governor, Lloyd C. Stark; 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.