Area and Population.
One of the South Atlantic states, Georgia has an area of 59,262 sq. mi. According to the 1940 census the population was 3,123,723, an increase of 7.4 per cent over 1930. The capital city, Atlanta, was credited with 302,288 inhabitants. The next largest city is Savannah, with 95,996; followed by Augusta, 65,919; Macon, 57,865; and Columbus, 53,280. It is estimated that the proportion of Negroes has slightly decreased since 1930, and that the urban population has grown at the expense of the rural.
Education.
The Georgia law requires a biennial school census. The latest of these, in 1938, showed a school census of 810,268. In that year there were 5,803 elementary common schools, staffed by 22,697 teachers; of whom 16,138 were whites, and 6,559, Negroes. Through consolidation the number of schools has in recent years been much reduced. In 1936 there were 471 accredited senior high schools in Georgia, with an enrollment of 82,797. In the fiscal year ending June 1940, the state appropriation for schools was $14,905,958, representing 32 per cent of the total of all expenditures. The average annual salary of teachers in the elementary schools was $740, in the high schools $1,139.
Agriculture.
Of the 37,500,000 acres in Georgia, about 25,000,000, or 67 per cent, are classed as farm lands. The 250,000 farms, including buildings, were valued in 1935 at $430,000,000. In 1940 the value of the principal crops was $163,862,000; 14 per cent above the figure for 1939. The most important cash crop was cotton, of which the yield was 1,020,000 bales, valued at $48,450,000. Second in value among the cash crops were peanuts, $17,715,000; 57 per cent above the 1939 figure. Third in value was tobacco, yielding $12,328,000, somewhat less than in the preceding year. Other important crops were: corn (not a cash crop), $31,857,000; sweet potatoes, $6,237,000; peaches, $5,192,000; pecans, $1,015,000. Cotton (lint and seed) accounted for 35.5 per cent of the total value of crops; corn 19.5 per cent; peanuts 10.8 per cent; tobacco 7.5 per cent; all other crops 26.7 per cent.
In 1939 the state had 970,000 cattle, 1,554,000 hogs, 31,000 horses.
Industry.
The Census of Manufacturing of 1937 credited Georgia's manufacturing industry with a total value of $708,652,000, about five times the value of the agricultural output. Since the raw materials of manufacturing are, however, largely agricultural in origin, a fairer comparison is that with 'value added by manufacturing.' In 1937 this value was $269,500,000, less than double the agricultural output, but still significant of trends in a primarily agricultural state. Textiles rank first among manufactures, cotton goods having been turned out in 1937 to the value of $211,000,000.
The leading state in the Union for production of kaolin, Georgia produced in 1939 about two-thirds of the total for the country, or 512,214 tons valued at $4,135,727.
Political Events.
The year 1940 was a general election year for Georgia. In the Democratic party primary, held early in September, there were several candidates for the governorship. Former Governor Eugene T. Talmadge easily defeated his opponents, and in the November election had no opposition from the Republican party. He had already served two terms as governor (1932-36). The Constitution prohibits a third term until after the expiration of four years from the close of the second term. The only other governor of Georgia who has had three terms was the Civil War Governor Joseph E. Brown, who served four terms.
The Rivers administration, which went out of office in January 1941, had been notable for a wide extension of state services. Such matters as increasing the school term from four, or five, to seven months; embarking upon public assistance in the form of old-age pensions, etc.; the re-building of the principal eleemosynary institutions; and the provision of improved facilities for the higher institutions of learning, entailed greatly increasing expenditures, and precipitated much discussion about tax reform. The leading problem of Governor Talmadge's administration will be meeting the added costs of government. He has committed himself to the retention of most of the new services, but against increasing the tax burden.
In the national election Georgia cast 83 per cent of its vote for Roosevelt, despite a well-organized Willkie movement.
In 1939, Georgia politics dealt with the issue raised when Governor Rivers discharged W. L. Miller, chairman of the Highway Board, and refused to obey a court injunction restraining the Governor and his representatives from interfering with Miller's conduct of his office. The matter eventually reached the State Supreme Court, which handed down a decision in 1940 restoring Miller to his office and declaring that the Governor had no power to discharge an official appointed for a specific term of years.
Finance.
The auditor's report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, showed that Georgia's total revenue from state sources was $44,694,137; and that in addition the state received in grants from the United States Government the sum of $10,961,991. The principal source of revenue was the motor fuel tax, which yielded $21,841,623. Other important sources were: the income tax, $5,668,184; the general property tax, $4,995,013; cigar and cigarette tax, $3,127,225; motor vehicle registration, $2,053,692; insurance premiums tax, $933,419; malt beverages and wine tax, $1,486,228; and alcohol beverage tax, $1,986,520.
The principal appropriations for the same fiscal year, in addition to the sum already mentioned as allotted to the common schools, were as follows: the eleemosynary institutions, $1,842,210; the university system (embracing all the higher educational institutions supported by the state), $1,824,525; public health and the Tuberculosis Hospital, $703,028; the Highway Department, $15,775,343; for public assistance, $2,362,000.
State Officers.
Governor, Eugene T. Talmadge; Secretary of State, John B. Wilson; Treasurer, George B. Hamilton; Comptroller, Homer C. Parker; Auditor, Zack Arnold; Attorney General, Ellis Arnall; Superintendent of Schools, M. D. Collins.
United States Senators:
Walter F. George, Richard B. Russell, Jr.
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