1939: New York

Area and Population.

New York state has a total land and water area of 49,204 sq. mi. The population, according to the latest Federal estimate, July 1, 1937, was 12,959,000. Over 7,500,000 live in New York City. The native white population according to the last Federal census (1930) was 8,958,744; foreign-born whites, 3,191,549; Negroes, 412,814; other races 24,959. The greatest numbers of foreign-born whites were Italians, 629,322; Russians, 481,306; Poles, 350,383; Germans, 349,196; and Irish, 251,704. In 1930 the urban population was 10,521,952 to 2,066,114 rural.

The capital of the state is Albany, with a population of 127,412. The largest cities are New York, 6,930,446 (1930); Buffalo, 573,076; Rochester, 328,132; and Syracuse, 209,326. Other important cities are Yonkers, 134,646; Utica, 101,740; Schenectady, 95,692 and Binghamton, 76,662. New York City and Albany are ports for ocean-going vessels. Buffalo is an important Great Lakes port.

Agriculture.

In 1939 milk control was still, as in 1938, the important agricultural problem of the state. On February 21, 1939, the Rogers-Allen milk-control bill was declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court, and the Legislature proceeded to correct the unconstitutional defects pointed out by the Court. The dairy farmers at a mass meeting in Albany overwhelmingly demanded regulation substantially as provided in the law. On June 5, 1939, the United States Supreme Court reversed the decision of the State Court. However, on June 7 the Nunan bill making the changes was signed by the Governor.

Mineral Products.

Production of petroleum, which has recently led in value among the state's native mineral resources, compared favorably in 1938, at an estimated 5,045,000 bbl., with that of the preceding year when the figures were 5,478,000 bbl. valued at about $14,140,000. Next in value was stone, the amount shipped in 1938 totaling 10,061,250 tons, worth $10,527,452. Marketed production of natural gas was estimated from preliminary figures to have fallen in 1938 somewhat below the all-time peak of 1937 when it amounted to 21,325,000 M. cu. ft. valued at $12,388,000. There was, however, continued activity and further development in the rich Oriskany fields. The output of salt, in which New York ranks second among the states, was close to that of 1937, at 1,717,064 tons. Sand and gravel were also fairly stationary in amount and value, with 13,566,370 tons valued at $6,493,099. Production of gypsum, a product in which New York leads, was slightly below that of 1937 and amounted to 601,394 tons. Shipments of Portland cement in 1938 were 5,720,922 bbl.

In accordance with the general industrial recession of the year 1938, shipments of pig iron and coke were both below the figures for 1937. The former was down more than fifty per cent, with a total of 1,222,832 tons valued at $25,450,764 in 1938, compared with 2,702,072 tons valued at $55,789,609 in the preceding year; coke was reduced from 4,946,964 tons to 3,948,833 tons.

Industry.

New York state ranks first in manufacturing, having according to the 1937 biennial census of manufactures 29,749 factories, employing 995,658 wage earners. The average weekly earnings, including all employees in both office and shop, in 1938, were $26.29.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund amounted to $138,189,795 on December 31, 1938. The sum of over $87,330,639 has been paid out to 1,289,204 unemployed beneficiaries during the past year.

Education.

During the 1938-39 school year 2,260,652 pupils were enrolled in the public schools of the state, which include 1,553,399 elementary, and 707,253 secondary schools. There are about 10,000 elementary school districts in the state, 761 high schools, 125 registered junior high schools, and 199 operating centralized schools. Reporting private schools enrolled 91,378 pupils, but it is estimated that there are about 275,000 others in elementary schools which do not report to the Education Department. The number of teachers in public high schools in the state was 25,200, their average salary being $2400 in cities, and $1500 in rural districts; in public elementary schools the number was 57,254, their average salary being $2100 in cities, $1300 in rural districts. The approximate cost for maintaining the public schools in 1937-38 was $354,109,166.20, of which the state contributed $122,221,102.36. This makes the average cost per pupil $148.32.

The 1939 Legislature provided for free bus transportation and health services to children attending parochial and other private schools, in addition to those in the public schools. It is estimated that this will add more than $1,000,000 to the cost of education.

Legislation.

The most important legislation enacted during the 1939 session of the Legislature, which lasted from January 4th through May 20th, with an extraordinary session from June 23 through July 10, included the levying of a cigarette tax of 2 cents a package, or one cent on every ten or a fraction sold at retail; an increase in the liquor tax of 50 cents a gallon; levying of income tax on salaries of Federal employees; laws effectuating the new constitutional provision reducing from 50 per cent to 15 per cent the cost to be assessed on railroads for grade-crossing elimination. Laws were also passed barring from civil service and teaching positions persons advocating the overthrow of the government; prohibiting alien organizations from wearing uniforms resembling those of foreign countries; permitting banks to close Saturdays during July and August; empowering recodification of the insurance law; permitting osteopaths to perform minor surgical operations and administer drugs upon satisfactory proof of qualifications; providing for equal representation of the sexes on political party committees; reducing the waiting period between issuance of a marriage license and the performance of the ceremony to 24 hours, with the proviso, however, that 3 days must elapse between the serological test and the performance of the ceremony.

