1941: Michigan

Area and Population.

Admitted to statehood Jan. 26, 1837, Michigan ranks 22nd in size among the states, with an area of 58,216 sq. mi., including 1,194 sq. mi. of inland water surface, according to remeasurements of the United States undertaken for the 16th census in 1940. In population it ranks 7th, numbering 5,256,106 according to the 1940 census. The principal cities are Detroit, 1,623,452; Grand Rapids, 164,292; Flint, 151,543, and Saginaw, 82,794. Lansing, the capital, has 78,753.

Education.

With few exceptions, education in Michigan is compulsory for children from 7 to 16 years of age. Usually, however, children begin kindergarten work at five. The public school enrollment for the year 1940-41 approximated 1,000,000. The development of community schools is causing both the total number of districts, and the number of districts maintaining high schools, to decrease. There are now approximately 6,300 school districts, of which 575 maintain approved high schools. Almost 33,000 teachers are employed, who receive an annual average salary of approximately $1,600.

A study of the number of pupils continuing into high schools brings out the fact that whereas in 1920 the percentage of the entire enrollment, in grades 7 to 12, was only 25 per cent, that percentage had increased to almost 45, twenty years later. Almost 80 per cent of the youngsters from small rural schools now carry on their studies in the ninth grade in other districts.

Health Program.

Full-time local health service, especially for the rural areas of the state, was a major objective of Michigan's 1941 public-health program. The addition of two counties brought the number served by full-time county or district health departments up to 65, leaving only 18 which still need to establish such departments. It is expected that additional health departments will be established during the year 1942.

The high spots in the state's program for the year were improvement in sanitation in the resort sections, a more extensive industrial hygiene program, more work accomplished in sanitation in the defense areas, more widespread and cheaper tuberculosis case-finding, by the continued use of the new mobile diagnostic unit, and a marked increase in variety and volume of laboratory services to physicians. The laboratory service has increased markedly in volume, due to blood examinations for the new Army.

Mineral Products.

Production of iron ore, the state's leading mineral, for which she ranks second in the Union, amounted in 1940 to 12,472,448 tons, a ten per cent increase over 1939 when the amount of iron mined had a value of $37,026,665. This represented about a third of Michigan's total mineral wealth for that year, which was $115,969,514. Next in value is petroleum, of which the state produced 19,764,000 bbl. in 1940, a slight decline from 1939. Copper rose by three per cent above 1939, to 90,396,000 pounds worth $10,277,793. Production of salt, for which the state ranks first, in the Union, amounted to 2,506,523 tons; and gypsum, in which Michigan has second place, totaled 746,982 tons. Cement was produced in the amount of 8,519,416 bbl. The amount of magnesium produced annually from the Midland wells, up to now the chief source in the United States, is steadily advancing, the estimated amount for 1940 having been 13,000,000 pounds, compared with 10,650,121 in the previous year.

Conservation.

Michigan's natural resources are under the protection of the state Department of Conservation. This agency in 1941 administered nearly 5,000,000 acres of state-owned lands, pushed geological exploration for oil, iron, copper, and magnesium, established a new record in the protection of forests from fire, serviced a state-park attendance of 9,500,000, and provided for protection and replenishment of fish and game supplies for more than 1,000,000 anglers and 750,000 hunters.

Surveys were made of copper-bearing rocks in the southern part of the copper range, iron formations in Dickinson County, and dolomites having possibilities for enormous magnesium production in the southeastern part of the upper peninsula. After discovery of the Reed City and Headquarters fields, oil production for 1941 reached about 16,750,000 bbl., with 1,050 well-drilling permits issued. The 1941 natural gas production approximated 15,000 M. cubic feet.

Through the cooperation of the Department of Public Instruction, a program of conservation education is being formulated for all Michigan schools. The new conservation school at Higgins Lake, for in-service employee training and conservation education among teachers and community leaders, began operation in May 1941. About 10,000 4-H club members are now enrolled in conservation projects, and many junior conservation clubs were begun during the year. More than 1,300 loans of conservation films and 551 conservation lectures were made during 1941.

Forestry.

There are now 3,060,000 acres of state and private land in Michigan's 13 state forests, swelled recently by tax-delinquent acreage. Though the loss of CCC camps curtailed activities during 1941, the Higgins Lake pine nursery produced 6,960,000 trees and the Hardwood nursery, 1,200,000 trees. Of these more than 4,000,000 were planted on 5,461 acres within the forests, a million were distributed to other divisions of the department, a million were furnished free to school and community forests, and 625,000 were sold for reforestation purposes. Timber sales, grazing permits, and sale of nursery stock produced an income of $22,300 for the state's general fund.

Fish.

Commercial fish production in 1940 was worth $2,000,000 from Michigan Great Lakes waters. About 123,000,000 game fish were used in 1941 for restocking operations. During the year the number of public fishing sites was increased to nearly 100.

Industry.

Michigan's participation in the national defense program during 1941 effected a marked transition in industry, yet throughout the year normal business constituted the bulwark of the dollar volume. Automobile sales were at record peaks. Department store and other retail sales were far above 1940. Shipping on the Great Lakes approached the all-time tonnage record. Power usage was at top levels. Employment indices were far above normal averages. Weekly working-hour limits were strained to bolster production. Bank deposits rose. New industrial districts sprang up. In the first half of the year, the billion and a half volume of defense work was super-imposed upon normal production and served as a priming force. As the year closed, Michigan industry went all-out for the defense program.

