1939: Pennsylvania

Area and Population.

The 32nd state in size in the Union, Pennsylvania has an area of 45,126 sq. mi. According to the last official census (1930), the population of the state was 9,631,350. Of this total, 7,959,551 were native white persons, 1,233,051 foreign-born white persons, 431,257 Negroes, and 7,491 Indians, Japanese, Chinese and other.

The state capital is Harrisburg (80,339), located on the Susquehanna River; and the largest cities of Pennsylvania are: Philadelphia, with a population of 1,950,061; Pittsburgh, 669,817; Scranton, 143,433; and Reading, 111,171. Cornplanter Reservation in Warren County, with 34 Indians residing there, is the only State Indian Reservation.

Agriculture.

Although Pennsylvania is one of the foremost industrial states, agriculture represents a larger investment of capital than either mining or manufacturing of primary metals. According to the 1935 census of agriculture. Pennsylvania has 101,284 farms comprising 15,855,343 acres (55.3 per cent of total land area), with a value in land and buildings of $861,796,599. In 1930 there were 172,419 farms comprising 15,309,485 acres, valued at $1,203,017,645. In 1938, Pennsylvania ranked tenth in cash income from livestock and livestock products, with a total of $190,145,000. Among states east of the Mississippi, Pennsylvania ranks fifth in livestock. Cash income from farm production in 1938 amounted to $260,870,000 as compared with $284,509,000 for 1937. Pennsylvania farmers own $150,000,000 worth of machinery and agricultural implements.

Favorably situated for the cultivation of a variety of crops. Pennsylvania in 1938 ranked second in production of buckwheat and cigar leaf tobacco, fifth in peaches and potatoes, third in hay, fourth in apples, and eleventh in value of winter wheat.

Mineral Products.

In spite of generally reduced production in the mining industry in the United States in 1938, because of economic conditions, Pennsylvania still retained her rank as second in mineral wealth among the states (total in 1937, $599,817,364). Her outstanding resources in both anthracite and bituminous coal largely account for her leading position. Production of anthracite, in which the state stands first, was lowered by 11 per cent from 51,856,433 tons (value, $197,598,849) in 1937 to an estimated 46,099,000 tons in 1938. The estimate for 1939 is 50,807,000 tons. The output of bituminous coal, in which Pennsylvania ranks next to West Virginia, was reduced by 30 per cent from 111,002,289 tons (value, $228,665,000) in 1937, to an estimated 77,040,000 tons in 1938. Coke too was produced in a correspondingly lower quantity, totaling 7,606,799 tons as against 16,260,310 in the preceding year. Figures for petroleum compared fairly well with those of 1937, at 17,426,000 bbl. In the industrial field production of pig iron and steel, in both of which Pennsylvania ranks first, showed a substantial reduction, the former from 11,036,467 tons to 4,684,017; the latter from 14,561,700 tons of open-hearth steel to 7,072,157, and from 830,440 tons of Bessemer steel to 348,000 tons.

Pennsylvania produces nearly one-half of all the steel produced in the United States, and ships to all parts of the world. Pittsburgh is the center of the greatest metal production ever attained in one locality.

Industry.

The principal manufactures of the state are metal and metal products, textiles, food and kindred products, paper, clay, glass and stone products, leather and rubber goods, tobacco products and lumber. The printing industry, and railroad and street railway repair shops also add materially to the state's income. During 1937 there were 13,084 manufacturing establishments credited with an output of $5000 or more each. Their product was valued as $6,032,083,005, as compared with $4,191,368,642 reported by 12,926 plants in 1935. The average number of wage-earners in 1937 was 954,340, an increase of about 140,000 over 1935. Wages totalled $1,176,957,270 as against $816,022,112 in 1935.

As of Oct. 25, 1939, the Works Progress Administration was employing 145,177 persons in Pennsylvania, with a weekly payroll of $1,956,000.

With approximately one twelfth of the country's population, Pennsylvania produces about  the value of manufactured products in the United States.

The 10,452 wholesale establishments in Pennsylvania had net sales of $2,741,012,000 in 1935, an increase of 36 per cent over 1933; retail sales showed an increase of 33 per cent, the 129,719 stores reporting $2,490,910,000.

Education.

Pennsylvania has 58 colleges and 14 teachers' colleges, ranking fourth among the states in the number of institutions beyond high school rank, with a total of 96. There are 1,261 high schools in the state. The value of property used for public school purposes during 1936-1937 was $601,068,389, representing an investment in buildings and equipment of $308.89 for each of the 1,945,901 pupils in net enrollment.

Banking.

In 1939 there were 410 banking institutions operating under state charter in Pennsylvania, with total resources of $3,113,171,812. In 1939, deposits of the 1,061 insured commercial banks in Pennsylvania totalled $4,697,220; total assets were reported on June 30, 1939, at $5,585,158,000. The number of national banks in Pennsylvania was 694, with total assets of $3,313,834,000, and deposits $2,851,323,000.

State Officers.

The chief officers of the state are as follows: Governor, Arthur H. James; Lieutenant Governor, Samuel S. Lewis; Auditor, Warren R. Roberts; Treasurer, F. Clair Ross; Secretary of Revenue, Wm. J. Hamilton, Jr.; Secretary of the Commonwealth, Sophia M. O'Hara; Attorney General, Claude T. Reno; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Francis B. Haas.

United States Senators.

James J. Davis, Joseph F. Guffey.