One of the important Constitutional Amendments acted upon exempted from the Constitutional prohibition against gambling such pari-mutuel betting on horse races as may be prescribed by the Legislature, the revenue to be used for the support of the government; this law was approved by the people in November 1939. Another Constitutional amendment, increasing the term of state senators from 2 to 4 years. must be referred to the Legislature again in 1941.

The total number of bills passed was 927. The Governor vetoed 306 other bills which had passed both houses of the Legislature. (See UNITED STATES: Politics; Supreme Court Decisions.)

Finance.

The greatest financial problem which confronted the state in 1939 was the reduction of the budget. The Governor's executive budget for 1939-40 called for an appropriation of $415,019,541.82, which was reduced by the sum of $23,289,300.44 to $391,730,241.38. The reduction affected most severely the Department of Correction, and state aid for education and highways.

The Governor's budget was submitted in 'line-by-line items,' that is, each salary and expenditure was listed. When the Legislature reduced this budget it changed the form to 'lump sum' appropriations, allotting a certain amount to each department to be expended as the department heads planned. The Governor questioned the constitutionality of this form of appropriation, obtained an opinion from the Attorney-General that it was unconstitutional, and finally, after the Legislature persisted in passing the budget bill in its 'lump sum' form, took the matter to the courts. There it was declared unconstitutional by both the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. Therefore, on June 23 the Governor recalled the Legislature to pass his constitutional budget. This litigation and the consequent extra session of the Legislature cost the state over $90,000.

The total revenue receipts paid into the New York state treasury for the fiscal year 1938-39 amounted to $359,776,048.02. This was $28,208,077.42 less than the preceding year. The largest decrease in revenue was in the personal income tax. The deficit for 1938-39 was $28,862,403.35.

Public Welfare, and Correction.

Some of the services rendered by New York's million dollars-a-day government include the support of 64 institutions, grouped by state departments, as follows: Health Department, 5 institutions, including the State Hospital for the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis at Raybrook; Department of Social Welfare, 4 institutions, including the State Training School for Girls at Hudson, and the New York State Agricultural and Industrial School at Industry; Department of Mental Hygiene, 24 institutions, including State Hospitals at Binghamton, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Central Islip, Creedmoor, Marcy, Middletown, Rochester, Utica, and Willard, and Craig Colony at Sonyea for epileptics; Department of Correction, 14 institutions, including Matteawan State Hospital at Beacon for insane criminals, Dannemora State Hospital for male felons who have become insane, Albion State Training School for mentally defective female prisoners, Elmira Reformatory for first offender male felons between the ages of 16 and 30, and New York State Vocational Institution at West Coxsackie for male prisoners 16 to 18 years old; Education Department, 17 institutions, including State Colleges of Agriculture, Home Economics and Veterinary Medicine at Ithaca, operated in cooperation with Cornell University, and State College of Forestry operated in cooperation with Syracuse University; as well as 2 State Colleges for Teachers at Albany and Buffalo, and 9 Normal Schools.

Social Welfare.

During 1938, it is estimated that a daily average of 1,081,000 persons in New York State received public assistance. The amount spent included $31,009,110 for old-age assistance, $17,448,016 for aid to dependent children, $709,703 for aid to the blind, and $149,192,939 for home relief.

Housing.

The 1939 New York law, which in effect sets up a 'Little USHA' for the state, makes available annually a total of $150,000,000 in state loans and $1,000,000 in state subsidies for dwellings for low-income families. For the 1939-40 fiscal year, about one-third of this amount will be available.

Under the Act, municipalities and local housing authorities may borrow from the state, and the state may grant to localities annual subsidies which must be matched dollar for dollar, either in cash or tax exemptions. Municipalities also are empowered to make loans to housing authorities, to limited-dividend companies, and to owners of multiple dwellings who plan remodeling and rehabilitation in accordance with authority regulations.

Municipalities are allowed to go into debt up to 2 per cent of their assessed valuation for the furtherance of low-rent housing. They are permitted to levy any of six specific kinds of taxes, not including real estate, to pay this debt.

Housing authorities may issue their own bonds to cover the cost of a project or they may borrow funds from the Federal, state and municipal governments, but may not mingle Federal and state aid in financing the same project.

State Officers.

Elected state officers, as of 1939-40: Governor, Herbert H. Lehman; Lieutenant Governor, Charles Poletti; Comptroller, Morris S. Tremaine; and Attorney-General, John J. Bennett, Jr. The Secretary of State is Michael F. Walsh; and the Commissioner of Education, Dr. Frank P. Graves. In November 1939 Judge Irving Lehman was elected Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals.

United States Senators.

Robert Wagner, James M. Mead.