Defense Activities.

The chief phases of Michigan's participation in the program to make America the 'Arsenal of Democracy' may be noted briefly. In particular, the automotive and allied industries have contributed their engineering and mechanical genius to effect masterful short-cuts, substitute procedures, rapid construction, and new adaptations of machinery to mass production for defense needs. The labor phase has been characterized by a scarcity of skilled labor, and the uncertainty of the labor supply in general.

Michigan concerns are heavily engaged in the manufacture of air-craft motors and the various parts for them. Michigan is committed to produce most of the equipment to place the army on a mechanized basis, including army vehicles of all kinds. Michigan's auto plants, modern machine shops, auto-parts manufacturing plants, tool and die shops and similar enterprises, played a prominent role in the production of Army and Navy ordnance in 1941. Michigan's shipyards were enlisted to produce smaller vessels for the U. S. Navy, huge cargo ships for commercial trade on the Great Lakes, and marine motors and spare parts.

Aeronautics.

The State Board of Aeronautics consists of seven commissioners, five appointed by the Governor to serve without pay for staggered terms of four years each and two-ex-officio commissioners, one being the Commissioner of State Police and the other being the State Highway Commissioner. The Board has general supervision over the design, layout, and construction of airports and landing fields within the state; as well as general supervision over all schools of aviation, flight and ground instructors, and airport managers.

In the eleven years of its existence the State Board of Aeronautics has built and improved 86 airports. At the present time Michigan has 129 airports and landing fields maintained as such twelve months of the year. Michigan's first airport was developed in 1917, at Selfridge Field, northeast of Detroit, as a training camp for Air Service. In 1928 it was established as a permanent Army base, and it is today one of the finest military airports in the world. Among other notable airports are Packard Field near Detroit, and the Ford Airport, first in Michigan to combine flying and manufacturing activities at the same site.

Michigan leads the country in aeronautical education. The University of Michigan, Wayne University, and the University of Detroit offer curricula leading to specialized degrees in aeronautics.

Finance.

The total revenue received by the state of Michigan from all sources during the year which ended June 30, 1940, amounted to $225,378,985.61. Taxes collected from the people of Michigan amounted to $164,734,189.04. Revenue from regulatory services totalled $10,584,377.84; revenue from state enterprises, $10,927,480.09; revenues from sale of tax-reverted lands, $6,877,157.09; reimbursement for care of patients at state institutions, $1,203,882.03; revenue received from Federal grants for various state activities, $27,118,716.72; revenue from miscellaneous sources, $2,629,300.77.

Included in the general item of taxes noted above, $57,918,433.64 was collected from taxes levied against motor vehicles.

General property tax levied in the state of Michigan, all of which is disbursed by local units of government, amounted to $166,766,516.83. Of the sum last-named above $51,317,574.97 was levied for school purposes, to which the state added from its revenues the sum of $45,392,018.29.

Michigan is free of debt. The last of the soldiers' bonus bonds have been retired. Only about $1,500,000 of highway revenues are yet to be credited to the highway-bond sinking fund, to insure the retirement of those obligations, as they continue to fall due between now and 1944, when the last of them mature. In short, not since early in the century has Michigan been in a more fortunate fiscal position than at the moment.

Banking.

The State Banking Department stated as of Sept. 24, 1941, that the aggregate resources of Michigan's 364 commercial banks, industrial banks, and trust companies amounted to $1,003,800,000, an increase of approximately $50,000,000 over the figures of Dec. 31, 1940. Bank deposits also increased $44,000,000 during this period, to a total of $880,000,000; and loans and discounts increased $25,000,000 to a total of $137,000,000.

Two new commercial banks were chartered in 1941, and ten new intra-city branch offices were opened in larger centers to accommodate the growth due primarily to industrial expansion. Two industrial banks have enlarged the scope of their operations, through conversion into commercial banks.

During 1941 the liquidation of closed institutions has been particularly stressed; $8,379,104.35 in dividends has been released, an increase of more than $1,844,805.67 over the year 1940. Included in these dividends have been final disbursements by sixty-three receiverships, liquidating trusts, and depositors' corporations which have been fully terminated. As of Dec. 31, 1941, the average release to depositors equalled 91.74 per cent of each dollar impounded during the 1932 banking holiday, taking the total amount of deposits impounded as a basis.

Social Welfare.

A monthly average of 42,181 cases, representing 127,700 persons, received direct relief during the first eleven months of 1941 in an aggregate amount of $10,254,671.

The number of Old-Age Assistance recipients increased during each of the first eleven months of 1941, with a monthly average of 86,866 persons receiving assistance payments amounting to $16,481,707.50. Aid to Dependent Children grants from January through November 1941 were paid to a monthly average of 21,119 recipients in behalf of 50,000 children. The total assistance payments extended to these recipients amounted to $9,453,557. During the same period $328,325 was extended to a monthly average of 1,240 recipients of Aid to the Blind.

State Officers.

Governor, Murray D. Van Wagoner; Lieutenant Governor, Frank Murphy; Secretary of State, Harry F. Kelly; Treasurer, Theodore I. Fry; Attorney General, Herbert J. Rushton; Auditor General, Vernon J. Brown; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Eugene B. Elliott.

United States Senators:

Arthur H. Vandenberg, Prentiss W. Brown.